Why Animated Videos are the Future of Marketing: 5 Reasons to Invest in Them Now

As per Forbes, the attention span of humans is not 8.26 seconds. In fact, humans can pay attention for an enduring amount of time.

Netflix claims that its viewers complete long hours of TV shows which they find exciting without any pause. That certainly hints that our attention span is not as low as we’re told before.

So, what is it that unlocks this level of immersion that we can’t help but find ourselves binge-watching for hours.

And, when asked by a friend who’s another TV junkie to rate a show, we can narrate the entire sequences without any hesitation.

Why is that?

The answer, in a word, story.

Storytelling induces immersion. It unlocks our capacity to pay close attention. We naturally feel more connected to a character’s story as we can empathize and resonate with their values and behaviors.

That’s why some of the best adverts are those that told the perfect story in the minimum possible time. And, as marketers that’s all we need. The perfect story told in the least amount of time possible.

For us marketers, one way to unlock that level of immersion through storytelling is animation.

Animated videos are not just exciting, but equally effective in getting a message across. And, their use in marketing is only growing with the passage of time.

And, here are five reasons why you as a marketer should invest in them;

So, without further ado, let’s get started.

1. Animated videos can convey your imagination

Animated videos give you the edge to share and tell what you can imagine.

It’s a cost-effective way to bring your ideas to life and deliver outstanding video content to your audience.

And, if you’re already from an advertising background, you know how much people love fictional characters. Oh, they’re adorable, aren’t they?

That’s where animated video advertisements have been great in getting the job done. When you choose to invest in animated content, you can run your imagination wild.

Think of all those out of world ideas you had as a child, you can set them free and bring to life with animation. That’s the magic of animation! You’re free to create and convey whatever you want.

So, let me put it this way,

If you don’t have animated content, perhaps you’re missing out.

2. Animated content can develop the ideal tone and style

Another prime reason to invest in animated videos is that you can strike the right tone when required. Now for some sensitive topics, you might not be able to educate using live-action.

For instance, if you wish to produce training content for multiple departments. Or let’s say you want to train manual labors or tradesperson on how they’ll operate in your facilities.

To ensure they follow the SOPs, live-action might be an option. But it’s going to be inefficient and costly for you. Instead, if you have an animated campaign, you might find it easier to cut through the noise.

And, get the message across with greater impact.

3. Animated videos explain and educate abstract concepts better

As a creative, your job is to make sure you’re able to illustrate how a solution works for your customers. Now, if you can show that using a camera, you’re good to opt for live-action.

But what if there were things you can’t show using a camera. Like Bitcoin. I mean to explain that you’ll need lots of illustrations.

Or it can be a guy flying in space (like the one below). Perhaps, you’re better off using animation and motion graphics for that.

There can be a lot of abstract ideas as well as ones that require great level of detail. Like a medical process.

Recommended Reading:

Notable Examples of 2D and 3D Medical Animation Videos

Or perhaps you want to add a flavor of humor to your videos. In that case, animated content can help to add humor and make your proposition seriously attractive.

4. Animated designs are easier to scale content

Your brand may be more successful in drawing high engagement. But, what happens when customers have already been familiar with your content, brand tone and style.

Will they be satisfied with the same quality of content?

Perhaps, not.

As time progresses, customers expect to have a better experience. Not to mention, you already have stiff competition. There are lots of marketers out there who are vying to grab attention of your customers.

In case they adapt earlier, you’ll struggle.

So, it’s fair to say that you just can’t scale content without promising a more personalized and enriched experience to your customers.

That’s where animated videos become seriously precious. With animation in marketing, you’ve the freedom to tell stories from all different angles.

You can always sit back and relax while we can ideate to tell a creative story using animation.

Source: GeekUniverse

You can even have a video strategy that will elevate the customer experience as your site draws in more traffic.

5. Animated videos are affordable for brand content

Source: GIPHY

Budgets are a big problem for marketers. Especially at a time when everyone’s pumping money in producing videos, you may not like the idea of producing less, but tight budgets won’t let you have more.

That’s where the idea of animated videos seems to be just the perfect thing for us marketers. We all know we need massive budgets for live-action videos.

And, if you wish to have the future commercials to have consistent branding, then allocate a good load of money for the caste, crew and shooting locations.

However, it all becomes seriously affordable when you use animation. You can have animated marketing videos at a fraction of the cost of live-action ones.

Plus, to ensure your videos remain intact with your brand’s style, you can always have it, even continuing for several years. Needless to say, you’re not dependent on anyone.

Recommended Readings:

What is the cost of animated video?

Best Examples: Animated Video in Marketing

Above, we talked about the five reasons why we should invest in animated videos. Here, we’ll learn that animation is not anything new. In fact, there are lots of brands that realize the timeless nature of animated videos.

Here we’ll look at two of the best examples of animated video in marketing.

HeadSpace

HeadSpace uses 2D animation to give us one of the finest brand explainers. The tone is funny and quirky. In just under 2 minutes, it gives us a walkthrough of the need to meditate and how can one easily wrap their head around HeadSpace.

Type of video	Explainer
Style of Animation	2D animation
Duration	2 Minutes
Campaign	Meditation
Tone	Quirky

Apple

Apple has used animated video to their advantage as they shared the news that every product made by Apple would be carbon-neutral by 2030. They’ve used motion graphics and animated typography to give us snappy video experience.

The video is unique as it’s hybrid (uses a combination of live-action and animated footage) for quick reference to products and their sourcing. It’s a bold way to convey news.

Type of video	Announcement/Introduction
Style of animation	Motion graphics
Duration	1 minute and 15 seconds
Purpose	Company announcements and Product News
Campaign	Carbon neutral products

Tips for creating outstanding animated videos for your brand

If you’re here, I’m hoping you like the content of this blog and are really excited to have animated videos for your own brand.

So, if you’re excited, here are a handful of good tips to get started and create fantastic animated videos.

• Know your audience
• Highlight your message and objectives
• Pick a video animation agency
• Agree on price
• Feed your input until your satisfied
• Launch your campaign

Recommended Reading:

Best Video Marketing Tips To Grow Your Brand

FAQs

What is an animated video?

An animated video is one that enhances a video narrative with visuals and graphics in motion. Most people tend to craft a story using animation in their video. So, most animated videos tend to have fictional characters set in a story.

What is animated video marketing?

It’s a special type of video marketing strategy based on the theme of animation. To achieve your objective, you’ll use animation to market products and services. You may even ask artists to use motion graphics to deliver more creative messaging.

What is animated marketing?

Animated marketing is the act of selling and promoting your offers using animation. In it, your core job is to advertise using animations. Like a usual ad, it would explain everything using animation, and then end up with a CTA.

How do you make an animated marketing video?

For that, most brands reach out to creative agencies as they’ve an everyday job of producing ads that make an impact. However, if you wish to do it all by yourself, here are a handful of steps you can follow;

• Prepare a creative brief
• Write the ad concept
• Create a storyboard and do the voiceover
• Animate your storyboard
• Review and do the final edit

How to do animation marketing? Before you dive into the process, it’s best to define your goals and have clarity about why you’ve opted animation marketing. Be sure that animation fits in your brand aesthetics, tone and style.