• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, February 19, 2013

Daily deals site Zulily is breaking its first-ever national TV campaign, hoping that direct response ads can help it continue to build its momentum in children’s clothing.

The company, which started in 2009 and recently hit $1 billion in market valuation, has so far relied on online ads and daily email blasts, often touting kids’ duds at up to 70% off boutique prices. It offers about 40 sales events each day, most lasting for three days, to its community of 10 million fashion-conscious moms.

“There was no specific trigger for us to move into TV now, but we’ve been hitting lots of milestones, and felt we were ready to start testing TV as our next marketing medium,” Jessica Shapiro, director of brand and communications for the Seattle-based company, tells Marketing Daily.

Ads are running on Bravo and Lifetime Movie Network, in an effort to catch moms when they are both watching TV and surfing/shopping the net. “This test will allow us to see how activity from new members spikes during these periods,” she says. Ads will run for four weeks, and may be extended beyond that, depending on results.

The campaign, handled by media agency Kre8 Media, is aimed specifically at moms with kids ages 8 and under, and 30-second spots show kids cavorting in bright dresses, shoes and tutus with the campaign line “zulily.com. A big selection of styles for a small window of time.”

A 60-second spot, which opens to “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” also explores that “they won’t be little long” angle: “Before long, there will be driving lessons in a parking lot. Love letters in a sock drawer. Concert tickets and curfews. But for now, there is Zulily.”

“The point is that time flies,” says Shapiro. “Our moms know that, and want to really cherish this time when their kids are young. We wanted the ads, which use kids and moms from the Zulily community, to say that Zulily can help them make the most of that very special, very fleeting time.”