Sydney, Australia – Cake.Shop, an adtech startup, has officially launched in Australia, offering brands and agencies innovative programmatic ad buying services that emphasise transparency and rich media creative ad targeting.
Founded by former AdLudio and Mindshare Australia programmatic executive Luke Hills and former Azerion JAPAC managing director Georgia Woodburne, Cake.Shop draws its name from the proverb “to have your cake and eat it,” reflecting the company’s commitment to delivering the best of both worlds in media buying.
Hills is the former VP of growth at AdLudio in London and was previously head of programmatic at Mindshare Australia. Woodburne was responsible for driving Azerion’s expansion in the JAPAC region and played a key role in rich media creative company Inskin’s expansion in the Asia Pacific region, where she held the role of GM, APAC.
Cake.Shop aims to provide agencies and brands with a trusted solution to address the industry’s biggest challenges: easy access to programmatic advertising, creative excellence, and precise measurement. By offering a unique experience, Cake.Shop helps brands and agencies achieve strong performance from their programmatic ad spend.
The company stated that it aims to disrupt the media buying process through a four-pronged approach: creative-led, with attention-grabbing ads designed to engage rather than annoy; sustainable marketing, by measuring, reducing, and optimising to meet sustainable goals; technology ownership, by eliminating intermediaries for greater control and transparency over marketing technology; and commercial flexibility, which allows businesses to grow sustainably.
For Hills, traditional managed service options are not working, and agencies and brands need control over their technology choices and must work transparently with their partners.
Meanwhile, Woodburne believes that transparency is at the core of Cake.Shop’s ethos.
“We believe this should be reflected in fee structures and solutions,” said Woodburne.
Speaking more about the launch, Hills shared, “We’re thrilled to introduce Cake Shop to the world. Our mission is to support agencies and brands in achieving sustainable growth both commercially and environmentally. We aim to make effective advertising more accessible for brands of all sizes. Cake.Shop is designed to lower the barrier to entry, providing market-leading solutions that enable agencies to deliver world-class services to their clients. By stepping into the gap left by larger technology companies, Cake.Shop offers a local and global, client-focused alternative for businesses.”
“Our flexible approach means clients can reduce spending without the pressure of restrictive contracts. We’re possibly the only business in the market advocating for clients to spend less, focusing instead on quality, ownership, and transparency for long-term brand growth. With significant headwinds in marketing through privacy, compliance, and sustainability, we believe legacy solutions in the market will struggle to meet the demands of local businesses. We’re here to help companies navigate these pressures with solutions that complement our sustainable vision,” Hills added.
