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The content playbook: how Cakes Body is trading traditional ads for in-house entertainment. Dwi Wanna September 30, 2026 8 minutes read In the hyper-competitive landscape of direct-to-consumer (DTC) retail, the traditional marketing funnel - once defined by aggressive search engine optimization and paid social acquisition - is undergoing a radical transformation. For Cakes Body, the viral adhesive-free breast petal brand, the future of retail isn't found in a static banner ad; it is found in the writers' room. Last week, the company announced the launch of "Cakes Media," an in-house entertainment studio designed to institutionalize the brand's organic, viral momentum. By shifting from a product-first marketing strategy to a content-first media model, founders Taylor Capuano and Casey Sarai are signaling a seismic shift in how modern brands aim to capture the elusive, fragmented attention of the modern consumer. The Rise of the Brand-as-Publisher. Founded in 2022, Cakes Body exploded onto the scene with a combination of founder-led storytelling and a product that resonated deeply with the "TikTok made me buy it" demographic. Since its appearance on Shark Tank, the company has achieved a meteoric rise, grossing $100 million in sales in just three years. Unlike legacy brands that rely on massive agencies to translate their brand identity into digestible social assets, Capuano and Sarai built their empire on authenticity. Their content strategy mirrors the success seen by viral sensations like Bogg Bag or Stanley, where the personality of the creators is inextricably linked to the utility of the product. However, as the digital ecosystem becomes increasingly saturated and the cost of customer acquisition (CAC) continues to climb, Cakes Body is betting that the key to sustainable growth is to stop acting like an advertiser and start acting like a media company. The strategy behind Cakes Media. Cakes Media is not merely a content creation department; it is a full-scale entertainment arm tasked with producing long-form, episodic, and narrative-driven content. To anchor this vision, the founders have recruited former Red Bull executive Caley Wildermuth as head of content. The move is calculated. Last week, the studio debuted its first major project: a 57-minute documentary that has already garnered over 371,600 views on YouTube. This isn't a traditional commercial; it is an immersive experience. The long-form project serves as a "content mine," providing a wealth of raw material that the team will slice, dice, and adapt into short-form clips for TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. By owning the intellectual property and the production pipeline, Cakes is attempting to "operationalize virality" - a term coined by Capuano to describe the process of creating content that naturally attracts an audience, thereby reducing the reliance on paid media to force-feed consumers their message. Chronology: from viral spark to Media House. The evolution of Cakes Body provides a masterclass in modern digital scaling: * 2022 (The Launch): Cakes Body enters the market, focusing on founder-led social media content. The focus is purely on product-market fit and establishing a rapport with the community through unfiltered, authentic TikTok storytelling. * Post-Shark Tank Era: Following their television appearance, the brand experiences a surge in national recognition. The founders lean into the "halo effect," where their organic social presence drives unprecedented brand awareness and consideration. * Early 2024 (The Infrastructure Shift): Recognizing that relying solely on algorithms is a precarious strategy, the founders begin discussions on how to build a moat around their audience. * Late 2024 (The Launch of Cakes Media): The company officially announces the entertainment arm. They pivot from tactical video production to a long-term, narrative-driven media strategy, hiring Caley Wildermuth to oversee the transition. * Present Day: The brand is currently in a "test-and-learn" phase, utilizing YouTube as a primary distribution channel while concurrently developing a second season of original programming. Supporting data and the cost of attention. The decision to bring production in-house is not just a creative whim; it is a financial necessity driven by the rising "price of admission." "Entertainment has become the new price of admission," says Daryl Giannantonio, chief strategy officer at VML. As digital ad platforms become more expensive, the ROI on traditional performance marketing is shrinking. For many brands, the cost to reach a consumer through a standard paid ad has risen to the point where the brand must offer genuine value - in the form of entertainment - to earn the viewer's time. The financials of "brand-as-media" While the company has declined to disclose the exact production costs for their debut documentary, Capuano confirms that Cakes Media is currently funded through the brand's top-of-funnel marketing budget. This represents a deliberate trade-off. Instead of pouring those dollars into Facebook or Google ads, the brand is investing in proprietary media assets. The "halo effect," as Capuano calls it, refers to the residual brand equity built when a consumer engages with a piece of content, finds it entertaining, and consequently associates that positive emotion with the product. This strategy improves media efficiency. By creating an audience that wants to watch their content, the brand reduces its reliance on high-cost, low-intent clicks. As Olamma Nzeribe-Williams, social activation manager at Media by Mother, notes, "You can't just sit at the bottom of search and catch people." Brands must move upstream, becoming part of the culture rather than just an interruption in it. The case for in-house control. One of the most defining aspects of the Cakes Media launch is the decision to bypass traditional creative agencies. For Capuano, the "humanness" of their brand is its most valuable asset - and it is an asset that is notoriously difficult to outsource. The agency dilemma. Traditional agencies are often structured to optimize for performance metrics rather than emotional connection. When a brand delegates its voice to an external partner, there is an inherent risk of "corporate polish," which can strip away the raw, messy, and relatable personality that drives viral success. By keeping content production in-house, Cakes maintains: * Creative Agility: They can react to trends or internal ideas in real-time, without the bureaucratic friction of client-agency approvals. * Brand Integrity: The tone remains consistent because the storytellers are the founders themselves, or people intimately tied to the brand's mission. * Data Ownership: By hosting their own media channels, they own the audience data and the feedback loop, allowing them to refine their content strategy based on deep analytics rather than agency reports. Cakes is not alone in this philosophy. They are joining the ranks of Red Bull Media House - the gold standard for brand-led media - and a growing list of companies experimenting with microseries and long-form video to build brand loyalty. Implications: the future of brand-led media. What does the birth of Cakes Media mean for the broader retail industry? It suggests that Fashionshots is entering an era where the distinction between a "brand" and a "media company" is effectively disappearing. 1. The death of the "hard sell" Consumers have become increasingly ad-blind. They are skilled at scrolling past sponsored posts, but they remain highly engaged with high-quality entertainment. Brands that attempt to force a "hard sale" are increasingly viewed as noise, while brands that provide value through entertainment are viewed as contributors to the viewer's life. 2. A shift in budget allocation. Fashionshots is likely to see a continued shift in marketing budgets from "Performance" (where money is spent to buy a click) to "Brand Media" (where money is spent to build an asset that generates its own traffic). While performance marketing will always have a place in closing a sale, the top of the funnel is increasingly becoming an entertainment category. 3. The need for "creator-execs" The success of Cakes Media suggests that the next generation of marketing leaders will need to function as executive producers. The ability to manage a writers' room, understand video distribution algorithms, and maintain a consistent brand narrative will become as essential as understanding SEO or ROAS (Return on Ad Spend). 4. The long-term play. For Cakes, the current phase is one of experimentation. They are in the process of determining which content types - whether it be documentary, scripted, or reality-style programming - resonate best with their audience. With a second season of original programming already in development, the brand is clearly committed to this path for the long haul. Conclusion. Cakes Body is not just selling breast petals; they are selling a lifestyle and a philosophy that their audience finds compelling enough to watch for 57 minutes at a time. By launching Cakes Media, the brand is insulating itself from the volatility of digital ad markets and building a sustainable, owned audience that is far more valuable than a transient customer acquired through a paid ad. As the lines between marketing, entertainment, and commerce continue to blur, the brands that win will be those that realize they aren't just competing with other products - they are competing with Netflix, TikTok creators, and the entire attention economy. If Cakes Body can continue to "operationalize virality" while maintaining the humanness that brought them to this point, they may very well provide the blueprint for the next decade of retail success. 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FSSAI rules put beverage makers in a tizzy as 'energy' deadline looms. , ET Bureau Last Updated: Sep 29, 2026, 12:27:00 AM IST Red Bull has approached the Delhi High Court to dispute FSSAI's ban on energy drink labeling. The company argues that due process was not followed in the ban's implementation. Reliance has introduced Campa Xtra without the term 'energy' amid the new regulations. Industry executives express concerns about the impact on major energy drink brands in India. The energy drink market is significant, valued at approximately ₹9,500 crore in recent years. New Delhi: Red Bull on Monday approached the Delhi High Court challenging the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India's (FSSAI) ban on labelling its products as 'energy' drinks. In response to FSSAI's 90-day deadline that runs through September 30, Reliance has introduced Campa Xtra with the same formulation without featuring the term 'energy'. Red Bull, the world's largest energy drink, told the court that FSSAI didn't issue a show-cause notice or give any hearing before passing the order. The court asked the food safety regulator to respond by Tuesday. Meanwhile, Red Bull products continued to be sold in stores and on online platforms till late Monday. Red Bull, FSSAI and Reliance Consumer didn't respond to ET's queries. PepsiCo, which dropped term 'energy' from its Sting drink last month, is in process of withdrawing existing stocks from the market, industry executives said. Beverage makers 'On Alert' "FSSAI has made a U-turn on its own regulatory position," said a senior executive at one of the affected companies. "In year 2024, it had itself allowed energy drinks as permissible for products licensed under the relevant categories." "Our new year cans printed with the energy drinks label are ready; we are still hopeful of more time for the change, as it requires close to a year to transition to new labels since there are millions of packs in the market," said another company executive. Red Bull is the only company to seek legal recourse over the matter. The Indian Beverage Association (IBA), whose members include PepsiCo, Reliance and Red Bull, has yet to take a legal stance on the development. FSSAI said in its July order that it doesn't recognise the category with no formal category standards defined for energy drinks and that claims such as 'vitalises body and mind' and 'helps in general weakness' are misleading. The regulator's order also stated that all labels, marketing and ad campaigns with the term energy should be pulled out within 90 days. The category is estimated at ₹9,500 crore with Red Bull, Sting, Monster, Campa and Hell together spending more than ₹2,000 crore annually on marketing. Industry watchers said Red Bull, Sting and Campa Energy will bear the biggest impact of FSSAI's ban since all three had capitalised on niches in the market. Read More News on