Relatively recent advancements in the availability of a range of technologies have seen animation emerge as an extremely exciting marketing medium with a plethora of possibilities. Despite this, however, it remains seriously underused by both marketers and businesses, particularly those who would benefit most significantly from its unique qualities. So, let’s take a closer look at how animation differs from traditional filmmaking and why it could be the ideal choice of medium for your next marketing video.
1. Increase Engagement with Unlimited Imagination
The Internet and social media sites are becoming far more visually-led spaces, in part because this type of content can convey messaging in ways that are more immediate than content that is solely text-based. As the digital space becomes more crowded, standing out is getting trickier. Thankfully, however, one of the best things about animation is its unending versatility.
Essentially, you can use animation to represent anything and everything your imagination can conceive and as there are no limits on the scale or scope of the subject matter, not even the laws of physics will stand in your way. With no rules to work around or limitations on your imagination, your animated video content will only ever be constrained by your creativity and technical skillset. With a great team on your side, there really is no limit to what you can achieve with it.
2. Retain Complete Control Over Tone and Style in a Highly Cost Effective Way
The medium of animation encompasses a variety of techniques, each of which delivers a unique visual look, style and tone. As every aspect of an animation can be tailored to suit your messaging and brand, this is an excellent medium for creating engaging video content that reflects your ethos and will appeal to your ideal audience.
Notably, animation is an incredibly cost-effective medium because you don’t need access to camera equipment, actors or film sets to produce an effective and engaging brand video. Animation budgets can, of course, vary wildly and the size of your investment will largely be influenced by the length and complexity of your concept.
3. Enhance Communication by Simplifying Complex Information
If you want to communicate some complex ideas or information to your audience, animation is often a particularly effective medium to utilise. From visually showcasing how your business operates within a complex global network or illustrating how your products were designed to solve the very specific problems your audience are encountering, animation can provide a degree of clarity that cannot be replicated using any other medium.
Animation can be used as an effective visual accompaniment to a narrative and can help audiences to connect with even substantial volumes of complex information in just a few minutes. Explainer videos or any content that is reliant on exposition and context to communicate the core messaging lend themselves well to animated techniques. The Check Out for Children campaign from Unicef is a great example of this.
4. Boost your Online Visibility
Integrating video content into your overall digital marketing strategy is essential if you want to succeed online. More than 80% of Twitter users frequently engage with video content on the platform and 45% of people now watch over 60 minutes of video on Facebook or YouTube every week. YouTube’s billion users are collectively watching in excess of 500 million hours of video every day.
There is no guaranteed approach to securing virality online, however most viral videos have two characteristics in common: they explain something in a way that is both engaging and/or entertaining. Animation inherently possesses the core assets of both of these things, which immediately puts your brand video in a great position to attract plenty of attention online, even in noisy marketplaces. This introductory video from Dropbox [5] is an excellent example as to how to use animation effectively and if you had any doubts about the extent of the reach it secured, it has currently been viewed more than four million times.
5. Utilise the Emotional Power of Animated Characters
Animated characters are used by a variety of brands and marketers to great success precisely because they have a unique ability to connect with audiences on an emotional level. Animated characters can elicit a variety of emotions from audiences and can engender the desired emotional response amongst viewers. From happiness and joy to sadness and empathy, audiences can be made to feel close to animated characters which is, in turn, a feeling that is also transferred to the business those characters are visually representing.
Animated videos are highly watchable and can convey information in an engaging and easy to understand manner. If all that wasn’t enough to convince you to look into the benefits of animated content for your next brand video, it is also a highly cost-effective medium that will be limited only by your own creativity or that of your video provider.
