Cava Poaches Dr. Squatch's Brand Chief to Grow Up Its Marketing Budget
John Ludeke leaves Dr. Squatch's viral marketing machine to take over at a chain that spends a fraction of what its rivals do on advertising.
Cava has found its new chief marketing officer in the same place it probably should have looked for marketing inspiration: a soap company that turned viral absurdity into a sale. John Ludeke, who spent his tenure as chief brand officer at Dr. Squatch overseeing creative, media, social, public relations, retail marketing, partnerships, and strategy, joins the fast-casual Mediterranean chain effective October 12, replacing Andrew Rebhun, who left in August.
Dr. Squatch built its identity on commercials so unhinged they became the point, recruiting A-list actors, athletes, and streamers along the way, and Unilever bought the brand while Ludeke was still running its marketing. Cava, by contrast, spends a little over 1% of revenue on marketing, well under Chipotle's roughly 3% benchmark, even as same-restaurant sales climbed 9% and guest traffic grew 5.3% in the second quarter.
CEO Brett Schulman framed the hire as a search for someone to sharpen what already works rather than chase celebrity stunts for their own sake, saying Ludeke "brings the experience to help us do that, along a leadership style grounded in curiosity, agility, positivity, and collective ambition." Whether that means more marketing dollars or just smarter ones is the question Cava is paying Ludeke to answer.
Source: Marketing Dive
Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →
