Tomte Cakes

Creating a Holiday Tradition for a New Generation

For generations, families have struggled with gingerbread house kits that are messy, complicated, and, more often than not, inedible. The Tomte Cake reinvented this tradition, offering a story-driven, mess-free, and delicious alternative designed to bring families together. Inspired by Scandinavian folklore, The Tomte Cake blends baking, storytelling, and holiday magic into a single experience. The challenge was introducing an entirely new tradition to an audience that already had established holiday rituals.

Watson partnered with The Tomte Cake team to craft a strategic brand, digital, and marketing plan that would position the product as a must-have seasonal tradition. Our goal was to take a small startup idea and turn it into a scalable national brand.

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Positioning The Tomte Cake for Growth

To build credibility and emotional resonance, Watson developed The Tomte Cake’s brand around three core messages: reclaiming the joy of tradition, simplifying the season while savoring the moment, and creating a gift that sparks joy and connection. These guiding principles helped differentiate The Tomte Cake from standard gingerbread kits, positioning it as a whimsical, premium experience that would stand the test of time.

We refined the tagline to “Find Tomte. Find the Joy.” reinforcing the excitement of the hidden gnome figurine and the interactive nature of the baking experience. The brand voice was designed to be playful, inclusive, and confident, mirroring the warmth and wonder of the product itself.

Optimizing the Digital Experience

The Tomte Cake’s website had strong engagement but needed improvements in conversion optimization, user flow, and mobile responsiveness. Watson restructured the site to enhance the checkout experience, improve page speed, and optimize calls to action.

Personalized landing pages were developed for key customer personas—The Choir, The Trier, and The Giver—ensuring messaging resonated with parents looking to establish traditions, simplify the holiday season, or give meaningful gifts. Product pages were refined to include stronger storytelling, improved visuals, and social proof elements like reviews and user-generated content.

Subscription-based purchasing and upsells were integrated into the e-commerce flow, allowing customers to bundle additional baking pans, Tomte figurines, and pre-made baking mixes for a seamless gifting experience.

RESEARCH

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Results

Benefits

Not Everything. Just What Works.

Strategy

Build from insight. Strategy isn’t guesswork—it’s groundwork. We listen, research, and distill what matters to guide smarter decisions and set a solid creative direction.

Content

Make it meaningful. From naming to narratives, we create content that speaks with purpose—rooted in truth, tuned to your audience, and built to connect.

Digital

Design for behavior. We craft digital experiences that are intuitive, scalable, and aligned with how real people move, click, swipe, and search.

Experiential

Bring brands to life. Physical spaces, moments, and memories matter. We design experiences that feel human—and stay with you long after the lights go out.

Marketing

Drive connection. Our marketing approach blends data and instinct—getting the right message to the right people, in ways that actually move them.

Consulting

Partner on progress. We work alongside your team to solve real problems, shift thinking, and build internal alignment—without the agency ego.