Wunderkind Pause Ads Boost CTV Sales for Zales

Zales (the Diamond Store), a 100-year-old company that falls under the Signet Jewelers umbrella, had historically viewed connected TV as a tool for building top-of-funnel awareness rather than driving direct conversions.

But then last year, faced with the challenge of amplifying a new brand message and promoting timely Mother’s Day offers, the premier jewelry retailer explored new avenues within the connected TV space. It turned to Wunderkind Ads for what turned out to be a highly successful CTV campaign with media agency Connect at Publicis Media. It ran increasingly popular pause ads, which have proven capable of reaching viewers who are likely to skip or ignore traditional CTV ads, on Xumo Play, the streaming platform available as a joint venture between Comcast and Charter Communications.

The Zales national marketing campaign leveraged Wunderkind’s Pause Ad inventory and used custom-built creative, including one version for a Mother’s Day sales push and another showcasing Zales’ new brand identity. It implemented a three-pronged targeting approach combining audience data (jewelry and Mother’s Day shoppers), contextual targeting, and a run-of-network (RON) mix to balance precision with scale.

Developed with OpenGlass, Wunderkind’s CTV Pause Ad technology ensures seamless delivery and optimization of a user-first ad experience across a curated list of top-tier publishers and platforms. High-impact ads are delivered non-intrusively once a user pauses a program.

Unlike traditional video ads that interrupt viewing, these non-intrusive pause ads allow users to engage with Zales in a calm, clutter-free environment. The engagement rate for the format was twice the market average, proving that consumers are receptive to brand messages during natural disengagement points.

In general, pause ads are proving essential in grabbing scattered audience attention. Fifty-one percent of viewers take action after encountering a pause ad, per the Video Advertising Bureau. They also enable advertisers to reach audiences for extended periods of time, with most viewers (81 percent) pausing content to avoid missing something, and 54 percent pausing for up to five minutes, giving ample time for companies like Zales to get the ad’s message across.

In Zales’ case, the pause ad campaign delivered outstanding results for the Coppell, Texas, retailer, far surpassing expectations. The campaign generated a 276 percent increase in QR code scans compared to previous, larger-budgeted campaigns and yielded direct online sales, successfully turning an upper-funnel awareness tactic into lower-funnel conversions. The campaign also converted engagement into measurable revenue, with directly attributable purchases from QR code scans.

“Wunderkind Ads for CTV exceeded our expectations by driving more QR code scans vs. prior CTV campaigns and even drove some directly attributable sales, an unexpected win for an upper-funnel tactic,” says Yasmari Garay, senior director of digital marketing at Signet/Zales.

“This campaign for Zales demonstrates the measurable impact that innovative ad formats can have on the connected TV experience,” says Joseph Lerner, head of programmatic and revenue partnerships at Xumo. “Our mission at Xumo is to provide advertisers with effective, brand-safe solutions that not only capture viewer attention but also drive tangible results, and this collaboration with Wunderkind Ads and Connect at Publicis Media is a perfect example of that in action.”

“Zales’ outstanding results with Wunderkind Ads on Xumo Play underscore the power of truly user-first advertising,” says Adam Gendelman, head of sales and operations for Wunderkind Ads. “By transforming pause moments into meaningful engagements, we’ve not only boosted brand awareness but demonstrably driven sales, proving that impactful, non-intrusive experiences are the future of CTV.”

The Payoff

After running a pause ad campaign using Wunderkind’s platform on Xumo Play, jewelry retailer Zales saw the following results:

• a 276 percent increase in QR scans compared to other CTV campaigns;
• an engagement rate that was twice the market average; and
• measurable revenue increases, with directly attributable purchases from QR code scans.