Animation marketing is the process of incorporating animated video into a wider marketing campaign, to promote your business and engage your target audience. Animated videos are an increasingly popular marketing tool, and one that is only set to be used more in 2022.
In this article, we take a closer look at the benefits of animation video marketing, and share some insightful animation video marketing statistics that will really get you thinking.
One of the reasons animated marketing videos are so effective, and so suited to modern media consumption trends, is that animation is a great way to get information across in an entertaining and concise way. This is because an animated video can utilise a voiceover, custom visual aids and visual metaphors simultaneously. An animated video can also easily depict complicated scenarios because there are no constraints of having to film the scene physically happening, which leaves a huge scope for creativity when it comes to the content of the video.
Another benefit to animation is that you can incorporate your brand's personality into an animated video in a way that just isn’t achievable with other types of marketing. You can personalize animation to a very high degree using your brand’s colour scheme, aesthetic style and logo, and even create unique animated characters which can become synonymous with your brand (like Duracell did with the Duracell Bunny). This type of fun, emotive marketing is ideal for creating and maintaining a loyal customer base and can be achieved very effectively through animation.
Animated videos are in a lot of ways simpler to produce than live-action videos. There are usually a lot of people, resources and equipment that come with creating a live-action video, however when it comes to animation, your animator can design and create the world you’ve envisioned without constraint. This means that not only do you have more time to focus on the content of your marketing video because there are fewer aspects to consider, but the content of your video is far less limited.
Another thing to consider is that most production studios will offer a round of post-production edits for free if you’re not totally happy with your animated video. Small edits which can make a big difference, like the facial expression of a character or the positioning of the sun in the background, are usually easily fixable in an animated video, but could be expensive and time consuming to alter in other marketing formats.
Another reason for animated marketing videos being so appealing is that rather than associating this type of marketing video with adverts, we associate them with cartoons. Nostalgia can be a very powerful marketing tool; Kellogg’s originally designed Tony the Tiger to appeal to children, but it has since proved to be just as effective with adults because the cartoon tiger on every box means we get to relive our childhood every time we buy the product.
There are many different types of animated videos, and the kind which will be most effective for your business depends on who you’re trying to target, and the message you want to get across.
Animated explainer videos, for example, are short videos (usually under a minute long) which are designed to explain a product or service quickly and in a creative way. This type of animation is popular with B2B companies who may need to explain complex business ideas or demonstrate new services. 2D and 3D animated adverts are another type of animated video, which tend to be more popular with B2C companies because they lend themselves to fun, accessible advertising and work well on social media. Creative animated adverts, particularly ones featuring people or characters, can be highly emotive which makes them ideal for nurturing customer engagement and loyalty.
Videos which feature a mix of live-action and animation are the marketing version of augmented reality. These videos are so effective because they combine the familiarity of live action with the imagination of animated characters and add-ins; they have all the benefits of both types of video marketing.
Whiteboard animation videos are a style of animation which became even more popular in 2020. The reason for the popularity of this type of animation is that complicated concepts can be drawn out step by step in a very clear way and can easily incorporate words and diagrams. A hand drawing on a whiteboard is a universally familiar image which makes taking in a lot of information much easier for your target audience, and also means that this type of animation appeals to a huge range of people.
There has been an 800% increase globally in ad-supported videos in the past year alone (customerthink), with 64% of consumers making a purchase after watching branded videos on social media (Tubular Insights).
When it comes to B2B videos, short is better. B2B videos that are shorter than 60 seconds are on average watched all the way through 68% of the time. In comparison, videos that are much longer (around 20 minutes) are on average only watched all the way through around 25% of the time (vidyard).This is why animated explainer videos are so effective; they can get across a lot of information in a short video.
It has been estimated that on average, people spend at least 100 minutes every day watching online videos (Marketing Charts) and by 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic (Cisco).
Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to just 10% when reading it in text (Invisia). This explains why animated explainer videos are so popular! 59% of marketers now use animated explainer videos to sell their products and services (Crackitt).
Websites which include video are 53 times more likely to be found on search engines, and the average time a person will stay on a website increases from 8 seconds to 2 minutes if the website has video on it (animationexplainers.com).
85% of consumers want to see more video content from brands (HubSpot), which is a testament to the popularity of video marketing campaigns and how effective they really are for maintaining customer interest and loyalty.
Animated videos are extremely appealing to consumers, particularly when they include characters. It is essential for your brand to set a tone which resonates with your target audience – using language which is familiar to your target audience and having a unique company ‘persona’ is what draws people to a brand; taking this concept one step further by having an animated character to embody this persona is a proven marketing strategy.
An example of this strategy working is the Compare the Market meerkats. This marketing campaign is an animated phenomenon, which has brought in celebrity collaborations, merchandise and a massive amount of business for the company behind it; Compare the Market is now a multi-million pound business, and it attributes 70% of its growth in the UK to their animated meerkat campaign (branding.news).
An example of just how effective animation marketing can be is the animated explainer video used to describe Dropbox. The service Dropbox offers is presented in the animation as being a magic storage container which, in a fun and clear way, explained the concept of cloud storage.
The release of this animated explainer video drove 10% more conversion and earned Dropbox an extra forty-eight million dollars! (Crackitt.com).
This perfectly demonstrates the fact that if your target audience understands how your product works and why it would benefit them, and it’s presented to them in an appealing way, they’ll want it. Animated video marketing is ideal for hitting both these criteria.
Another long-running animated marketing campaign is the Red Bull cartoons, which bring to life their world-famous slogan ‘Red Bull gives you wings’. This marketing campaign is an example of how animated videos are appealing to consumers because they don’t feel like adverts. They use humour and simplicity, which make a marketing campaign instantly likeable; they’re entertaining and memorable and are therefore the perfect way to maintain a long-standing connection with consumers. As Red Bull’s Marketing Director himself puts it, “advertising Red Bull is not just about glorifying the product but connecting with consumers with an entertaining story that’s a bit of fun” (economictimes.indiatimes.com).
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To find out more about how animation can help you promote your business or your services, get in touch with RAW Pictures to find out more and chat to one of our expert team.
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