From Clicks to Conversions: How Ashley Stewart Scaled Smart with Taboola Native Ads
For every fashionista who’s in love with their curves, Ashley Stewart has been THE go-to fashion retailer in the USA. Known for its fabulous and classy plus-size offerings, the brand has been regaling divas for decades. And while its ad campaigns were performing well, the brand just knew that there was still money left on the table. So they turned to BrandLoom to explore some fresh frontiers. And we were happy to help.
The Challenges
In a competitive landscape dominated by Meta and Google, the brand needed to expand its reach and performance. But that was just the tip of the iceberg, and we had a host of factors to deal with:
Top-of-Funnel Scalability
Finding a cost-efficient way to acquire new audiences without cannibalizing search/social.
Cross-Device Performance
Improving mobile-first brand experience that felt organic, not intrusive.
Creative Flexibility
Finding new ways to tell the brand story beyond rigid ad formats.
Breaking Out of Walled Gardens
Getting incremental reach beyond existing channels like Facebook and Google.
Understanding the Assignment
With zero history on native platforms, our goal here was to build a performance-first native ad strategy from scratch.
Start from Ground Zero:
The brand had no prior Taboola presence, requiring full setup, testing, and optimization.
Real-Time Learning:
Campaigns needed to adapt fast using performance data and AI-led decisions.
Understanding User Intent:
To get maximum returns, our campaigns had to identify and convert high-potential shoppers through content discovery.
Our Step-by-Step Strategy
We built a data-driven, mobile-first Taboola campaign anchored in prospecting, precision targeting, and native storytelling. Our objective was to create a brand experience that aligned with user behavior, device preferences, and content consumption habits.
Amp up Prospecting
Allocated 91% of the budget to attract new users via high-impact creatives across Taboola’s publisher network.
Device-Based Optimization:
Paused underperforming desktop ads and doubled down on mobile/tablet, where most shoppers were.
Smarter Retargeting
Segmented warm audiences based on content behavior and style preferences to maximize conversions.
Customizing Creatives
Used editorial headlines, natural visuals, and thumbnail testing to drive high engagement in native environments.
AI-Driven Optimization
Let Taboola’s AI handle bid adjustments, asset testing, and inventory prioritization for scalable performance.
The Results
With just $38K in ad spend, Ashley Stewart achieved breakthrough results on a brand-new platform. The brand unlocked a previously untapped customer base that had been left out by traditional channels- and achieved phenomenal results.
Prospecting Spend: $35K → ROAS of 21.03
An outstanding return for upper-funnel outreach, with many new customers added.
Retargeting Spend: $3K → ROAS of 13.43
By focusing on high-intent audiences, we increased conversions.
Overall ROAS: 20.35
For every $1 spent, the brand earned $20.35 back—without relying on Meta or Google.
New Audience Unlocked
Reached buyers who had never interacted via social or search ads.
Conclusion
Ashley Stewart’s success proved that with an innovative approach, it is possible to find new pastures off the beaten track. All you need is an innovative, AI-driven approach, and non-intrusive storytelling. In just five months, the brand built a high-ROAS channel from scratch redefined its top-of-funnel strategy and opened doors to entirely new customer segments. Native isn’t just about impressions anymore—it’s about impact, conversions, and connection.
