Meta recently launched an update called "Adapt to Placement", which allows for designs in multiple formats (aspect ratios), adjusting to fit each placement perfectly.
So you can have a designated 1:1 feed design, a 9:16 story design, and a 4:5 feed design all in your catalog images - making sure your ad looks the best in each placement - no more cropping or white space.
Each of your design variants can now hold up to 3 formats.
The first step is to go into your Meta catalog and click "Edit".
Inside this page, click the gear icon in the top right and go into the "Formats" tab - here, you can choose which formats you wish to use (1:1 is mandatory; 4:5 and 9:16 are optional).
Once you enable multiple formats, you'll notice that each design inside the catalog will now show options for each format.
Click on the format you want to add (i.e., 9:16), then click on the design area to "Add Format".
The system will automatically pre-generate the format for you based on the 1:1 - make any adjustments you want and click "Save" in the top right.
A responsive design is "multiple formats in one design " - meaning these formats share the same design layers.
If you want to, for example, hide a Media in 9:16
(if you remove the layer from the 9:16, it will also be removed from the 1:1).
In the example below, we make it so the logo is visible in the 1:1 and 4:5, but is hidden in the 9:16.
You may also choose to use different elements in different formats.
This is done by creating two versions and controlling their visibility through the "Opacity" option.
If you want to, for example, include a different text in the 9:16
Once every single variant in your catalog has the formats added, you may click "Save" in the top right corner.
You can refresh the catalog manually in Confect, followed by Meta, or wait for a few hours to guarantee that Meta has downloaded and processed the new formats.
The last step to adaptive Catalog Ads is to go into your ads and enable "Adapt to Placement" under "Advantage+ creative" (do not enable any other Advantage+ creative options).
Save this, and publish your ad.
It is up to you whether you want to enable this for all your catalog ads or just a select few.