Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain Cava is once again shaking up the dating scene with the second season of “Bowlmates,” its social media-native dating show, which returned Dec. 16. The show is part 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 allows the social industry and marketers to find different ways to reach 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 hundreds of comments posted about casting opportunities.
The second season looks to build on that success by increasing the episode count from six to nine and including several themed episodes, such as 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 the program, meaning all 1,200 followers of the show’s Instagram channel were earned organically. The decision to post the microseries on its own channel was a strategic one, as social media algorithms often show consumers content from channels they don’t follow, according to Downing.
“If people find something interesting, they can go back to that page and watch more. I think that is 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 among young consumers. Nearly half of Gen Z and millennials are watching more of the format than they did a year ago, according to 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 in the era of online dating.
“Gen Z doesn't want to be on dating apps as much, right? They're looking for more in-person interactions. The content of dating on the internet is always popular,” said Downing.
The Cava Group saw a third quarter revenue of $292.24 million, a nearly 20% increase year over year, according to an earnings call. Cava utilizes an "efficient and lean” marketing strategy and plans to test more upper-funnel activity in the future, CEO Brett Schulman said on the call.
