Levain Bakery Case Study
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Sweet Start: How Levain Bakery Built Its First Email & Advertising Strategy

Zettler Digital helped Levain Bakery launch its first-ever email, SMS, and paid advertising programs from the ground up — building a full-funnel retention and acquisition engine across Klaviyo, Meta, Google, and Pinterest Ads that generated $3M in email revenue and $2.5M in paid revenue within the first year.

Baking Growth Into a Beloved Brand

Levain Bakery has long been an iconic name in the food world — from its legendary cookies to its expanding retail footprint across the U.S.As the brand grew, so did the need for a digital marketing strategy that could scale with it. Until recently, Levain had never run structured email, SMS, or paid advertising programs.That’s where Zettler Digital stepped in: to build the foundation for a full-funnel retention and acquisition engine — from the ground up — connecting Klaviyo, Meta Ads, Google Ads, and Pinterest Ads into a single, performance-driven ecosystem.

The Challenge

Turning an Established Brand Into a Digital Marketing Powerhouse

Despite Levain’s incredible brand awareness and loyal following, its marketing operations were still in their early stages.

With no formal lifecycle or paid media structure in place, there was a clear opportunity to drive measurable revenue through retention and paid acquisition while maintaining Levain’s premium brand voice.

Key objectives included:

- Launch Levain’s first-ever email and SMS marketing programs through Klaviyo

- Build paid acquisition programs on Meta, Google, and Pinterest Ads

- Align creative, audience segmentation, and messaging across all channels

- Drive incremental sales through full-funnel coordination

The Solution

A Unified Launch Across Lifecycle and Paid Media

Zettler Digital developed a complete retention and acquisition strategy designed to amplify Levain’s eCommerce growth while preserving its refined, brand-forward aesthetic.

Core initiatives included:

- Klaviyo Setup and Optimization, including welcome, abandon, post-purchase, and winback flows

- Subscriber Acquisition through paid and onsite strategies, building a quality audience base from day one

- Paid Advertising Management across Meta, Google, and Pinterest Ads — driving both brand discovery and repeat purchases

- Creative Testing Framework focused on audience insights and seasonal launches

- Consistent Campaign Coordination, ensuring lifecycle and paid media messaging worked in tandem

By aligning email, SMS, and ads under a single strategy, Levain Bakery’s marketing engine was set to scale efficiently and deliver sustainable revenue growth.

The Results

A Sweet First Year — and a Scalable Foundation for the Future

Within the first year of launch, Levain Bakery’s new marketing foundation generated meaningful, measurable impact.

  • $800k

    ad spend managed across Meta, Google and Pinterest in the first year

  • $2.5M

    attributed revenue driven by paid advertising

  • $3M

    attributed revenue driven by email/SMS

“

"Zettler Digital has been wonderful to work with. They are dependable, timely, and feel like an extension of our team. It’s especially helpful to have a scrappy, agile, and responsive partner with a wealth of knowledge as our brand continues to see immense growth."

”
AvatarKristina TothDirector of Ecommerce, Levain Bakery
Levain Bakery - NYC'S Favorite Cookie

Built From Scratch. Designed to Scale.

The partnership between Levain Bakery and Zettler Digital demonstrates how even established brands can unlock new growth through retention and paid media alignment.

With scalable infrastructure in place — and a growing customer database — Levain now has the tools to connect with fans, expand reach, and sustain meaningful revenue growth for years to come.

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