It was either the ancient Greeks or perhaps the Beatles who said,
"Know thyself." As with many other pursuits, this advice comes in handy
when creating an animated video for your business. For animation to be
effective, it must be in-sync with your branding and strategic aims.
Just imagine how useless the portly and likely diabetic Pillsbury Doughboy would have become if after unveiling the slovenly round man, Pillsbury shifted its branding to target the fitness crowd, enlisting to become "The Healthy Alternative to Lard-Based Baked Goods" (this is circa 1965, I must remind you). Shortly after the re-branding, the giggling rolling pin-fodder would have been either a) put on a shelf to be forgotten, or b) thrown into direct conflict with the company's goals.
With this bizarro world doughboy in mind, let's make sure your company's animated video doesn't go off half-cocked. We've made things easy by giving you a step-by-step questionnaire to make sure all your animation ingredients are prepped before entering production with us or another studio (and don't worry, the food metaphors end here).
Things to consider:
1. How will this video be used?
Possibilities include featuring the video on the homepage of your website, as a viral-aimed video promoted on your social channels, in a trade show, during key presentations, or in email blasts. The format of your video should fit with the context of the venue in which you are showcasing it.
If your video is being shown during a trade show, for instance, it should probably be less audio-heavy, as there will be distracting din from the floor. Viral-aimed vids should have some feature (humor or perhaps a cause) that prompts sharing. Homepage videos should direct users to a specific action on your website (further described below).
2. What is the objective of this video? Where do you want to steer your viewers?
Common objectives are to educate, drive traffic, drive conversions, snag user emails and other info, or some combination of these.
Once viewers have experienced your video, you need to drive them to take action. This could mean asking them to click an icon at the end of the video to fill out a contact form (great for measuring video's impact), contacting you in another way, signing up for a newsletter, downloading a whitepaper or free demo. There are lots of ways to go in this neighborhood.
3. How long would you like the video to be?
If you're going past two minutes, you're falling into the attention span danger zone. You might need to prioritize which selling points you want to feature. Just keep in mind that you don't need to explain everything about your offering in your animated video, just enough to get viewers hungry for more.
Just imagine how useless the portly and likely diabetic Pillsbury Doughboy would have become if after unveiling the slovenly round man, Pillsbury shifted its branding to target the fitness crowd, enlisting to become "The Healthy Alternative to Lard-Based Baked Goods" (this is circa 1965, I must remind you). Shortly after the re-branding, the giggling rolling pin-fodder would have been either a) put on a shelf to be forgotten, or b) thrown into direct conflict with the company's goals.
With this bizarro world doughboy in mind, let's make sure your company's animated video doesn't go off half-cocked. We've made things easy by giving you a step-by-step questionnaire to make sure all your animation ingredients are prepped before entering production with us or another studio (and don't worry, the food metaphors end here).
Things to consider:
1. How will this video be used?
Possibilities include featuring the video on the homepage of your website, as a viral-aimed video promoted on your social channels, in a trade show, during key presentations, or in email blasts. The format of your video should fit with the context of the venue in which you are showcasing it.
If your video is being shown during a trade show, for instance, it should probably be less audio-heavy, as there will be distracting din from the floor. Viral-aimed vids should have some feature (humor or perhaps a cause) that prompts sharing. Homepage videos should direct users to a specific action on your website (further described below).
2. What is the objective of this video? Where do you want to steer your viewers?
Common objectives are to educate, drive traffic, drive conversions, snag user emails and other info, or some combination of these.
Once viewers have experienced your video, you need to drive them to take action. This could mean asking them to click an icon at the end of the video to fill out a contact form (great for measuring video's impact), contacting you in another way, signing up for a newsletter, downloading a whitepaper or free demo. There are lots of ways to go in this neighborhood.
3. How long would you like the video to be?
If you're going past two minutes, you're falling into the attention span danger zone. You might need to prioritize which selling points you want to feature. Just keep in mind that you don't need to explain everything about your offering in your animated video, just enough to get viewers hungry for more.
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