In 2019, Chipotle turned the NBA Finals TV experience into a social game with the goal to drive awareness and sales for Chipotle delivery.

The NBA Finals already had a category sponsor and we couldn’t talk about it so we launched our own game and called it Freeting.

Every time the announcer said the word free (as in “free throw” or “breaks free”) we tweeted a code for free burritos.

Throughout the six-game series, Chipotle gained 100K Twitter followers, earned more social buzz than all other sponsor food brands combined, and doubled YOY delivery sales.

In mid-2019, the dining industry rapidly shifting from in-restaurant to delivery. Chipotle had a robust delivery system in place, but only 25% of customers knew that Chipotle delivery was an option. To change this, we decided to launch a campaign during one of food delivery’s biggest events — the NBA finals.

Here’s the problem: the NBA Finals already had a category sponsor, so Chipotle couldn’t talk about the NBA Finals in any way, shape or form.

Our brief was simple. Drive awareness of Chipotle’s free delivery offer during the NBA finals without mentioning the teams, games or players.

Since we couldn’t talk about the game, we let the announcers do the talking for us. We invented a second screen game called “Live Freeting.” Every time the announcers said the word “free” on screen, we tweeted a code for free burritos in real time.

As the series progressed, Chipotle kept the game fresh with new triggers and twists. In Game Four, Chipotle told fans that if the “Free” in the national anthem lasted more than three seconds we’d give away a thousand burritos on the spot. Then they made good on that promise.

We tweeted over 200 times in real time over 6 games, and Mark Jackson, former NBA star and one of the game announcers, tweeted to his own followers about the promotion.

Our core target for the campaign was 18- to 34-year-olds. In 2019, this age group was driving most of the growth in food delivery, and represented an opportunity for Chipotle.

We also used research from Twitter that showed visits to its platform increase 4.1X during live sports events, while traffic to other social media sites remained the same.

Together, these insights led us to a campaign focused on Twitter as the dominant second screen activity.

We kept the activation simple and began spreading the word in the days before Game One. The simplicity of the idea was key to driving word of mouth and press ahead of the series.

In the week leading up to the series, Chipotle announced the game and rules to the press and drove more than 1.5 billion PR impressions before tip-off.

As game day approached, we shared our plans across Chipotle’s social media channels and told everyone to follow the brand on Twitter and turn on their notifications. Later in the campaign we even went private to drive additional hype and followers.

On each game day we assembled a war room of community managers, writers, and brand managers to listen to the game live and Tweet each time the word “free” was said on air. Throughout the game, we encouraged players in the replies and retweeted winners to keep the hype going.

When you’re locked out of a big event, there are two options. Either give up and move on, or take a risk. We helped Chipotle take a big risk by delivering an innovative campaign that used key insights about the target audience to tip the scales of success in our favor to deliver a successful campaign.

Delivery Orders During the Finals Spiked 100% at Chipotle, Year Over Year

Chipotle earned more NBA Finals social buzz than all other food brands combined

2 Billion Earned Media Impressions, Including 450 Press Stories Mentioning Free Delivery During the The Finals

200k Unique Participants in Freeting Over the Course of the The Finals

The Average Freeting Contestant Tried His/Her Hand at Winning a Free Burrito More than Eight Times

Zero Dollars Spent on Sponsoring The Finals