Did you know that corn can be an instrument? Neither did we, until we saw Chipotle’s latest advertisement. Last month, the famous restaurant chain collaborated with the London Vegetable Orchestra to create an original song orchestrated entirely for vegetables in order to highlight the freshness of Chipotle products.

Creating the instruments

To initiate what may be the most unusual marketing collaboration we’ve covered to date, earlier this year Chipotle contacted the London Vegetable Orchestra with a challenge – to create instruments using only the 53 fresh ingredients found in Chipotle stores. What says “fresh” better than the vegetables themselves? As Fernando Machado, Chief Brand Officer at Chipotle, recently shared:

“Real food has always been at the center of Chipotle…So we took this principle in a completely new direction: creating our own signature sound. Any brand can release a song or develop a sound mnemonic. What made this worth pursuing was the chance to create a track that felt impossible to separate from Chipotle itself. The instruments, the sound and the story are all rooted in what we do every day.”

After three months of experimentation, the London Vegetable Orchestra came up with five unique instruments capable of producing the desired sound quality for the promotion – the hornepepper, trombonion, corn pipes, spice-o-phone, and “lettuce percussion.” Patrick Johns, one of the orchestra members, commented on the unique challenge creating vegetable instruments presents:

“No two vegetables ever behave exactly the same way. You can carve two identical instruments, but they can respond very differently. Part of the craft is learning not to force an ingredient to sound a certain way but to find the sound that’s already there and build the music around it.”

The final song

Once the final instruments were created, the team only had a day to rehearse and record, due to the changing nature of fresh produce. The final song, “From Ground to Sound,” was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. The production was a collaborative effort between the London Veggie Orchestra, Beacon Street Studios, and KIDS advertising agency. Chief Creative Officer at KIDS, Icaro Doria stated:

“The role of creativity is to help people experience familiar things in unfamiliar ways. Millions of people know Chipotle’s ingredients by how they look, taste and smell. Very few have ever stopped to ask what they sound like. That question led us somewhere no one expected.” 

Wondering what the trombonion sounds like? Hear it for yourself:

For those interested, “From Ground to Sound” is now available on Spotify and Apple music, and will also be used in subsequent marketing for the Chipotle in the months to come.