Kargo helps brands cut through with premium creative on connected TV

Kargo’s interactive full-screen and multi-panel formats capture viewers’ attention.

Advertising technology company Kargo is known for high-impact creative formats that run across connected TV, desktop and mobile. Instead of standard banner or pre-roll ads, Kargo builds interactive, full-screen and multi-panel formats designed to hold a viewer’s attention rather than simply appear in front of it.

Two recent campaigns for Samsung and Land Rover’s Defender show how that approach plays out in the New Zealand market, and how Kargo pairs its formats with audience intelligence to help brands cut through in a crowded media landscape.

Defender: bringing premium storytelling to connected TV

Campaign period: January 15 to February 28, 2026

The challenge

Defender wanted to reinforce its premium positioning and reach affluent Kiwi audiences when they’re paying closest attention: while streaming. Standard video advertising could deliver scale, but it couldn’t fully capture the design, capability and lifestyle appeal – the brand needed something more immersive.

The approach

Kargo partnered with Jaguar Land Rover NZ to bring its proprietary CTV Flipbook experience to premium streaming platforms including Sky NZ, TVNZ+ and ThreeNow.

Flipbook lets viewers move through multiple creative panels within a CTV experience. Each panel showcases a different image, feature or message. The format feels native to the big screen, while offering the kind of layered storytelling usually reserved for print or digital display.

Kargo paired the creative approach with contextual placements and high-income audience targeting. This ensured Defender’s message reached the right viewers in premium, brand-safe streaming environments – settings where attention and receptiveness to premium brands run highest.

The results

The campaign achieved over 99% video completion rates across Sky NZ, TVNZ+ and ThreeNow – well ahead of Kargo’s benchmark performance.

Jaguar Land Rover praised the campaign, noting the format allowed the brand’s storytelling to feel richer and more considered than a conventional CTV spot. It’s a clear demonstration of how format innovation, not just media spend, can deepen brand engagement on the biggest screen in the house.

Samsung Galaxy S26 launch: driving cross-channel engagement with connected TV

Campaign period: February 26 to April 11, 2026 (pre-order and launch)

The challenge

Launching a flagship smartphone into a crowded market takes more than broad reach. It takes creative that grabs attention and then holds it – through pre-order, launch and everything in between.

The approach

For the Galaxy S26 launch, Kargo built a cross-channel strategy anchored by premium connected TV and powered by its proprietary Outcome Max solution.

This is a suite that brings together Kargo’s highest-performing digital formats and optimises them for engagement and performance at every stage of a campaign.

On the creative side, the campaign combined three formats:

• Runway video – Kargo’s premium video unit, built for immersive, full-screen storytelling with exceptional viewability.
• Spotlight – an interactive display format designed to invite deeper engagement rather than a passive glance.
• CTV branded canvas – a format that lets a brand’s creative take over the screen within premium streaming environments, in this case across TVNZ+, ThreeNow and Sky NZ.

Together, these formats gave Samsung a consistent, high-impact presence whether a viewer was streaming a show on the big screen or scrolling on a phone.

Layered on top was Kargo’s Cohort Intelligence technology, a proprietary audience-targeting tool that identified high-intent groups. For Samsung, these included Tech Enthusiasts and Trend Chasers.

As well as targeting these groups, Kargo used contextual signals to ensure Samsung’s message appeared beside genuinely relevant content, rather than just anywhere with an available ad slot.

The results

The campaign delivered:

• 98% CTV viewability
• 34 seconds average
  in-view time
• 1.81% click-through rate, well above Kargo’s benchmarks

The results point to a broader lesson for major product launches: when premium creative, smart targeting and Connected TV are brought together deliberately, the combination drives noticeably stronger attention and engagement than any one element could alone.

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