The Impact of Animation on Modern Advertising
- Leia Emeera
- Aug 29, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
It was only a matter of time until animation’s potential was realised—in recent years animation has become a powerful tool in advertising.
The medium of art provides brands with innovative ways to capture attention, convey messages, and engage audiences. But how exactly is this done?
This article examines how animation is used in modern advertising, illustrating its impact briefly through case studies and examples of successful campaigns.
Table of Contents
7 Role of Animation in Advertising
Traditional forms of adverts are likely to bore the public unless you have a celebrity endorsement at play.
In contemporary advertising, animation for brands can be leveraged to stand out in crowded markets and communicate complex messages effectively.
1. Enhancing Brand Identity Through Animation
Brand Mascots and Characters:
Mascots and trademark characters aren’t a brand-new concept. They’re integral to brand identity, making brands more memorable. However, what better way to bring your mascots to life through animation?
These manifestations of your brand’s values and visions are dynamic ways to connect to your customers.
Case Study:
Famed animated mascots like the Geico Gecko and the M&M cast are the perfect examples of this. They have made countless campaigns and adverts memorable, which is especially telling as Geico Gecko is the face of an insurance company—and frankly, auto insurance isn’t the most riveting plot point.
However, mascots aren’t just entertaining. It ensures consistency across various advertising platforms, reinforcing brand recognition through uniform visuals and themes.
2. Engaging Audiences with Storytelling
Emotional Connection:
Human emotion is a powerful tool—and animated ads can evoke just that. Arguably, the same can be done with live action, but animation can be more cost-effective.
This isn’t to say that animation is free, but the damage it’ll do to your wallet is highly dependent on style and complexity.
This medium of art can easily create engaging narratives through fantastical worlds and colours that resonate with viewers. Whether this be through humour, warmth, or tearjerkers, storytelling through animation is an effective way to build brand loyalty and customer connections.
Case Study:
The 90-second commercial for Japanese miso paste producer, Marukome, titled “Together Forever” pulled on the heartstrings of consumers worldwide. It follows an elderly couple—a wife whose legs are too weak to walk unassisted and a husband who cooks for her.
It’s short and sweet, with a quality of animation that had substantial thought put into it. It was a commercial so well produced and written that it left people craving for more.
Without a feature-length anime, what better way to quench what is needed than with Marukome’s hearty soup?
3. Simplifying Complex Information
Explainer Videos:
Companies that sell highly technical products or services often run into the issue of their adverts being too convoluted. This is where animated explainer videos come into play.
So, instead of leaving potential customers confused and overwhelmed, complex concepts can be visualised and broken down into easily digestible information.
Case Study:
In this context, an example of a successful campaign is Dropbox’s explainer video. It’s a stop-motion, paper cutout video from 2009—and it earned them $48,000,000. This was an introduction to Dropbox and is one of the very first explainer videos recorded.
From humble beginnings, this commercial brought Dropbox into the limelight.
4. Driving Engagement and Social Sharing
Viral Potential:
Everyone is on the internet nowadays. From infants to the elderly—and whether that’s a good thing is a story for another day—the masses have some sort of device in their hands. With a combination of this factor and animation’s potential, virality is nearly promised.
It checks all the boxes to keep individuals impressed and entertained. Animation is a medium that can deliver striking visual art, music, and speech. If your content is creative and the word is spread, your brand’s visibility and audience engagement rise.
Case Study:
YouTube is a social network that is home to many viral videos, commercials included. A famed instance of this is Cadbury’s depiction of Aliens discovering their chocolate. With a whopping 131,322,299 views, this advert has reached the eyes—and mouths—of many.
5. Enhancing Digital and Social Media Advertising
Social Media Ads:
Animated ads aren’t limited to just short videos. Social media offers many opportunities for promotional content due to millions of pieces every day.
Animated filters and stickers are a solid way to attract attention and directly engage your audience. They’re eye-catching and interactive—and you might gain the chance for your animations to be used by someone influential.
Case Study:
Fall Guys, the hit multiplayer party royale game, did just that. A filter on Instagram features allows users to fit their faces into the famed mascot, to play a snippet of how a level in Fall Guys may be like.
This small taste of the game can entice audiences to download and start playing.
6. Personalisation and Targeting
Customised Animations:
Creating personalised experiences for your audience ensures all the demographics you cater to feel seen. Providing customised animations for different types of customers you may gather reinforces retention and loyalty.
While it’s important to build your customer base, it’s just as important to maintain your current one.
Case Study:
Since 2016, Spotify Wrapped has become a highly anticipated annual campaign. This is a highly specific experience—the application gathers your listening habits of the year and presents them through animated infographics.
Spotify Wrapped sets it apart from its close competitors, namely Apple Music, and has become a reason why many have made a switch between streaming platforms.
7. Innovations and Emerging Trends
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR):
AR and VR create a brand-new world for customers to explore, providing an avenue for wholly immersive experiences. AR can superimpose animated 3D models into your own home with just a smartphone camera.
On the other hand, VR typically requires a headset to work, and you can’t expect everyone to have a set at home. So instead, brands set it up in their stores, encouraging people to walk in and explore.
Case Study:
In reference to AR, Nike had executed a campaign where customers were able to project their products onto their own feet. It scans them and generates a 3D model fitted to their sizes.
This interactive product showcase allows customers to try on products without having to travel to the nearest store, boosting online sales.
The Future of Animation in Advertising
As technology evolves, so does animation—and when brands leverage this into their advertising campaigns, success may follow. It’s important to pay attention to changes in technology and consumer preferences if brands want to stay ahead of the competition.
Stay innovative with your commercials, and the right people will follow.
Using TESSR to Streamline Animation Projects
This project management software is suited for visual projects like animation. Its features are suited for creatives to ensure they are focused on their work and stay passionate in their drive.
For example, the Review feature is a space where contextual feedback and collaboration are possible. The annotation in this module helps highlight frame-by-frame animations more easily by using shapes or even drawing them freehand.
Increasing Viewer Retention Across Short-Form Platforms
With the rise of TikTok (and even before that, Vine), short-form videos have become a common method to increase viewer retention on all types of platforms.
Using animation to create these short video trends makes it easier to make them loopable and include content hooks that attract viewers.
Standing Out in Competitive Ad Spaces
Viewers are more likely to stop scrolling on animation videos, according to this study. So, creating social media ads would be more suited with animated videos to increase viewers and potentially convert them into sales.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the reason why viewers are more engaged with motion graphics video than static image video?
Motion graphics videos are more engaging than static images thanks to their dynamic nature in both movement and colour, which immediately draws attention from the audience.
How can animations help focus the audience’s attention?
Animations carry emotional connections that naturally attract all audiences visually. Besides that, their visual ability to depict movements and environments helps explain complex and abstract ideas, making them easier for audiences to understand.
Why is animation important in the media?
Animation helps send messages through compelling and relatable stories, especially in modern advertising.
What are the best animation styles for advertising?
The choice of styles depends on a brand’s identity or resources. Whether it’s 2D vs 3D animation for ads, both can be used to send a message. The most important part in creating the ads is character design, colour schemes and storylines that align well with your brand identity.
Authors Bio
From Malaysia, Leia Emeera is a writer at TESSR and a published author. She has been putting pen to paper ever since she learned how to, and has an anthology to her name, titled 'Ten'. Leia loves music, games and her beloved labrador retriever, George. She aims to further her studies in English Literature and Creative Writing the moment her gap year ends. 'Till then, you will find her sitting behind a desk, writing with TESSR.
Connect with her on LinkedIn: Leia Emeera
With a background in Arts English, Adilla has been a casual writer for various hobbies, like parodies of animated shows and plots for board games. She loves to read anything and everything from fantasy stories to articles on tips and tricks. Now an advocate for mental health and effective project management for the creative industry. Currently, Adilla resides in Malaysia and is a creative writer at TESSR. To know more about her, check out her LinkedIn.
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