5 Great Ways to Use Animation in Your 2022 Marketing Plan
Most of us grew up with fleeting attention spans. In a generation driven by instant gratification, it’s safe to say that the modern marketer has their work cut out for them. Brands need to figure out novel ways to make their marketing campaigns seem less like… well, marketing campaigns. Gone are the days of hard sells and aggressive marketing; ads now need to stand out, entertain and be remembered. In other words, they need to connect with their audience on a more sentimental level. This is where animation shines. Animations excel at whimsy, they give life and personality to an otherwise cold corporate shell. From VR animation hybrids to animated emails, let’s take a look at the best ways to make animation work for your business.
AR/VR Videos
Still riding the wave of its newfound popularity, VR by itself is already an incredibly powerful tool. Teleporting us into the abstract realm and offering an escape from mundane reality, VR is as close to magic as we can get! When combined with animation, VR creates an exciting new genre, propelling your brand to the forefront of innovation and creativity. You could explore along the lines of Pokémon GO – where fantasy creatures are pulled into our reality, and users encounter and interact with these animated characters against a backdrop of their real-life location. If complete immersion is key to your marketing project, you could also hire a Singapore animation studio or to design an entirely new animated world that captures your brand’s vision and vibe!
Explainer Videos
Explainer videos are often created to raise awareness about certain problems that your brand can solve. They are invaluable resources of knowledge and education. But when it comes to competing against entertainment content, traditional explainer videos are more or less at the losing end. Well, if you can’t beat’em, join‘em. Explainer videos are increasingly gravitating towards and taking the form of entertaining social media clips, so much so that differentiating a marketing video from other entertainment is virtually impossible within the first few seconds (even minutes) of playtime.
Whether it’s introducing a new product or enlightening viewers on a particular topic, add an element of fun to your explainer video with animation or motion graphics! Having a lovable animated mascot present on your behalf creates a more light-hearted and casual atmosphere, making your video less tedious and lecture-like – so that viewers actually enjoy the process of learning. Seeing a bunch of overwhelming statistics compiled into an artistic display certainly makes the medicine go down easier! Alternatively, you can animate a brief narrative (like a short animated film) that incorporates whatever necessary information you need to send – thereby boosting memorability and audience recall. If doing this yourself proves to be too difficult, you could opt to hire a freelancer or an experienced motion graphics company in Singapore if you have the budget.
Web Design
Give your brand’s official website that extra “It” factor by animating your texts and images. This can range from highlighting headers, to dynamic logos and moving animation across the screen. For instance, during special promotions/events like Christmas, you can bring festive charm to your website with animated falling snowflakes on your landing page! Even buffering can be made more bearable with a humorous loading sign. It isn’t all that simple as it sounds, though. First, you need to decide on the kind of branding you want to project. Is it quirky? Sophisticated? Minimalistic? Above all, make sure to keep your animation choices consistent so as to maintain the aesthetic cohesiveness of your site.
Social Media Posts
Adopting a unique and signature animation style is a surefire way to add some colour to a post and get people talking about your brand’s creativity. Easier said than done, considering the never-ending flow of posts clamouring for attention, all sharing the goal of becoming the next big thing. Still, animation adds an artistic and nostalgic factor that you’ll be hard-pressed to find amidst your normal arsenal of photo editing apps and curated filters, giving you the tools to create something completely original! DBS’ TikTok video is a refreshing break from live action TikToks, splashed with a vibrant pop art style enhanced by quirky animation, making you pause in your scrolling to further peruse the clip. An equally attractive alternative you could potentially explore is adding visual effects to live action videos. If you have the budget, hiring a Singapore visual effects studio could spruce up your videos tremendously.
Marketing Emails
In the WFH era where work communication takes place almost instantaneously no matter where you are, most people would rather communicate over text than send an email. Emails, by nature, just can’t seem to break out of their “formal” mould. They come across as more distant and dry when placed next to their text counterparts. But fret not—with animation, you’ll be able to turn that run-of-the-mill marketing email into an engaging piece of writing that your subscribers are eager to read! Inserting animation into email can be as simple as embedding a gif or moving banner, or animating certain keywords to make them stand out at a glance. You can also opt to have animated designs running across the page to turn the entire email into a work of art. Who says you can’t update what’s outdated??
