How Betches Quarantainment programming is helping Stella Artois reach millennial brides-to-be during lockdown

30-second summary:

• Betches Media is a digital publisher which was founded in 2011. Content on the site is aimed at Millennial and Gen Z women.
• Betches created “Quarantainment programming” to address the growing COVID-19 crisis.
• Quarantainment [entertainment during quarantine] is the overarching name for the content Betches is producing while everyone’s stuck at home – an assortment of content intended to entertain, inform, and comfort Betches’s audience.
• Stella Artois is running quarantine-specific content focused on promoting a sweepstakes that will pay for the wedding of couples who got engaged during this time.
• The Stella Artois campaign has garnered over 2.4 million impressions since launch and is performing 140% over the original goal. The Instagram piece has garnered 1.5 million organic impressions, over 700K organic impressions, and a large amount of engagement in the form of likes, comments, shares and profile visits.

Betches Media is a digital platform featuring content aimed at millennial and gen Z women. Since its founding in 2011, Betches has featured content focused on humor and entertainment, but as the threat of COVID-19 grew, Betches shifted the focus of its content and programming on addressing the crisis by creating “Quarantainment programming.”

Quarantainment programming, as defined by Betches, is “a digital getaway that combines curated and original content to help their audiences stay informed, engaged and entertained through COVID-19-induced quarantine.”

Stella Artois, a Belgian Pilsner brand owned by Anheuser-Busch, worked with Betches to create quarantine-specific content for couples who got engaged during COVID-19.

ClickZ recently connected with Samantha Fishbein, the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Betches, to learn more about their Quarantainment programming and how they worked with Stella Artois to reach their target audience of millennial-aged women.

A brief history of Betches

Founded in 2011, Betches is a media and entertainment company that produces content aimed at Millennial and Gen Z women. Betches Co-Founder and COO, Samantha Fishbein, explains the concept behind Betches’ content:

“We aim to be the place where women can escape the constant pressures of needing to feel perfect, politically correct and polite. We created space where women can simply be themselves, share experience, find our best friends, voice strong opinions and cut through the BS, regardless of what stage of life we’re at.”

Betches has a strong following with millennial women and they are starting to see a solid foundation of loyal Gen Z users.

Says Fishbein, “Emotionally, Betches is for everyone — it’s more of a lifestyle and a mindset. It’s for the complex woman, someone who’s interested in the Real Housewives and politics — someone who is a friend and speaks her mind. We see the audience as communal and bonded with each other.

Betches Quarantainment programming

When COVID-19 hit, Betches shifted their content strategy to accommodate the new landscape. They came up with Quarantainment programming, a mashup of “entertainment during quarantine” as the overarching name for the content they began producing for their users who are stuck at home.

Quarantainment programming contains an assortment of content intended to entertain, inform, and  comfort the Betches audience.

Says Fishbein, “Quarantainment is our collective effort to help our audience feel like they’re not alone in this; where we arm them with information and entertainment, so they aren’t blindsided by lack of information and aren’t bored.”

Betches Quarantainment programming leverages multiple platforms and accounts including Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube to connect with its audience. Users have access to a daily newsletter, multiple video series, and podcasts.

Betches is also planning to launch a new online dating series inspired by The Bachelorette which they are calling ‘The Feeling is Virtual’,” says Fishbein.

Example of a Betches Quarantainment-related podcast

In addition to the above-mentioned platforms, Betches has seen immense growth on TikTok. They garnered almost 100,000 followers after starting the channel in late 2019.

“We’re exploring new opportunities, including virtual live events,” explains Fishbein. “It’s been an adjustment, but we’ve made the switch and as a digital media company that can work remotely. We have continued to provide entertainment to our audience without much interruption.”

Stella Artois does Quarantainment

Stella Artois is currently running quarantine-specific content for couples who got engaged during lockdown. The company is running a sweepstakes where they will play for the winner’s wedding.

Example of a content that appeared in Betches Quarantainment and Brides Newsletters

Stella Artois is are working with Betches to amplify the sweepstakes using their custom 360-degree platform storytelling approach.

They are promoting the sweepstakes on their Betches and Betches Brides’ Instagram accounts (including Stories) and using it as fodder for the Betches Brides podcast. They’ve also included it as part of the Betches ‘For Your Quarantine’ email and the Betches Brides emails.

Example of Stella Artois Quarantainment messaging for brides-to-be

The Stella Artois program is currently still running, but the preliminary results are strong, as demonstrated by the below metrics.

• The campaign has garnered over 2.45M impressions across all Betches channels, ultimately performing 40% over the original goal.
• The Betches Instagram platform garnered 1.5M organic impressions, 717K story impressions, and about 60K in engagement, including likes, comments, shares and profile visits.
• Betches further extended the campaign reach by leveraging their Betches Brides’ IG account, specifically adding a meme (~42K impressions and ~3.1K engagements) and using Instagram stories (119.4K impressions).
• Betches also leveraged their Betches Brides’ newsletter (77.9K) and Twitter account (23K).

For the larger Quarantainment programming, Betches is seeing strong results from their efforts.

Some topline metrics through week 9 [5/4 – 5/10] of their programming include a 18% average increase in weekly impressions and a 34% average increase in weekly engagements across Betches Instagram accounts when compared to pre-quarantine versus quarantine. They are also seeing strong weekly growth across their following [+13%] when compared to pre-quarantine growth rate.

Getting started with Quarantainment Programming

Betches is open to working with new brands to help them find creative ways to become involved with Quarantainment programming.

Says Fishbein, “We’re always pushing ourselves and ensuring the content we curate and create is a resource for our audience. The only thing we ask of potential brand partners is to be open to us creatively and understand the Betches brand is an audience-first mentality. We want partners who are open to providing some type of value to the audience through this unique and trying time and are not simply self-serving.”

source https://www.clickz.com/how-betches-quarantainment-programming-is-helping-stella-artois-reach-millennial-brides-to-be-during-lockdown/261650/