NUGU

The South Korean fashion platform partnered with local creators in Japan for a cross-border campaign of branded content ads on Instagram, and earned 64% more purchases compared to its business-as-usual campaign.

THE STORY
Trends from South Korea

An online retailer specializing in Korean apparel and trends, nugu launched in October 2021 with the aim of providing a mobile-optimized purchase experience. The ecommerce platform has partnered with Japanese creators and brands as part of its expansion efforts.

12%

higher return on ad spend from branded content ads

64%

more purchases from branded content ads

39%

lower cost per purchase from branded content ads

53%

lower cost per click from branded content ads

The nugu team has been working with influencers to effectively promote Korean products in the Japanese market. With this campaign of branded content ads, we not only minimized the resources needed to create localized marketing content that appeals to Japanese shoppers, but also achieved significant increases in key performance metrics, including return on ad spend.
CHUNGHYO PARK, NUGU MARKETING LEAD, MEDICARE LABS
THE GOAL
Running more effective campaigns

The fashion brand hoped to improve return on ad spend for its cross-border campaigns by partnering with Japanese creators.

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THE SOLUTION

Collaborating with creators

The nugu team identified four Japanese creators to work with and collaborated with them on posts featuring the platform’s products for an Instagram campaign of branded content ads. The creators posted the images in a carousel format on Instagram, and each post was marked as Sponsored, included the partnership information with nugu and encouraged people to Shop now. The posts linked to nugu’s website.

To measure the performance of the two-week campaign, nugu conducted an A/B test that compared the Instagram branded content ads with the retailer’s usual photo ad campaign. The team served all ads to women between the ages of 19–40 living in Japan. The results showed that the branded content ads delivered better overall campaign performance for reach, cost per click, return on ad spend and purchases.

  • 12% higher return on ad spend from branded content ads, compared to usual campaign
  • 64% more purchases from branded content ads, compared to usual campaign
  • 39% lower cost per purchase from branded content ads, compared to usual campaign
  • 53% lower cost per click from branded content ads, compared to usual campaign
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