Animation for your business is something you should be considering. With video’s being the main way people gain their information online, it is thoroughly important to stand out. If you are posting regular video content on your website, emails and social media platforms, well done. You are already ahead of some of your competitors, as according to Buffer only 25% of businesses upload videos weekly. But, don’t you want to be the flagship business in your niche? With the world’s population rapidly rising each year, more brainpower is being manifested. Therefore, businesses are getting better equipped to show what they have to offer the world.
People adore visual content and process information in a video 60 thousand times faster than written text. Animation is an excellent way to grab consumers as it can be unique and bespoke to your business.
Yeah, yeah, we get it, any online video will be different as nothing can be the same…
True in some sense, however, using video blogging to introduce a product or business appears to be the custom tactic online. But at Stormy Studio we are all about originality. Imagine your video being different to anything else online. Animation gives you licence to standout from the crowd and thrust your message into consumers psyche.
Still not buying it?
Well, think about all the videos you see online every day. There are millions and millions of them at the tip of our fingers. But, what ones grab your attention? Probably videos that are different and keep you entertained? Are we right?
Give us your attention…
The definition of attention is ‘rising above the noise to focus on one thing.’ Attention takes away the busyness of everything else going on around us and keeps us in one train of thought. Therefore, if you have persons undivided attention then they will undoubtedly listen to your message.
How do you rise above the overcrowding noise?
USE ANIMATION FOR YOUR BUSINESS!
We understand that animation can be an expensive investment, but as we stated in our other blog ‘Video Marketing, 9 Ways it Will Improve your Business,’ investing in a high-quality video marketing strategy will show that your company means business. Animation should be key to your video marketing strategy. Video animation is unique as it can make your ‘out of the box’ thinking come to life. This idiosyncratic imagination is needed online, as there are 300 million hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute. This proves how difficult it is to stand-out, yet with animation, you can create something that’s state of the art.
In this blog post, we will explain 7 reasons why you should be using animation for your business.
1. Your brand will stand out from the rest
By being as creative as possible will make your brand stand out from the rest, additionally, you will entice new customers by being different. It is important in the saturation of the internet that you make the best impression. Think of video on the internet as if it was the vast ocean. Seabass is common, yet, blue marlin is rare. Professional animation is like blue marlin, whereas grainy mobile phone footage is seabass. Are you following?
If you chose to persistently use mobile phone footage, where the video is poorly edited, people will not take your business seriously. You could end up losing customers if your video is poor quality, users will not persevere with your video and your message will be lost. Whereas, if you entice people early on in your video and it is unique, they will be more likely to absorb your message.
John Lewis – the Christmas brand
One of the most successful companies that utilise animation is John Lewis. Every Christmas, John Lewis get people’s tongues wagging. Their entertaining animation is different from the regular videos we see at Christmas time. John Lewis always thinks outside of the box. They create new animation videos each year, whilst subtly advertising their products, which feels less selly and more caring. After all, isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
For some, John Lewis adverts are now the ‘beginning of Christmas.’ This makes John Lewis’s brand recognisable as consumers look forward to the occasion.
In a recent 2019 survey by RadioTimes, John Lewis’s 2014 Christmas advert was voted the best ever. The advert features an animated penguin called Monty who receives a penguin partner for Christmas. The advert was so well successful that people spoke about their excitement for John Lewis’s 2015 advert a year before it was released. Now that’s what we call brand influence!
Not surprisingly, John Lewis also won second place with their 2013 advert ‘The Bear and the Hare.’ Last year John Lewis made their advert with Edgar the dragon, which was viewed seven million times in the first 48 hours.
Here is the ‘best ever’ Christmas advert here:
We believe that John Lewis manages to create this buzz by thinking outside of the box. At Stormy Studio, we can offer a service which will give your brand similar traction. We will work with your brand to ensure that we meet your business goals. This is an example of the video we have to offer, which incorporates animation and real life:
2. Animation provides entertainment and light-heartedness.
Don’t you think there are a lot of brands online who take themselves too seriously? Some businesses technique is to push their product in your face. But, people are drawn to entertaining, light-hearted content. Don’t believe us?
According to Google, the two main reasons people watch videos are for entertainment and relaxation. Animation can help this as it takes consumers back to when they were children. Remember watching your favourite cartoons and being so engrossed you switched off from the outside world? Funnily enough, animations spark the same feelings when you are adults. Therefore, a consumer is much more likely to engage with animation as it brings back those feelings of entertainment and relaxation.
The amazing thing about animation is that it has endless possibilities. Using animation for your business can show off your sense of humour and bring home the message you want to imprint in your audience. Unlike live video, animation can push the norms of reality and your craziest ideas can come to life. Animation is ultimately a great way to show off your brands personality.
Mcvitie’s: Sweeter Together
A great example of a brand using animation for entertainment purposes is Mcvitie’s latest offering. The video is both entertaining and light-hearted. The 3D animation depicts a crane driver feeling left out at break time. However, at the end of the advert, he feels a sense of belonging as his work colleagues remember to offer him the remainder of the biscuits:
This animation advertises Mcvities biscuits, yet also gives a good narrative which consumers will remember. After all, we have all felt left out at times, right?
At Stormy Studio we have made countless amounts of entertaining animations. Our team of illustrators, motion graphic designers and illustrators are on hand to deliver your business goals and build successful animations. We know that this will give your business the cutting edge in your niche:
3. You can update your animations easily
Industries are constantly changing and to stay on top of your niche your message may change. Take the current pandemic for example, after lockdown is relaxed the way you operate your company will undoubtedly change. Adapting your animation is much more cost-effective than booking a new studio and accumulating new actors. Not to mention with the majority of the world on lockdown, being able to have a day of video production is difficult at the moment. Nonetheless, with the help of professionals animations can be tweaked relatively easy.
Additionally, animated characters can be used again and again. Various brands have kept hold of their animated characters which are now symbols of the business. A great example of this is Aleksandr Orlov of CompareTheMarket. In 2010 CompareTheMarke introduced Aleksandr Orlov as their brand mascot. The first advert on our screens explained that people were spelling ‘market’ as ‘meerkat’, which sent consumers to a meerkat comparison site. This has made CompareTheMarket a recognisable brand, where they have been able to adapt Aleksandr’s character throughout the years. This technique proves to be both cost-effective and a successful animated character will make your brand distinguishable.
Here is Aleksandr’s debut advert in 2010:
Our talented illustration and animation team have designed some magnificent characters, which we use again for a brand. Not to mention, we can tweak your animations any time your message changes.
4. Animation is easy to understand
When having a complex product or idea, it can be difficult to converse in written form. If your audience are novices to your business and your copy has complex jargon, this will cause them to disengage. Written text with stationary images does not always get an idea across as well as an animated video.
Animation is a great way to get a message across in a short space of time. This is not to say you can’t accompany written texts with animation to give your audience further understanding. But if you want to grab their attention quickly then animation is the way to go.
A company who explains their product expertly through animated video is Headspace. Headspace uses animation in all of their videos, making their brand indentifable. By implementing animation in their brand videos, they manage to simplify the difficult subject of meditation. Headspace has a variety of animated videos which help consumers get to grips with mindful thinking and makes meditation accessible to the mainstream.
Here is there introductory video released in 2014, this video has over 3million views:
At Stormy Studio we have worked on many niche topics and transformed them into animation videos. For example, we have great success in the banking and financial sector. Finances and banking can often be difficult for people to digest. A lot of technical expressions are used in the banking and financial sector, which usually puts people off from investing (excuse the pun) time in understanding the topic. Nevertheless, we have been able to make these specialized topics coherent.
Working alongside our clients we portray their messages as simply as possible in order to reach a wider target audience:
5. Animation will increase your conversion rate.
Using video on your website specifically is a great way to get consumers to act and make a purchase. The internet is full of written content and with people’s attention spans diminishing, you need to get your point to them in seconds.
It is quoted all across the internet that humans now have a shorter attention span than a goldfish. Which is a myth, as suggested by the BBC. However, the BBC does infer that people’s patience is dwindling and if you do not tickle their fancy in the first 8 seconds then they are less likely to act.
If users see a video on your website they are much more likely to occupy their time with your company, rather than looking elsewhere. Additionally, 64% of people are more likely to complete an action after they view a video on your website.
Animation will cause consumers to make purchases or find out about your company more than spiels of text will. If you are to look at your favourite websites, you will notice that long passages of texts are non-existent.
Animation will describe your product quicker than text
If you use animation to describe the advantages of your product or service, then users will be more likely to engage with the entire video. This way you will be able to give important information to the user and show off the brilliance of your business. Our tip is to signify what your business is about early on in the video and then give consumers an action plan at the end. This is a great way to drive traffic to your product or service. After all, if they enjoy your animation, they will be more likely to act.
Admit it, who is going to eat some Mcvitie’s after they read this blog post!?
6. Deliver memorable training
This blog post has mainly covered how animation video will bring revenue to your business, but to sustain success you must look after your employees.
Training is something that all businesses need to cover in some way or another. Keeping your employees safe is paramount. Therefore, using animation as part of your training will deliver your business goals to your employees. If you use our services, we can make your training accessible and fun to partake in.
Health and safety training is something we have all had to endure at work. Some of the content is so tedious that you forget the message. Yet, we have made a health and safety video here which will inspire your staff. See how animation can turn the most boring subjects into something enticing:
As you can see, we have given a comical twist to an important message. People relate to being entertained and will more likely retain the message than a dreary real-life video.
Not only is animation a good way to show your professional approach to potential customers, but it can also be utilised keep your staff up to date with their learning.
7. Entice future employees.
To be a successful business you need to employ the best. Or at least get those on board who will share your vision. Animation videos help to give a good first impression, explain your companies vision, introduce the culture and fill potential new hires with enthusiasm. A 2015 Glassdoor report infers that executing a successful onboarding programme increase employee retention by 82%.
Additionally, a report carried out by Deloitte Insights reveals that 80% of new employees are overwhelmed with too much information and less than 8% of companies help new starters overcome this issue.
You can rectify these problems by introducing animation. If you try to share your vision, culture and expectations through written form an employee may lose interest. However, using animation to explain a topic in a shorter amount of time will help new employees to digest your information. Not only will you impress the new employ with your professionalism, but you will also help your business by setting expectations from the outset.
To recap
Animation is essential for your business. For any of you who’s attention spans are dwindling and would have preferred us to make an animation, here are the key points of this blog post:
- To stand out in the vast depths of the internet, animation will help to show your uniqueness.
- Animation is easy to follow
- You can build on or adapt animations with ease
- Words fail to keep the majority engaged. Animation is much easier to digest.
- Consumers are much more likely to act after seeing a video animation
- Hard-hitting, memorable training is delivered when animation is used.
- Future employees will be impressed by your video animation and you will increase employee retention.
Stormy Studio is here for you
Here at Stormy Studio, we produce quality animation for businesses. Our team of illustrators, animators and motion graphic designers are on hand to deliver animation to fit your needs. Whether it is to entice new customers, stand out from your competitors or deliver high-quality training we believe animation is paramount for your business.
If you are interested in creating an animation video for your business then please contact us. Additionally, if you would like a quote for you an animation please look at our animation studio cost tool.
Thank you for reading our blog post on Animation for business: seven reasons why you should be using it. We hope that you have gained some insight into why animation is important for your business.
Look out for more of our content across all of our social media platforms and on our webpage. Please leave a comment on your thoughts about animation, especially the success stories.