DennisDemori.com

DISCLOSURE: This post was originally published September 29th. See the original + follow up comments on the Casanova Pendrill blog.

I’ve written before about Chipotle’s fresh marketing strategies, and this time they’ve delivered an incredible short film that is both an engaging and moving brand story.

Notice anything?

There’s no mention of dollar menus, happy meals, sizzling burgers or anything remotely associated with fast food – and why should it?

It doesn’t go head-to-head with the other fast food brands, and it doesn’t have to. In 2 minutes, Chipotle has created their own sub-category.

This is a much bigger idea than getting a quick meal at a drive through. It’s about a bigger purpose: going back to basics and treating food (and where it comes from) with respect and integrity.

Not only that, with over 1.2 Million views on YouTube, it shows you can earn a lot of attention online without traditional advertising.

BONUS: Check out the “Making of…” video

H/t to The Ad Contrarian for this gem:

I wish there was a version of this video for self-appointed Social Media Experts.

Last night we spent an incredible lecture session with Richard Montura, a Strategic Planner from La Comunidad in Miami. He didn’t come to us to specifically talk about Planning, but to discuss his observations from traveling all over the world for two years.

His story was fun, inspiring and entertaining. To paraphrase one of my Planner friends, “I thought I knew a lot about this stuff, but he made me feel like a child all over again.”

From the author’s website:

“Nearly 10 years into the 21st century, a new creative world is forming.

Very soon, a lot of the world’s best art, fashion, music, entertainment, media, design, and style will be coming to you from Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The BRICs have been tipped by Goldman Sachs (who coined the acronym) to become four of the six largest economies in the world by 2050. But it isn’t just about the money.

BRIC Pop reveals another side to these four countries: their rising creative and cultural power. It’s just as significant as their economic story, and has major implications for entertainment, media, creative and marketing industries in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Plus, it’s fun.

I spent two years traveling to 42 cities, from Ahmedabad to Yekaterinburg, discovering first-hand how the BRICs have shifted from exporters of products, services, and commodities to arbiters of pop cultural ‘cool’.”

Visit the BRIC POP site

A lot of people say that this is their favorite Ted Talk, and I really enjoyed it too. I just watched it for my first time today. A few quotes from the presentation:

“Kids will take a chance – they’re not frightened of being wrong…If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.”

“Picasso once said all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. We don’t grow into creativity..we grow out of it.”

“If you think of it the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process of university entrance. And the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not, because the thing they were good at at school wasn’t valued or it was actually stigmatized.”

“We know 3 things about intelligence: 1) It’s diverse 2)It’s dynamic 3) It’s distinct”

It’s interesting how right on Sir Ken Robinson is during this talk. He basically says the educational system – not just in the U.S.,  but everywhere in the world, is fundamentally flawed, because it mirrors itself after its educators. Professors, he says, “Live in their heads.” They’re focused on Mathematics, Literature and Science, and the Arts are always placed at the bottom of the educational hierarchy. As a result, students who excel at the Arts and creativity aren’t celebrated – they’re perceived as inadequate. This thinking stifles our creativity instead of nurturing it.

I like this new Microsoft commercial. It’s hip–which is really pushing the envelope for Microsoft, but I think it’s an important step for them to reframe their brand. It almost feels like a soft drink ad, and that’s the key word: feel.

This video is awesome. Why can’t more be like this?

EepyBird’s Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

Thanks to Iain Tait for sharing on Crackunit.