The Effectiveness of the "Instagram Magazine Package" Seen Through the Success of POLA × "Biteki"

POLA and the magazine "Biteki" (Shogakukan) demonstrated significant brand lift effects by utilizing the new Instagram advertising product "Instagram Magazine Package," which combines the publisher's content strength with social media reach. This advertising product is a unique offering developed by Dentsu Digital Inc. and Dentsu Inc. in partnership with Facebook Japan. Based on the POLA × "Biteki" case study, we asked three representatives about the features of the "Instagram Magazine Package" and effective ways to utilize it.

(From left) Dentsu Inc.: Makoto Hirabayashi, Dentsu Digital Inc.: Nanami Fujii, Dentsu Digital Inc.: Misora Tsuchiya

※This article is edited from a "KNOWLEDGE CHARGE" article.
・What is the "Instagram Magazine Package," currently attracting attention for combining publishers' production capabilities with SNS reach?
・Three Key Points for Effectively Utilizing the "Instagram Magazine Package" Based on POLA × 'Biteki' Success Stories

 

The "Instagram Magazine Package": Combining a Publisher's Production Capabilities with the Viral Power of Social Media

──First, could you explain the basics of the "Instagram Magazine Package"?

Tsuchiya: The "Instagram Magazine Package" is an advertising product developed by the Social Content Planning Unit (SCPU), a cross-organizational unit launched in 2023 by Dentsu Digital Inc.'s Social Platform Department and Dentsu Inc.'s Publishing Business Development Division. It was realized in partnership with Facebook Japan.

The Instagram Magazine Package is a product that utilizes high-quality creative content created by publishers, leveraging their content production and editing capabilities, and is produced using Instagram's carousel format. The carousel format allows up to 10 images to be posted per post, and we named it "Magazine" because swiping left and right to view the images is similar to browsing a magazine. We also package it with operational advertising.

With the "Instagram Magazine Package," creatives produced by publishers are posted as "tie-up posts" from the publisher's Instagram account. The creatives are then distributed as "partnership ads" from the client company's Instagram account. This allows a single creative to be used to boost advertising to a wide range of targeted users in addition to the publisher's account followers.

Misora Tsuchiya (Meta Group, Social Platform Department, Platform Division, Dentsu Digital Inc.)

Hirabayashi: The key to the "Instagram Magazine Package" is its operation. Dentsu Inc.'s Publishing Business Development Division handles the prerequisites, such as media selection based on the challenge. The publisher's editorial department develops the creative content, while Dentsu Digital Inc. researches and proposes the optimal planning for ad delivery and operation.

Purchase Intent Doubled! POLA × "Biteki" Success Story

──Please explain the background behind POLA's decision to utilize the "Instagram Magazine Package."

Hirabayashi: POLA has been a client advertising in "Biteki" for some time. This time, they planned to run tie-up articles in both the print magazine and on the web. However, they expressed a desire to "expand their reach on social media while they had the opportunity," so we proposed the "Instagram Magazine Package."

──What were the specifics of the implemented strategy?

Hirabayashi: First, we posted a "sponsored post" on Bijo's Instagram account. We then ran that post as a "partnership ad" for POLA.

The ad creative was based on the tie-up article published in the print edition of "Bijo," reworked for Instagram. Additionally, we conducted a sampling campaign with a survey targeting members of the "Bijo Club," a reader community managed by the "Bijo" editorial team, and incorporated the results into the content. We also featured user-generated content from the "Bijo Club" to create a multi-dimensional product introduction.

Ad creative produced by "Biteki," based on the magazine's tie-up advertisement

Includes survey responses from "Biteki Club" members

Effectiveness verification results showed that compared to non-exposed individuals, those exposed to both the pure advertisement and the "Instagram Magazine Package" "Partnership Advertisement" had purchase intent more than double (+21.0pt.) that of non-exposed individuals , demonstrating extremely high effectiveness.

Detailed brand lift effect verification conducted using a data clean room

──How was the effectiveness verified?

Hirabayashi: We conducted the effectiveness verification using Meta Advanced Analytics (MetaAA), Meta's data clean room*. The objectives of this initiative were to improve purchase intent among ad exposed individuals and to understand the details of attitude change. MetaAA enables us to match Instagram operational data with asking survey data, such as brand awareness, to confirm the details of the lift. In this data analysis, we compared the results to POLA's standard ads (pure ads) run on Instagram during the same period.

• * Individuals exposed only to the "Partnership Ads" within the "Instagram Magazine Package"
• Those exposed only to the standard ad
• Those exposed to both
• Those who were not exposed to either

to determine the extent of lift.

*A data clean room is an analytical environment enabling companies to integrate and analyze data without identifying individuals. Utilizing this allows linking data on media exposure, offline store visits, and purchases—all on a platform with consumer consent—enabling real-world effectiveness verification.

Effectiveness verification analysis revealed extremely high effectiveness among individuals exposed to both pure advertising and the "Instagram Magazine Package" "Partnership Ads," showing a 15-20 point increase across broad phases including awareness, understanding, and purchase. We believe this dual approach from both corporate and third-party perspectives is effective and plan to recommend this combination to other client companies moving forward.

Fujii: You might wonder if a Brand Lift Survey (BLS) would suffice if you only want to know whether there is a lift. Compared to BLS, the asking survey conducted with MetaAA allows for highly flexible question design beyond the standardized questions typically used in BLS. This flexibility is a key strength, enabling the investigation of more detailed items, including user affinity (favorability), depending on the design. Another MetaAA feature is its ability to verify effectiveness under multiple conditions, such as ad exposure, non-exposure, and duplicate exposure. This case study exemplifies survey results that leverage MetaAA's unique characteristics.

Nanami Fujii (Meta Group, Social Platform Department, Platform Division, Dentsu Digital Inc.)

Four Key Features of the "Instagram Magazine Package"

──Based on this case study, please explain the features of the "Instagram Magazine Package."

Hirabayashi: The first is the ability to create compelling content leveraging publishers' planning and production expertise. Publishers possess deep user insights and exceptional capabilities to produce creative content that resonates. As of January 2025, approximately 70 media outlets participate in this consortium, offering a significant advantage: the ability to plan the optimal media mix for specific requirements and target audiences from a rich variety of options. Additionally, this campaign utilized the "Bikiki Club," the reader community of "Bikiki" magazine. Publishers possess abundant resources highly effective for such advertising production. Being able to leverage these is a major advantage.

Second, it allows creative content leveraging the publisher's planning and production capabilities to be distributed from the publisher's account. This fosters a sense of credible third-party endorsement. While advertising is typically distributed from the client company's own perspective, this "Instagram Magazine Package" delivers advertising from the third-party perspective of the publisher. In this case, we believe that having a "professional in the field" like Biteki deliver the message from a third-party position increased the trustworthiness of the information and led to a change in user awareness and attitude.

The third point is that it is a complete SNS package. This time, we also introduced the product from various angles. Since it is a carousel post, we can include a certain amount of information within the images, allowing us to efficiently promote awareness and understanding within the Instagram post itself.

Finally, it is operated by SCPU. By having SCPU operate the campaign, we can maximize advertising effectiveness by reaching the appropriate target audience with high-quality content while making detailed operational adjustments. Furthermore, in addition to verifying the effectiveness using MetaAA as mentioned earlier, we can also combine it with other solutions developed by the Dentsu Group. This enables us to deliver advertisements with deeper analysis and more detailed targeting, which is difficult with normal tie-up advertising.

Maka Hirabayashi (Dentsu Inc. Publishing Business Development Division)

── Could you explain the "Partnership Ads" incorporated into the "Instagram Magazine Package" again?

Fujii: "Partnership Ads" is an Instagram advertising delivery method where companies or brands can distribute organic posts created by creators as their own advertisements. The distributed posts are labeled as "Partnership Ads." For companies and brands, the benefit is the ability to reach users beyond their own account followers, gaining broad reach. Another attractive point is that the posts feel less like advertisements, making them highly appealing to users who tend to avoid ads.

I believe a major strength of utilizing "Partnership Ads" is that it allows company accounts running regular ads to effectively implement the PDCA cycle for their campaigns.

Leveraging the strengths of the Dentsu Group to powerfully support client companies and publishers

──Please share your outlook for the future of the "Instagram Magazine Package."

Hirabayashi: Publishers possess extensive expertise and resources cultivated over their long history in magazine production and editing, yet I feel they haven't fully leveraged these on social media. We aim to build a system that effectively monetizes these assets and returns value to publishers. Simultaneously, we want to establish an organizational framework that utilizes publisher resources—such as exclusive models, reader communities, and connections with experts and renowned establishments—to create original content. Furthermore, beyond just creating high-quality content, we want to use initiatives like the "Instagram Magazine Package" to deliver that content to the optimal target audience and continuously run the PDCA cycle. Through this, we aim to communicate the value and effectiveness of the creative work produced by publishers to many client companies.

Fujii: We'll advance product development by combining publishers' strengths in content creation with our expertise in digital marketing strategy. Personally, I'm eager to tackle video production that leverages each publisher's unique communities and resources. Furthermore, I believe one of publishers' strengths is their ability to write compelling, clear copy that effectively communicates corporate and brand messages. Therefore, developing products for print-based media that capitalize on this strength also seems very promising. Additionally, the same team currently offers the "Instagram Magazine Package" and the "X Magazine Package." We plan to expand this product to other platforms in the future.

Tsuchiya: While further expanding the "Instagram Magazine Package" is certainly a goal, we also want to fully address the current trend of short videos. Meta's research shows that vertical short videos, specifically "Reels," account for over 50% of usage, making it a key focus area for Meta. Since some publishers have media outlets strong in vertical short video production, we definitely want to pursue this. (*Vertical video version of "SNS Video Magazine" released in March 2025) Furthermore, both the "Instagram Magazine Package" and MetaAA represent strengths of the Dentsu Group. By combining and leveraging these two, we believe we can implement strategies that capture SNS trends while maximizing the strengths of the Dentsu Group. We will provide client companies with mechanisms for implementing and validating optimal digital strategies, as demonstrated in this case. Simultaneously, we aim to strongly push publishers' monetization efforts.

This project was undertaken in close collaboration with Dentsu Inc.'s Publishing Business Development Division. We intend to cherish this relationship and continue taking on new challenges together.