Chipolte hacks its own Twitter account in marketing stunt and gains 4,000 new followers
Chipotle, the Mexican restaurant chain with more than 200,000 Twitter followers, hacked its own account on Sunday as part of a marketing stunt. Its account was flooded with messages like "Do I have a tweet?", "End Twitter", "Mittens13 password here", "Twitter", and "Find avocado store in Arvada, Colorado,".However, the would-be hack was just a marketing ploy, to “get people talking” about the broader 20th anniversary promotion which involved a scavenger hunt and issuing new puzzles and clues dailyChris Arnold, director of communications at Chipotle, told ABC News: "The guacamole tweet was the answer to the day's puzzle. The idea was to incorporate it into our broader social media promotion," said Arnold. "We did it to get more people talking about that short string of posts."Chipotle admitted to piggy-backing on the trend, which has seen brands like Jeep and Burger King genuinely hacked, although Arnold said it was carefully planned."We wrote the tweets in a way that was careful and not mean-spirited," he said. "We wrote them in a way that was non-sensical; that allowed us to have some fun."The result? 1,200 retweets on some of the messages and 4,000-plus new followers (on an average day Chipolte gathers 250).
— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013Do I have a tweet?
— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013Hi sweetie, can you please pick up some lime, salt, and onions? twitter
— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013Sorry all. We had a little problem with our account. But everything is back on track now! - Joe
— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013