Ep 41: Stephanie Perdue is Vice President of Marketing for Chipotle
In today’s episode of Clicks 2 Bricks, we speak with Stephanie Perdue, Vice President of Brand Marketing for Chipotle. In 2020 the COVID 19 pandemic dealt a massive blow to restaurants across the US. Seemingly overnight businesses were severed from their primary source of income and were left scrambling to adapt. Luckily for Chipotle, when the crisis hit they already had a robust digital framework and an off-premises strategy in place, which they were able to fast track to adapt to the new normal. In our conversation with Stephanie, we talk to her about her career in marketing, her love of fast-casual, and what she learned from her time at Taco Bell which spans over a decade in various positions. She describes being hired at Chipotle during a trying period where the brand was experiencing an onslaught of competition, while also recovering from a food safety incident that had lost some customer trust. She expands on how they approached the marketing challenge by centering their efforts on communicating what Chipotle was all about and hiring Oscar award-winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris to direct their marketing video content. Tuning in, listeners will hear how Chipotle increased their digital business before the pandemic from 8 percent in 2018 to 18 percent at the start of 2020, and then to an incredible 50 percent in 2021. Then find out what Stephanie believes is the next step in digital growth and data research for the company. We hear the many ways that Chipotle has adapted their marketing during the pandemic to be supportive of local businesses, like an innovative use of local fundraisers through their app, or how they utilized their proceeds from super bowl deliveries to support local farmers. One enduring lesson that we can learn from this discussion is how Chipotle has found repeated success in being true to its values. Having recently pledged $5 million to support farmers over the next five years, their ethos of a better world resonates in their business and marketing actions. We loved having Stephanie on our show, and we’re sure you will find the conversation every bit as interesting as we did! Join us for an informative and hopeful discussion on the power of integrity in marketing!
Key Points From This Episode:
Meet today’s guest Stephanie Perdue.
Stephanie’s work at Taco Bell, the different roles she played there, and how they shaped her.
How Stephanie leveled up her marketing by thinking outside category norms.
How the restaurant and food industry is unique in its control over product creation, pricing, distribution, and marketing.
Stephanie discusses Chipotle’s ethos and dedication to responsible food sourcing.
How Chipotle had to level up its marketing to compete in a more competitive fast-casual food market.
What Stephanie learned from working behind the scenes in a Chipotle kitchen.
How their marketing strategy chose to hire award-winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris to direct their marketing content and its success in driving brand equity.
How Stephanie and her team recognized an opportunity in digital.
How Chipotle’s investment in making their product available digitally paid off.
Stephanie describes the drop in sales Chipotle experienced during the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic and how their digital ecosystem and rewards program supported them.
How they lowered the consumer barrier by offering free delivery at the onset of the pandemic.
How Chipotle achieved the optimal tone for their Super Bowl campaign.
Measuring the ROI of a Super Bowl campaign as a long and short-term investment.
How Chipotle’s ethos of a better world resonates in their business and marketing actions.
The tangible steps Chipotle is taking to support farmers, including committing $5 million over the next five years.
How Chipotle has innovated digitally when it comes to being involved with local fundraisers and creating ease of access through their app.
What the rapid growth of digital over the last pandemic year means for the future development of digital marketing.
Tweetables:
“We entered this new marketing team in 2018 at an interesting inflection point where the brand was experiencing that onslaught of competition. — I think what we had to do was shine a spotlight on what Chipotle stands for and how they are different from the rest of the category.” — Stephanie Purdue [0:10:28]
“There's no better time than the present to really double down on your values, be transparent about them, and share them with customers. What we find with younger customers is that they're buying brands because they want it to align with the values that they see in themselves.” — Stephanie Purdue [0:14:06]
“We lowered the consumer barrier to trial by offering free delivery at the onset of the pandemic, and really getting customers out of the physical channel and into the digital channel.” — Stephanie Purdue [0:15:58]
“Using consumer needs as your North Star, I think, for me, that's the theme in my career, it always proves to be successful.” — Stephanie Purdue [0:16:44]
“I think now more than ever, we all want to make sure our communities are healthy, and we're taking care of them.” — Stephanie Purdue [0:22:27]