Chipotle took a meme based on a key insight directly tied to one of its own ingredients and turned it into a major brand moment–going beyond its core audience to garner massive, popular coverage and drive conversation among new fans.

The brand started off asking the internet: if cilantro tastes like soap, what if soap tasted like cilantro? From there, Chipotle created a real life soap that celebrated this insight and got the word out with a big PR push.

As a fast-casual Mexican restaurant with cilantro as one of its core, fresh ingredients–Chipotle is all too familiar with the age-old debate on whether cilantro does or doesn’t taste like soap.

Chipotle posted a meme featuring actual cilantro-flavored soap, asking the internet: what if soap tasted like cilantro? The internet went wild. From there, to make it a true brand moment Chipotle decided to give something tangible to its superfans–dropping 1,000 bars of real Chipotle Cilantro Soap on its online store. They then used owned social channels and an influencer and PR strategy to go beyond supercharging their superfans to sparking widespread conversation that expanded the brand’s fandom.

It started off with Chipotle turning a long standing joke on its head with a meme posted on its Instagram featuring a fake cilantro-scented soap. The post caught fire. To take advantage of the epic conversation, and knowing the holiday season was approaching, Chipotle acted fast with a real-life product based on the meme itself. The brand got to work on an actual soap product, made with simple ingredients, mirroring its approach to its own food.

On 12/2, Chipotle revealed 1,000 bars of real Chipotle Cilantro Soap on its online store. Chipotle also shared a few bars with influencer friends and coordinated a social and PR push that got the brand some serious recognition. Things took off from there.

Knowing that the cilantro debate was something that resonated not just with its own audiences, but the world as a whole, Chipotle was able to ignite a conversation about one of its ingredients and drop an exclusive item that drove brand love. While the initial cilantro soap meme on Chipotle’s Instagram page helped the brand to gauge fan reactions, the real-life, unexpected drop that followed capitalized on an insight and got the brand noticed during the noisy holiday season.

A key part of driving groundswell was early gifting to influencer friendlies and fans, who were quick to share on social, further driving conversation. This was accompanied by PR seeding and a bigger push on social. The product sold out in no time on Chipotle’s online store, immediately making it exclusive and scarce, and eventually showed up on eBay at a 600% markup.

In August 2021, Chipotle posted asking “Ok but what if soap tasted like cilantro?” The post took off and received over 22k likes and a flood of comments.

Then, just a few months later, the brand dropped 1,000 bars on its online store, ChipotleGoods,com, for $8 a piece. While the soap sold out in 8 hours, Chipotle also got it into the hands of some of its biggest brand advocate influencers and fans on 12/2– including Darci Lynne, Garden Marcus, Kate, and Zahra, who helped to drive interest outside of Chipotle’s existing fanbase. The brand posted over the next 5 days across its owned channels.

Through a big PR push, Chipotle also shared the news with a wide range of digital, print and broadcast publishers, who picked up the story in the U.S. and around the world, leading to 880 global press stories.

Chipotle is challenged as a business with getting customer attention around the real and fresh ingredients that make the brand a leader in food integrity. Cilantro Soap helped to generate awareness and conversation around just that–with 880 global press stories totaling 1.3B+ PR impressions from outlets like CNN, Hypebeast, and iHeartRadio. It generated substantive conversation around cilantro, strengthening the popular ingredient’s connection with Chipotle, with The Guardian citing Chipotle’s Cilantro Soap as key proof that “Americans are eating more cilantro than ever.”

Chipotle was able to drive the conversation across social as well, earning 555.7K owned social engagements on its owned channels, resulting in over 2.3M+ owned social impressions.

It didn’t end there. Cilantro soap sold out in 8 hours on Chipotle’s online store and showed up on eBay with a 600% markup within 48 hours.