Animation brings stories to life. The best animations combine visual thinking and a powerful narrative into an entertaining, informative video. Combining quality art, motion, sound, and narration help viewers understand complex topics. So whether you call it an explainer video, an infovideo, an animated video, or traditional animation, they all have the same result: the quick and shareable explanation of a topic in a visual and rewarding format.
Animation takes what might be boring how-to, marketing, training, or explainer content and makes it exciting with the use of a storyline, moving graphic elements, and even characters. Appealing to the short attention span of most internet users and respecting the busy calendars of most employees, animated video helps viewers feel emotion while learning a new concept or learning about a new product or service. Animated video makes viewers less likely to ‘turn off’ and more likely to ‘tune in.’
Animation also helps make complex topics easier to understand. Showing viewers how a complicated topic works rather than telling them with words often has a greater effect. Animation makes learning even the hardest topic a bit more fun, making viewers more likely to walk away more educated and/or more likely to take action. Using various types of animation and design, including 2D, 3D, digital art, or hand-drawn, you can help your audience better understand your story through the use of humor, emotions, and education.
Employees and consumers are far more likely to buy or support something if they understand why it matters. Visual storytelling in business communicates that “why” in a way that’s vivid and engaging. Some might even say, irresistible.
In business, the phrase “internal communications” often conjures up strings of long-winded emails that many on the receiving end barely have time to skim. As a result, information that the business’s stakeholders—from its employees to its board of directors—would want or need to know can easily get lost or miscommunicated in the daily barrage of meetings and messages.
Whether you build new homes or develop new apps, manufacture a clothing line or brew a craft beer, consult other businesses or manage healthcare—whatever business you’re in, animation offers a proven way to cut through the clutter, especially when it comes to things like:
Obviously, the internal messages that benefit from animation go beyond the day-to-day, back-and-forth communications that are part of every workplace. Animated videos most effectively deal with topics that are more substantive and/or more lasting than “What time do we meet today in the conference room ?” or “Do you know who’s handling the Poughkeepsie account?”
For instance, a how-to video that explains a new procedure to current employees can also be used in the onboarding of new hires, saving the time and resources it takes to conduct such training in person.
Or when a new product is about to be launched, an animated video that unveils and demonstrates it can also go a long way towards cultivating a feeling of pride and accomplishment among the company’s employees, even those not directly involved in the product’s creation.
Animations also prove their usefulness as more and more companies introduce and encourage employee wellness, whether through mindfulness, stress reduction, exercise, making smart choices about food, etc.
No matter what business you’re in, animated videos can be a potent tool in reaching the people you want to reach, including those on your payroll.
You want a relatable marketing strategy that makes viewers take action. Sometimes words don’t get the point across, especially with complicated topics. Animation can help keep the viewer’s attention, even while explaining complex or boring topics.
Studies show that the effects of a hand-drawn video or cartoons with people attract the same type of attention as real-life contact with someone. Words do not have that same effect, no matter how well written. Humans gravitate toward the eyes and faces of characters, whether live action or traditional animation cartoon characters.
Animated video gives viewers something to relate to and makes them more likely to react. Explainer videos with good, vivid detail help make even the most complex topic relatable and understandable. Good videos use the combination of different types of animation, voice-overs, and narration to keep viewers entertained and ready to learn more.
Video marketers can use different types of animation including:
The type of animation you use in your internal comms, your webpage, social media campaign, or other marketing platform will depend on your target audience, intended goal, and budget.
In an animated video, the story your brand wants to tell comes to life. It’s a collaborative process that combines well-chosen words with compelling visual elements, motion, narration, and music. And when it’s done right, it can be as impactful as it is informative.
Here, step by step, is how that happens.
After going through a Discovery process where to understand the content, audience, and goals of the project, the next step is to start with a Script. that’s based on research into and discussions of the benefits, features, and end users of your product or new process. A deep understanding of the subject of your video and its intended audience is essential to crafting a script that tells a story worth telling, in a tone that will resonate.
Next comes the Storyboard — a set of sketches that show, sequentially, key scenes in your animated video and how they pair with the script and come to life. Think of it as a Blueprint, of sorts, that provides a quick and easy way to start visualizing the finished video.
Maybe your story can best be told via custom illustration. Or perhaps kinetic typography combined with licensed photography would work just as well. In any case, as the process moves forward, you’ll be provided with samples of Artwork that reflect a range of stylistic options. Guided by the choices you make, the animators will create a video with a look and feel unique to your brand.
In addition to what viewers will see, there’s also the matter of what they’ll hear. Sound plays a vital role in establishing the right mood and feel in an animated video. Selecting the voiceover talent and soundtrack is part of that. Here, again, you’ll be given options, along with the opportunity to weigh in.
The Animation production phase of the process is where it all comes together. As the animators work their magic, you should expect to receive links to works-in-progress. Ideally, the creative agency you’re partnering with also uses a system that allows you to annotate feedback within the video itself. When all is said and done, you’ll receive the final cut in a downloadable format that you can use on YouTube, Facebook, your website, at events, or as part of your business’s internal communications.
Branching outside of typical, boring text-based storytelling helps businesses stand apart. Consumers and employees can only read so much, and with the short attention span of most people on the internet your chances of capturing an audience with words alone decrease greatly. The right use of graphics doesn’t just tell consumers about your company—it tells them a story and encourages them to learn more.
Animation stands apart—it doesn’t blend into the background. It moves, it speaks, it lives. Whether you have a simple dynamic logo to capture the attention of your target audience or a longer explanation video explaining a complex topic, animation grabs the attention of your viewers. Animation helps bring a unique element to your business in an age where competitors are all starting to look like one another. When words just aren’t enough, or you fail to stand out from the competition—animation is there to help you get the attention you deserve.
Tremendousness uses innovative, collaborative techniques to communicate your company’s vision, explain a complex topic, and turn leads into customers with animation. Our creative agency works with companies of all sizes, using quality video, narratives, and artwork to help you engage and enlighten your audience. We use the power of digital storytelling to help you market, explain, and grow your business.
