Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain Cava is once more shaking up the dating scene with the second season of “Bowlmates,” its social media-native dating show, which returned Dec. 16. The show is a component of the chain’s larger marketing strategy which puts a heavy emphasis on fan and creator-driven content.
“Doing ‘Bowlmates’ is a step in a direction for brand social that permits the social industry and marketers to search out other ways to achieve different communities,” said Andrew Downing, director of social at Cava.
The first season of “Bowlmates,” which is hosted by comedian Daniela Mora, drove 475,000 cross-platform views and saw a whole lot of comments posted about casting opportunities.
The second season looks to construct on that success by increasing the episode count from six to nine and including several themed episodes, akin to one around Valentine’s Day. Notably, the second season plan includes the cross-promotion of videos posted on the “Bowlmates” Instagram account to the chain’s primary social media channels.
“Bowlmates” is an experiment in organic social media marketing by Cava. No paid promotion was put into this system, meaning all 1,200 followers of the show’s Instagram channel were earned organically. The decision to post the microseries by itself channel was a strategic one, as social media algorithms often show consumers content from channels they don’t follow, in accordance with Downing.
“If people find something interesting, they will return to that page and watch more. I believe that’s something that we’re just going to see more brands do,” said Downing.
Microseries and other short-form, social-optimized programming have been growing in popularity, especially amongst young consumers. Nearly half of Gen Z and millennials are watching more of the format than they did a 12 months ago, in accordance with Deloitte data. Not only is the format of Cava’s series geared toward this demographic, so is the dating-focused content. “Bowlmates” also stresses the importance of meeting in-person, a potentially appealing idea within the era of online dating.
“Gen Z doesn’t need to be on dating apps as much, right? They’re on the lookout for more in-person interactions. The content of dating on the web is all the time popular,” said Downing.
The Cava Group saw a 3rd quarter revenue of $292.24 million, an almost 20% increase 12 months over 12 months, in accordance with an earnings call. Cava utilizes an “efficient and lean” marketing strategy and plans to check more upper-funnel activity in the long run, CEO Brett Schulman said on the decision.
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