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Adding animated explainer videos to a marketing strategy not just boosts brand awareness, it also increases conversions and sales.

Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” What does it imply for businesses? If you can’t explain your products and services to your target audience, you can’t expect conversions, and vice-versa. 

Marketers understand the upshot of a good elevator pitch. But sometimes find it taxing to choose the best medium to convey it. This is where animated explainer videos come into the picture. They are an effective way of transforming complexity into simplicity while coating it with some entertaining elements.

96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.   

Video Marketing Report, Wyzowl 

Before you start planning around this video marketing strategy, let’s decipher animated explainer videos, its types, and the top five examples of brands that are experimenting it to shape success.

What is an Animated Explainer Video?

The animation is described as an illusion of continuous motion where objects on the screen appear to mimic real-life scenarios. Thus, an animated explainer video is a short and engaging video that acts as a marketing strategy for converting visitors into customers. 

An animated explainer video intends to untangle the purpose and the benefits of products and services offered by a brand. In simple words, it is how you introduce your product or service in layman’s terms. 

According to Microsoft, an average human has an attention span of eight seconds. Thus, it implies that a business needs to beat the clock to attract the maximum target audience. Evidently so, animated explainer videos serve the purpose.

However, the biggest challenge of creating such videos so far – conveying the core message within a few minutes.

Types of Animated Explainer Videos

Animated explainer videos come in all shapes and sizes. The type of video you choose depends on your business offerings. Therefore, to start with, here are the six types of explainer videos that are primarily popular among marketers. 

1. 2D Explainer Videos

2D animation is the most commonly used form of videos. They are created in a two-dimensional environment. In technical terms, it means that all the objects on the screen only have width and height. All Disney cartoons and movies use 2D technology, thus creating an excellent on-screen experience. 

2D in Business: Marketers leverage the art of storytelling to explain a product and its benefits using these 2D animated videos.

2. 3D Explainer Videos

3D animation is the newer and advanced form of videos that add depth to the objects on the screen. Thus, the characters, objects, and the lighting on the screen mimic almost real-life like settings adding the wow factor to the videos. Disney movies such as Frozen showcase the power of 3D in animation.

3D in Business: Marketers have been too experimenting with 3D technology to add a competitive edge to their video marketing initiatives, thus adding value to their campaigns.

3. Infographic Animated Videos

Infographic animated explainer videos are created to share data and statistics in the form of stories. These explainer videos are highly effective since they pack animated charts and graphs into the video frame. 

Infographic in Business: Infographic animated videos, thus, should be a part of every marketer’s backlog if they wish to present boring spreadsheet data into an engaging format.

4. Whiteboard Animated Videos

Whiteboard animated videos perfectly serve the purpose of explainer videos. The video uses a whiteboard in the background, where objects and characters playfully interact with each other to narrate a story that covers the core objective. 

Whiteboard in Business: Marketers widely use whiteboard animated explainer videos as they contribute towards instant attention and, thus, conversions. 

5. Live-Action Animated Video

This type of explainer videos blends animation with live-action. These videos take the right advantage of technology by setting a real person in the video where several animated objects surround them, thus building a seamless viewer experience.

Live-Action in Business: Marketers, who wish to get way ahead of the curve, experiment with these live-action videos. Thus they create a lasting impact on the target audience. Therefore, these videos should be ideally used when you want to spread your corporates’ message globally.

6. Motion Animated Video

Motion animated videos orchestrate text with simple graphics to meet the objective of the video. Unlike other animated video styles, motion graphics use shapes to narrate the story instead of characters.

Motion Graprodphics in Business: Marketers sharing motion animated explainer videos use graphics, text, and simple voice-overs to tell a story effortlessly, thus improving click-through rate.

5 Examples of Animated Explainer Videos

Having discussed the six types of animated explainer videos, let’s see examples of different brands that are making it all work and how. 

1. Hybrid Cloud Flexibility – By Microsoft

Video Type: Motion Graphics

Video Run Time: 1:05 minutes

Microsoft is a big name in the tech industry that perfectly introduces its enterprise cloud solution in the video. The video starts with the basics of the cloud. Gradually, it moves towards the benefits of maintaining an enterprise cloud solution, thus creating a hooking experience.

Best Feature: The intriguing voice-over that aligns perfectly with motion graphics contributes to viewer engagement.

2. PayPal Campaign

Video Type: Live-Action 

Video Run Time: 1:00 minute

The video includes a real musician striking the chords on the guitar. He is creating a parody that narrates the benefits of PayPal while animated objects whirl around in the background. This PayPal promotion campaign is unique and attractive. It mixes live-action to explain the service benefits.

Best Feature: Use of live-action animated video blended with a parody, thus conveying the brand message.

3. How To Save Energy & Money –  By Elevations Credit Union

Video Type: Whiteboard

Video Run Time: 1:58 minutes

The video uses the whiteboard animated video explainer concept to narrate the story of Emily. She finds it challenging to manage the increasing energy bills. The video thus introduces energy loans that will lead to cost savings in the end. 

Best Feature: The use of storytelling concepts (conflict, hook, and resolution) using the whiteboard explainer concept.

4. What is DropBox  – By DropBox

Video Type: 2D

Video Run Time: 1:07 minutes

This is an entertaining and informative animated explainer video by Dropbox. It introduces the core objective of their service. This animated video alone drove 10% conversions for the organization, thus accounting for $48 million in revenues. Isn’t that amazing?

Best Feature: The introduction of services using interactive animation and clarity inducing voice-over. Thus, it attracts a lot of eyeballs.

5. Can Printers Create Smile – By Epson Southeast Asia

Video Type: Infographic

Video Run Time: 1:45 minutes

This video by Epson, is an infographic animated, explainer video about their ink tank printer. Also, it explains how it is changing lives across the globe. They illustrate statistics and data throughout the video to back up the points made. 

Best Feature: The video introduces the product and talks about its ever-increasing customers. Also, it explains its social activities and efforts to decrease the ecological footprint in just under two minutes.

Conclusion

Animated explainer videos act as a medium for a brand to convey the core message to their target audience effectively. Almost every business is constantly including explainer videos in their marketing strategy, thus improving conversions, sales, and awareness.

Please your audience by outsourcing a team. They can brainstorm ideas, create a compelling script, choose the type of explainer video that would resonate with your audience. 

A pro tip: Do not hesitate to take inspiration from the examples set by other brands. But, make sure your explainer video explores out-of-the-box creativity.