The power of insta-mags to deliver "quick, consumable content"

Mazda is launching a new model in 2015 called the MX-5 Roadster. But ahead of the launch it is issuing a series of "insta-magazines" through September 3,which combine static imagery and video, delivered to smartphones on Instagram. They are aimed at 18- to 35-year-olds. According to a story on Strategy, 

Launched last week, the “magazines” actually consist of a nine-panel shot that fit together to make a cover. Each individual image is a video, [say Michael Tsang, supervisor of interactive marketing, Mazda], giving a short history vignette into the brand’s past. One magazine will be revealed per week until Sept. 3, when the new model is unveiled. 

Because the car itself won’t actually be available for purchase until 2015, this is a soft launch, Tsang says, simply revealing the new look. As such, the campaign will largely live on social, supported by Facebook and Twitter, with no mass media push (though he says next year, there will be a traditional marketing campaign). 

The brief to the agency was for “quick, consumable content,” that “celebrated the history” of the car.

Could this be an acknowledgement of the power of the magazine form? We can hope.