The Evolution of Animation: The Journey from Entertainment to the Top Marketing Tactic

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

How dare you to experiment and open new doors? Creative marketing implies moving away from a soulless consumerist machine to more personal interaction with customers and setting human connections between those who’re creating the brand and those who are part of the consumer community around it. 

In recent years, animation has become an integral part of creative marketing for many brands worldwide. They foster relationships with customers by evoking bright impressions and powerful associations through engaging commercial animated videos. Many marketing experts even say that an animated demo video is a top marketing practice for product brands because it allows set an emotional connection between a product and potential customers, increasing its chances to become their choice in the future.

The Rise of Animation in the Advertising Industry

Today, we can see a variety of animation and motion graphics trends in sales & marketing. But you may wonder when it all started. That was the time of Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Popeye, and many more iconic cartoon characters created by Disney. The history of animation dates back to the golden age of American animation in the 1920-1960s. In 1940, animation first entered the space of TV advertising. Just think of Trix Rabbit, Cap’n Crunch and Mr. Clean – born in the 1950s, these heroes are still with us today. It’s where everything began. Let’s now consider how marketing animation has evolved over the decades.

Where It Is Today

Today, animation has become the language of customer loyalty and engagement. Animated commercials help communicate complicated business concepts in an easy to understand form and make a brand message sound clearly. The animation opens countless opportunities for companies to introduce themselves in an original and extraordinary way. Explainer videos for business are becoming an indispensable component of a robust digital marketing strategy and powerful product pitch. 

Considering the impact of strong associations on brand-building processes in the customer minds, many companies devise heroes and present them as brand ambassadors in animated commercials. Remarkable character design becomes the embodiment of the brand personality with all its unique treats and peculiarities. Like a logo, it becomes a part of brand identity and significantly contributes to a brand image and recognizability. Be acquainted with James, it’s the main hero of a recent commercial produced by Explain Ninja for Zense.

The animation is not only what we can see on screens. Cartoon characters perform like brand representatives in online ads, web banners, email marketing campaigns, product packaging, billboards, and even print advertising. “No motion” doesn’t mean “no emotion.” First introduced in engaging videos, heroes still help make long-lasting impressions and instill desired associations with a brand appearing in other types of static advertising later.

The Opportunities Animation Opens for Businesses 

Animated videos help build a timeless brand image

The animation is a kind of timeless promotion since characters remain trendy over the years and can evolve together with a brand (just like Mr. Clean in the images above). Animated videos can help you build a brand image that exists beyond the trends and times. The cohesive effort of a brand itself and reliable animated explainer video company may be very fruitful for the business.

Animation carries brand messages and slogans through epochs

Animated commercials are so memorable and powerful that they can carry brand messages and marketing slogans through epochs. We may remember a sound single, character design, or brand message from the animated video advertising all life long. Now, imagine that all that’s needed to set powerful marketing is only to support this natural tendency of animated videos by periodically releasing new commercials as parts of the same brand story told in different contexts by a memorable hero.  

It sticks to the customer memory with strong associations

As a logical continuation of a previous point, animation makes us remember the emotions we experienced watching the video. The next time when we see a brand logo, we will likely recall that fun animated commercial we might have seen even last week. Why? Because it made us feel something, created bright impressions and set strong associations with a company.

Explainer videos make learning entertaining

Today, many companies use animated explainer videos to educate customers about how to use a product or services. There is no need to read long tutorials anymore because you can get all the essential information about the product in a fun and short explainer video. Some businesses also employ animated videos for internal training and staff workshops. In both cases, an animated educational video makes learning more effective and entertaining at the same time. 

Animation works as a powerful attention grabber in advertising

Obviously, there is likely no better way to attract the audience’s attention than through the eye-catching video. Animated videos are often used in advertising since they are catchy, easy sharable across social media, more engaging than any other content type, and allow transferring even complex ideas within several minutes. Hence, many forward-thinking brands use animated video production services to produce remarkable adverts that set them apart from the online competition.

Animated videos help explain a product concept creatively

In an animated video, you can zoom details, show the invisible product components, and demonstrate features creatively. It turns a product presentation into an exciting customer adventure and helps convey the product’s mood and personality, not only functionality.

They tell your brand’s story and help build customer loyalty

Brands can deploy the power of storytelling and tell about the company’s history, manufacturing processes, brand experience, and traditions in animated commercials. The animation is an effective medium for brand storytelling and building trust with customers. By sharing your company’s “Cinderella story,” you can increase customer loyalty. As known, we are always eager to listen about how everything started and scaled, from the very bottom to the top of business success.

Wrapping It Up

Animation has made a long journey from entertainment to where it’s today. You can learn about where it is going from our blog post on the future of animation industry. Being fun, unsalesy and inspirational, animation has become one of the top marketing and advertising practices that help brands stand out in the over-saturated media space. It makes customers smile, remember, and interact with a brand. It’s the way to innovate your brand, step away from the traditional consumerism and closer to more human-centered marketing. The question is only how dare are you to experiment?