DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) today released “RAD Lands,” an original video series about food for kids between the ages of 7 and 10. The show is available exclusively on iTunes at iTunes.com/RadLands. The unbranded series, created in partnership with CAA Marketing and The Magic Store (the team behind the Daytime Emmy-nominated series “Yo Gabba Gabba!”), features celebrity chefs, musicians and YouTube personalities, and is aimed at educating families about where their food comes from and how it is prepared.
“Chipotle is ensuring that better food is accessible to everyone,” said Mark Crumpacker, chief marketing and development officer at Chipotle. “We created ‘RAD Lands’ to educate young eaters and their parents about food in an entertaining and engaging way. We don't advertise to kids so the show is completely unbranded. We hope that it sparks conversation and curiosity among families, ideally leading to smarter and more informed choices about food.”
The main storytelling component of “RAD Lands” is an animated segment called "The Cultivators" that follows a small rebel squad’s epic journey to help save the galaxy’s plants and animals to preserve their access to real, fresh food. The squad is challenged by a nemesis trying to homogenize food across the galaxy and turn it all into highly processed junk food.
Season one will be available exclusively on iTunes in the US and Canada for $4.99, bringing the series to a wide and digital savvy audience on the world’s premium destination for music, TV and movie content. Alternatively, families can download the first episode for free, and the remaining five episodes for $1.99 each. As part of the “RAD Lands” launch and to support school lunches, Chipotle will donate $100,000 to the Chef Ann Foundation, a non-profit organization that works with schools nationwide to provide the tools and resources they need to serve healthy, nutritious, and delicious food to every student, every day.
“RAD Lands” continues Chipotle’s tradition of producing innovative unbranded content focusing on fresh ingredients and a wholesome lifestyle. The series was created by Chipotle in partnership with CAA Marketing and The Magic Store, one of the most respected producers of children’s television and the team behind the popular television series “Yo Gabba Gabba!” The culinary and musical talent appearing in “RAD Lands” includes chefs Amanda Freitag, Michael Voltaggio, and Duff Goldman, along with musicians Neon Trees, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, Biz Markie and Portugal. The Man, among others.
“Chipotle and the ‘RAD Lands’ series are a great fit with the values of my foundation,” said Ann Cooper, founder of the Chef Ann Foundation. “We are thrilled with the generous support from Chipotle and iTunes through this program, and hope it encourages others to contribute what they can to influence future generations’ views on food.”
Discovery Education Partnership Enhances Program Benefits
To enhance the program’s reach to educators and students, Chipotle is partnering with Discovery Education, a leading provider of digital education content for K-12 classrooms, for RAD Lands In School. In this online program for elementary students launching later this spring, RAD Lands episodes will be paired with lesson plans and activities that have been developed by Discovery Education’s award-winning curriculum team. These no-cost resources incorporate music, animation, and live-action segments to teach students key health and science content, including the benefits of eating fresh food, the importance of caring for our environment, and how to create healthy and tasty snacks. These engaging lessons and activities can be used as stand-alone materials or integrated into elementary health and science curriculum. Additionally, Discovery Education will host an original, nationwide virtual field trip this fall for students and teachers that will combine food literacy experts and the RAD Lands content for a real-time learning experience. More information can be found at www.RADlandsinschool.com.
“RAD Lands In School offers educators and students a way to explore where fresh food comes from and how it can support a healthy lifestyle in a fun and compelling way,” said Lori McFarling, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Discovery Education. “We are pleased to partner with Chipotle on this effort to start conversations with students about health and nutrition, farming and food, through vibrant content and easy to use activities.”
“Every student should be knowledgeable about making good food choices and RAD Lands In School will help to support my health classroom lessons in a new and engaging way while also providing activities for the family at home,” said Brandon Wislocki, fifth grade teacher at Stonegate Elementary (Irvine Unified School District) in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.
“Through ‘RAD Lands,’ we wanted to create a show for families to watch together that engages and teaches without preaching,” said Scott Schultz, “Yo Gabba Gabba!” creator and executive producer at The Magic Store. “We achieved that goal through a combination of animation, music and live action throughout the series.”
To learn more about RAD Lands, visit chipotle.com/radlands. To download episodes of the show, visit iTunes.com/RadLands.
ABOUT CHIPOTLE
Steve Ells, Founder, Chairman and CEO, started Chipotle with the idea that food served fast did not have to be a typical fast food experience. Today, Chipotle continues to offer a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, and salads made from fresh, high-quality raw ingredients, prepared using classic cooking methods and served in an interactive style allowing people to get exactly what they want. Chipotle seeks out extraordinary ingredients that are not only fresh, but that are raised responsibly, with respect for the animals, land, and people who produce them. Chipotle prepares its food using whole, unprocessed ingredients and without the use of added colors, flavors or other additives typically found in fast food. Chipotle opened with a single restaurant in Denver in 1993 and now operates more than 2,200 restaurants. For more information, visit Chipotle.com.