By Tom Whitfield

A one-hour BOGO offer for tattooed customers became Chipotle's highest-ever sales hour in a non-peak period, according to Kirby Ann Connell, senior director of social and influencer at the chain. The promotion, "Tatted Like a Chipotle Bag," started as an internet meme. It ended as a business driver.

"It absolutely blew up on social and…that hour [became] the highest-ever sales hour for us during a non-peak period," Connell told Marketing Brew. "It was super amazing to see how something that could just be a niche internet meme type thing could become this huge cultural moment and business driver for the brand."

Chipotle holds more than 6 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, and X, and Connell describes the brand's social presence as deliberately "chronically online." The strategy: feel like "a fan account than brand account."

How does Chipotle find its campaigns?

The in-house social team meets daily to review tagged posts, good and bad, working with the social agency Day One. The tattoo campaign traces back to a 2019 Super Bowl meme from Maroon 5 comparing the lead singer's tattoos to Chipotle's paper bags. Chipotle ran the first promotion in June 2025, repeated it on a Friday the 13th earlier this year — a "huge day" in the tattoo community — and has scheduled the next run for this November.

"That was the first time we'd ever done a promotion that wasn't a full day or a peak-meal-period promotion," Connell said.

Recurring formats anchor the calendar. The Halloween "Boorito" campaign has run annually since 2000. This year's edition adds a five-city "Summon the Spirits Tour," bringing margaritas back to stores in Denver, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. The drinks were phased out starting in 2018; social listening showed customers missed them.

"We took something that fans were talking about and asking for online, and then turned it into a real experience that they can come and show up for with the brand in real life," Connell said.

What does paid media do for the earned buzz?

Posts on the margarita return have drawn millions of views on TikTok and Instagram, though Chipotle puts paid support behind some posts and targets them to tour cities. "We'll always start with organic and then look at what the top-performing creator or creative is, and then consider fueling it with a paid boost, as well," Connell said.

The team measures success through post shares, word of mouth, and impressions across posts and earned PR. "We want to create moments that feel buzzworthy and have talkability, both with our fans online and also for [the] media," she said.

How big was the Cardi B effect?

In August, rapper Cardi B tweeted about Chipotle and became the face of its Chili Lime Chip release. The campaign generated more than 215 million social engagements across owned and earned channels. Cardi B's Instagram Live "leak" of the chip release drew more than 700 million impressions and coverage from pop culture outlets.

Long-form content is back on the agenda. Chipotle entered original social series 12 years ago with "Farmed and Dangerous." A recent docu-style video of vegetable instrumentalists performing at Abbey Road has passed 5 million views on YouTube. This summer's "Farm to Foil" series sends creators to the brand's farm suppliers.

Creators sit at the center of every campaign. "Across the gamut, they are ingrained in all the work that we put out from a market perspective," Connell said.

The takeaway, in her words: "It's really about listening closely, identifying what of those conversations really feels unique to us and to our fans, and then turn it into something participatory."