Before it launched Chipotle Rewards in 2019, Chipotle didn’t have a sophisticated CRM program, Tressie Lieberman, its vp of digital marketing, told Adweek. “We knew that we had an opportunity to create this more one-to-one relationship,” the marketer added.
The brand launched the loyalty program in 2019, and some months later handed off first-party data on 4 million customers to the Stagwell transformation agency Gale. The agency then fed that data into its proprietary customer data platform, Alchemy.
The tool analyzed the data, gleaning insights about Chipotle’s customers that the brand used to its marketing advantage. It tapped Alchemy at the right time, because soon Chipotle’s loyalty program ballooned. By the end of 2022, 30 million consumers had signed up.
GALE is a “business agency,” Brad Simms, GALE CEO and president, recently told Adweek on the heels of it winning the 2023 Breakthrough Media Agency of the Year award. Media is Gale’s fastest-growing unit and makes up about half of the agency’s $120 million in revenue. Since executing media buys hinges on detailed audience insights, Alchemy is the backbone of such success.
“Alchemy is a tool that allows us to really understand our clients’ business to figure out how to help them grow,” Simms told Adweek.
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