Chipotle offers to pay delivery fees on anything

Brief:

Chipotle Mexican Grill is giving Twitter users a chance to win free delivery on any product — not just food from its restaurants. The "Free Delivery Interception" offer comes as Chipotle celebrates the return of its "Free Delivery Bowl" promotion during the college football championship season, per an announcement.
To enter the Free Delivery Interception contest, Twitter users need to reply to a pinned tweet on Chipotle's @chipotletweets account that announced the offer. The reply needs to have the #ChipotleFreeDelivery and #Contest hashtags, along with a picture of the delivery receipt and Venmo handle. Chipotle is picking as many as 100 winners a day from Dec. 18 to Dec. 22, with a maximum possible payout of $599 per entrant.
Chipotle's Free Delivery Bowl waives delivery fees on any order of $10 or more from Dec. 18 to Jan. 6, and on Jan. 13, the date of the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The offer is only valid through the Chipotle app or its website, not third-party delivery platforms, per the announcement.

Insight:

Chipotle's Free Delivery Interception contest adds a social media dimension to its second year of offering free delivery during the college football championship season. By urging Twitter users to respond for a chance to be reimbursed for delivery fees on any product, the burrito chain is extending the reach of the campaign. People who reply with tweets showing their delivery receipts are publicizing the campaign among their friends and followers, increasing the chance that the offer goes viral.

Twitter also can gather data about the purchasing habits of consumers who share information about products they order, which can include anything from expedited shipping on holiday gifts to prior Chipotle deliveries earlier in the year. That consumer information is valuable for a mass marketer like Chipotle that can help to understand its customers and shape future marketing campaigns.

Chipotle has made social media a key part of its campaigns this year to reach its target audience of young adults who spend more time on their smartphones consuming content, connecting with friends or playing mobile games, and are averse to advertising in more traditional media channels like broadcast TV. The Free Delivery Interception contest follows Chipotle's campaign this month that gave away free food to Instagram users who were fast enough to respond to its short-lived offers. Chipotle's promotional efforts also include its "Freeting" campaign to drive mobile engagement and interest in its delivery options around the close of the NBA season, and several branded hashtag campaigns on social video app TikTok.

Chipotle last month rolled out voice ordering through Amazon Alexa to reach customers who use the e-commerce giant's virtual assistant on mobile devices or smart appliances. The company also partnered with the digital payments app Venmo to drive interest in Chipotle Rewards, its customer loyalty program that grew to 7 million members by the end of Q3. The efforts appear to be paying off, with revenue rising 15% to $1.4 billion in Q3 from a year earlier, while digital sales surged 88%.