How Nothing Bundt Cakes Turned Cake Cravings into Year-Round Customer Growth

For years, Nothing Bundt Cakes was best known as a birthday favorite. The kind of place you visit once or twice a year when you need a celebratory centerpiece.

But behind the brand’s cheerful frosting and nostalgic charm was a marketing team with a bold goal: make bundt cake an everyday delight, not just an annual tradition.

From Occasion-Based to Always-On

The brand had built a loyal following but lacked clarity around customer intent and behavior. Were guests coming in to treat themselves? To host a gathering? To buy a gift? The team needed real data, not assumptions, to drive better engagement.

“Everyone likes treats. Everybody eats cake. Everybody has a birthday,” said Colleen Glendinning, VP of Marketing at Nothing Bundt Cakes. “But one of the things we were really lacking was understanding those other occasions that people were coming to visit us for.”

Zeta’s identity-based platform helped Nothing Bundt Cakes get just that. By enriching their first-party data with real-time signals, Zeta helped the team identify different types of customers and personalize their messaging accordingly.

Instead of blanketing all customers with the same message, Nothing Bundt Cakes used Zeta to zero in on what each guest actually wanted. Birthday buyers saw birthday messages. Event hosts saw promotions for Buntinis and catering-friendly assortments. And those just browsing didn’t get unnecessary reminders.

Smarter Spend, Sweet Results

That shift from broad targeting to precise segmentation paid off. Campaigns personalized by intent performed far better than generic, one-size-fits-all ads.

Even better, Nothing Bundt Cakes took Zeta’s audience insights and applied them across all channels. From programmatic media to CRM to app adoption efforts, each touchpoint was optimized for conversion.

The impact:

• Return on ad spend consistently hit 4x to 6x goals
• In-store traffic doubled
• Conversion lag dropped from 9 days to just 6 days
• Loyalty app adoption increased with high-value users

Turning Signals into Strategy

Zeta also helped the team rethink how and when they reached potential customers. For example, during Mother’s Day, a peak gifting season, Zeta identified users actively searching for gift ideas or recently purchasing from flower shops.

Using CTV, a traditionally upper-funnel channel, the brand delivered tailored ads directly to those likely to buy. “We were able to take CTV and make it more mid funnel, more about consideration, because the signals that Zeta offers really allow us to get our ads in front of high potential guests,” Glendinning shared.

One standout moment: the launch of a limited-edition Snickers flavor. Instead of relying on past purchasers, the team used Zeta’s transactional data to target candy bar buyers, many of whom had never bought from Nothing Bundt Cakes before. The result was a high-intent prospecting campaign that delivered new customers, not just impressions.

This new way of thinking didn’t stop at seasonal events. It now powers Nothing Bundt Cakes’ corporate gifting strategy too. With Zeta, they’re reaching actual decision-makers, the people who place bulk orders for holiday gifts and team celebrations, not just hoping the right person sees a Meta ad.

What’s Next: Winning Share of Occasion

As the partnership grows, Glendinning and her team are looking beyond traditional KPIs. Rather than just focusing on awareness or ROAS, they’re measuring something deeper: share of occasion.

“That’s what we’re going to be unlocking here with Zeta,” said Glendinning. “I think looking at share of occasion makes even more sense in terms of measurement than some of our traditional KPIs like conversion rate or return on ad spend.”

This customer-first, data-powered approach is helping Nothing Bundt Cakes scale not just reach, but relevance. Because in a world full of fleeting attention, the brands that win are the ones that understand the moment and show up at exactly the right one.