Alex and Ani recently secured the Big Kahuna of ad placements: a commercial that ran during the Feb. 3 Super Bowl.

The ad—which cost the Providence, R.I.–based jewelry chain $2 million to produce and air—was broadcast only in select markets, mostly in the Northeast.

“It’s pretty cool,” says company CEO Giovanni Feroce. “With Valentine’s Day sitting there 12 days out, to me it was a no-brainer.”

The effect was immediate: Web traffic spiked 550 percent the following day, with a 243 percent jump during the game after the ad ran. Traffic resembled the busiest moments of Cyber Monday, Feroce says.

“Over the next two weeks, with Valentine’s Day, I expect overall sales to blow up,” he says.

Feroce says the company plans to air an ad on the big game again next year.

At least one blogger was impressed with the effort.

“Have you ever heard of [Alex and Ani] before tonight?” he wrote. “I have not and I was so curious that I went to their website, well at least I tried. Their website was shutdown because of the massive amount of visitor traffic and they started trending on Twitter. That is impressive.”

The ad aired during the game in Providence, R.I.; Boston; New Haven, Conn.; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Charlotte, N.C.; Atlanta; Palm Beach, Fla.; Denver; San Francisco; and Seattle. It ran before the game in Providence, Boston, New Haven, D.C., Palm Beach, Denver, and Seattle.

Here is the ad that aired during the Super Bowl:

Here is the ad that aired just before the game:

The company recently sold a minority stake to a private equity firm.

Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine