Cava experiments with social-first marketing via dating microseries

Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain Cava is as soon as once more shaking up the relationship scene with the second season of “Bowlmates,” its social media-native relationship present, which returned Dec. 16. The present is a part of the chain’s bigger advertising technique which places a heavy emphasis on fan and creator-driven content material. 

“Doing ‘Bowlmates’ is a step in a course for model social that permits the social business and entrepreneurs to search out other ways to succeed in totally different communities,” stated Andrew Downing, director of social at Cava. 

The primary season of “Bowlmates,” which is hosted by comic Daniela Mora, drove 475,000 cross-platform views and noticed lots of of feedback posted about casting alternatives.

The second season appears to be like to construct on that success by growing the episode depend from six to 9 and together with a number of themed episodes, corresponding to one round Valentine’s Day. Notably, the second season plan contains the cross-promotion of movies posted on the “Bowlmates” Instagram account to the chain’s major social media channels. 

“Bowlmates” is an experiment in natural social media advertising by Cava. No paid promotion was put into this system, that means all 1,200 followers of the present’s Instagram channel have been earned organically. The choice to put up the microseries by itself channel was a strategic one, as social media algorithms typically present customers content material from channels they don’t comply with, in line with Downing.

“If folks discover one thing attention-grabbing, they will return to that web page and watch extra. I feel that’s one thing that we’re simply going to see extra manufacturers do,” stated Downing. 

Microseries and different short-form, social-optimized programming have been rising in reputation, particularly amongst younger customers. Almost half of Gen Z and millennials are watching extra of the format than they did a yr in the past, in line with Deloitte information. Not solely is the format of Cava’s collection geared towards this demographic, so is the dating-focused content material. “Bowlmates” additionally stresses the significance of assembly in-person, a doubtlessly interesting concept within the period of on-line relationship.

“Gen Z does not wish to be on relationship apps as a lot, proper? They’re on the lookout for extra in-person interactions. The content material of relationship on the web is all the time standard,” stated Downing.

The Cava Group noticed a 3rd quarter income of $292.24 million, a virtually 20% enhance yr over yr, in line with an earnings name. Cava makes use of an “environment friendly and lean” advertising technique and plans to check extra upper-funnel exercise sooner or later, CEO Brett Schulman stated on the decision.