Organic to lead El Pollo Loco’s Brand and Digital Strategy

The restaurant chain is reigniting their partnership with Organic and launching new ingredient driven work aimed at attracting a younger audience

NEW YORK, Feb. 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Organic, a digital-first agency under Omnicom will become the agency of record for restaurant chain, El Pollo Loco. Raised in the heart of Los Angeles, El Pollo Loco is the nation’s leading fire-grilled chicken restaurant with a mission to bring people together around food, family and culture in the communities it serves. Since 1980, El Pollo Loco has successfully opened and maintained more than 490 company-owned and franchised restaurants in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Colorado and Louisiana while remaining true to its Mexican-American heritage.

Organic was selected as Brand and Digital AOR (Lead Agency) after a competitive review including 8 agencies. Organic is replacing Vitro, El Pollo Loco’s previous Creative AOR, Organic was El Pollo Loco Digital’s AOR from 2020 to 2021. Organic is partnering with THIRD EAR for rich audience insights and integration with its strategy and creative teams.

The first assignment, a celebration of “sabor” which means “flavor” in Spanish, broke on digital on February 23, 2023 and on broadcast on February 27, 2023. Organic will help El Pollo Loco transform its brand in a consumer-first, culturally relevant and digitally forward way to recruit new, younger consumers and drive the future of its business. Organic’s work will differentiate the brand from the cluttered QSR space by leaning into El Pollo Loco’s origin story, authentic recipes and human connections made over its food.

“Organic provided a comprehensive approach that allowed us to stay in touch with our core customer base and provide an exciting on-ramp to the customers we are looking to attract in the future,” said Andy Rebhun, chief marketing officer, El Pollo Loco. “Organic’s ability to utilize data and insights to drive the strategic approach to the business was one of its strengths. Their team will help us show up in a way that is refreshed for current markets and transformational in the markets we are expanding to in the future.”

“Having roots in digital advertising means that we bring a nimbleness and cross-functional approach to culturally-integrated, full funnel creative assignments,” said Cathy Butler, chief executive officer, Organic. “El Pollo Loco is a brand that wasn’t built in a boardroom – it is rooted in a place, people and culture. We want our work to celebrate that, and to help forge connections with new audiences who are craving flavorful and authentic food. Our iterative creative approach is a perfect fit for this type of high-volume assignment.”

Organic will debut their first work back with the brand this month. The campaign “Sabor” will launch their limited time menu item, Double Tostadas. The new campaign is all about the “flavor of life” and “flavor of food.” The first executions will highlight how the Double Chicken Tostada and Double Shredded Beef Tostada is different from traditional and unsatisfying salads. It’s an ingredient story told through vibrant music and food.

The campaign will run across regional broadcast TV, digital, social, in-store/POP, email/CRM and with influencers with a media spend of roughly ~$32MM. The campaign will play in California, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas and Louisiana.

About Organic, Inc. 
Organic designs resilient brands for clients seeking a modern marketing approach for their businesses. Organic’s two-decade heritage designing digital customer experiences and brand ecosystems is the foundation of the agency’s unique lead-agency approach. Organic is part of the Omnicom Precision Marketing Group (OPMG), and Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC). www.organic.com.

About Omnicom Precision Marketing Group
Omnicom Precision Marketing Group aligns Omnicom’s global digital, data and CRM capabilities to deliver precisely targeted and meaningful customer experiences at scale. Using its universal framework of connected data, connected intelligence and connected experiences, OPMG provides services that include digital experience design and development, technology strategy and implementation, data-driven product / service design, CRM / loyalty strategy and activation, econometric and attribution modeling, technical and business consulting and change / program-management services. At the core of delivering these services is Omni, an advanced technology platform that combines advanced AI tools for content intelligence and automation with a powerful cultural insights engine and massively scaled data insights from first-, second- and third-party sources, including several proprietary Omnicom data partnerships.

Omnicom Precision Marketing Group is part of the DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), that includes more than 200 companies in a wide range of marketing disciplines including advertising, public relations, healthcare, customer relationship management, events, promotional marketing, branding and research.

About THIRD EAR
THIRD EAR is a Listen First, minority-certified enterprise and a member of The Advertising Collective, part of Omnicom Group, Inc. (OMC:NYSE.) The agency’s work Speaks Human to truly connect with people. Headquartered in Austin, TX, THIRD EAR, formerly known as LatinWorks, approaches marketing using multicultural filters and delivers clients a full suite of services, ranging from strategy and creative, to media planning and investment. www.wearethirdear.com.

SOURCE Organic