For far too long, ‘fun’ and ‘corporate’ have been seen as polar opposites.
Corporate companies are often perceived as giving off a sense of aloofness. Or, they’re seen as simply having no character at all.
And yes, while of course it is still important that you maintain that sense of professionalism and trustworthiness, it’s key that you do this while also establishing a brand identity, and demonstrating your brand’s personality. Otherwise, how could anyone remember you, and why would anyone choose you?
This is precisely the value that corporate explainer animation videos bring to the table. As their name suggests, corporate explainer animation videos are a type of explainer videos, which use animation and are specifically tailored for the corporate sphere. But, what exactly are animation explainer videos?
Animated explainer videos are videos that use animation to explain complicated topics.The primary purpose of an explainer video is to help a company deliver its intended message to its target audience.Typically, this is a topic that would be difficult to communicate through text or images alone.
Common examples of animated explainer videos include:
● Product or service demonstrations
● Product or service advertisements
● New product or service launches
● ‘About us’ videos
● Sales pitches
● ‘Under the hood’ mechanical animations
● Internal training videos
● Health and safety videos
● Onboarding or new starter videos
● ESG or sustainability impact videos
So, in the context of advertising corporate businesses,animation explainer videos are designed to meet the specific requirements of a corporate environment. As you’d expect, this means a firm focus on keeping the videos on-brand, balancing playfulness and professionalism, and retaining atone of voice that’s in-line with the company’s brand image.
In the majority of cases, the overarching purpose of corporate explainer animation videos is to simplify complex business processes or concepts. Through the combination of on-brand animation and a succinctly scripted voice-over, these videos help to make these topics far easier to convey.
Rather than attempting to communicate through text alone -which not only makes it challenging to cover all the nuances of the topic, but is extremely difficult to make engaging for your audience - these videos are completely clear in their messaging, and genuinely fun to watch. It’s a multi-pronged approach, which drives engagement,interest and clarity of communication in a very precise, targeted way.
Let’s dive into how corporate explainer animation can simplify complex concepts, in more detail:
● Visual representation - animation allows complex ideas to be represented visually.This is obviously superior to purely text-based content, but it also offers afar more effective solution than real-life footage, too. This is because animation gives you complete freedom regarding what you convey and how you convey it. Taking our animation for Union Cycliste Internationale as an example, animation enabled us to create a video that featured all of the different people, places and disciplines that are involved in the sport. In these ways, the medium of animation achieves a complete understanding of topicson multiple levels, simultaneously.
● Step-by-step breakdown - the medium of video animation breaks down complex concepts into smaller, more manageable steps. Your video storyboard can be broken up into several chunks, each covering a key point, and increasing in complexity as you go.Using product demonstrations as an example, it takes the viewer from a very basic explanation of what the product is for, to help them understand what it does, how it works, and the value that it brings. In the case of educational resources or training videos, this capability is even more valuable.
● Storytelling- with the support of a professional animation team, your animated video can present complex business concepts in the form of a narrative or story. This might sound counter intuitive (whoever heard of a corporate fairy tale?) but this is actually a brilliant way to engage your audience, and build a positive brand reputation. A great example of this is the animation that we created for Ford, which uses the context of a growing family to explain the USPs and added features of their new car.
● Combining audio and visual - the overwhelming majority of people prefer learning by watching a video to learning by reading text or listening to audio. In fact,some studies found that 83% would rather learn by watching videos. For many this is because, by bringing both audio and visual elements together, viewers’understanding is supported far more than either could achieve in isolation.
● Accessibility -by working with a professional animation team, you can ensure that your video is accessible for all viewers. Examples of this include adding overlay text,and ensuring that the elements can still be seen by viewers who are colour-blind.
● Engaging and entertaining - although they might not initially sound linked to understanding, engagement and entertainment are critical to successfully delivering a message. Why? Because viewers will readily click off a video if they lose interest. In fact, Hub Spot studies found 17% of viewers will stop watching a video that fails to "get and keep" their attention. So you need to make sure that you hook the viewers, so that they watch your video the whole way through,and understand your message in full. By incorporating animation, sound effects,and a captivating story line, explainer videos are fully geared to keeping viewers engaged and entertained.
At OK Social, we work on range of corporate explainer videos and other projects for leading agencies and brands. We offer a wide range of services within the wonderful world of animation. Then we collaborate with your team to help illuminate your story, enhance your brief, and amplify your message.
We’ve already stressed that, in order for corporate explainer animation videos to be successful, they need to meet these two key criteria. Engaging your audience and ensuring your message is memorable are critical. Without ticking these two boxes, your video won’t have the desired level of impact, and your message will get lost along the way. So, in your pursuit of creating an engaging and memorable corporate explainer animation video, you’ll need to consider the following:
● Compelling storytelling - does your video have a narrative? Does it feature a plot, fun characters, or an unusual location? Even if it is only lightly done, storytelling gives your video uniqueness, and gives your viewers a reason to keep watching.
● Visual creativity - be bold in your approach. Choose striking colours, intriguing characters and landscapes, and an out-of-the-box animation design.
● Memorable visuals - as part of the creativity of your visuals, you need to make sure that they stand out from the crowd. The best way to do this is by utilising the skills of a professional animator, and collaborating to communicate your brand’s identity and USPs through a new medium.
● Memorable characters - characters are a cornerstone of an engaging video. They bring the animation energy, personality and warmth, as well as an immediate hook for the viewer. So, work with your animator to devise a new character, and so bring your brand to life in a whole new way.
● Clear and concise messaging - alongside the importance of being playful, it’s critical that you balance this with a precise script, which is immediately understandable. Ensure that the entire team knows exactly what your video’s message is. Then, at every stage, continue checking that this messaging remains clear and concise.
● Engaging voiceover - it’s hard to know just how much of an impact the voiceover has, until you have to watch a video with a dull one.
● Humour and entertainment - just because your video is corporate, that doesn’t mean you can’t bring elements of humour in. After all, if your video isn’t entertaining, why would anyone watch it through to the end?
● Relevant and relatable content - the ‘corporate’ quality can often leave audiences feeling alienated and disinterested in big companies, assuming that their messaging will hold no relevance to them personally. The best corporate explainer animation videos combat this directly, with a storyline that immediately resonates with viewers.
● Sound effects and music - to ensure your video feels sleek, engaging and of a professional quality, use sound effects and music to provide the final touches.
● Call to action - clear signposting will ensure that your message does not get missed. With a bold, succinct CTA as the conclusion, your viewers will know exactly what they can take away from the video.
So, the question that you might still be asking is, ‘Why can’t we just write it down, and communicate the message that way? After all, it’d be a lot cheaper, and take a lot less time. But, corporate explainer animation videos offer a whole host of big benefits, which text-based and image-based content simply cannot compete with. A corporate explainer animation video can support the messaging of a corporate business in a number of key ways. These include:
● Delivering your messaging with the highest degree of clarity
● Using visual representation to further enhance your message and engage your audience
● Deploying storytelling to maximise the impact of the messaging
● Differentiating yourself from your competitors
● Using storytelling and characters to evoke an emotional response from your audience
● Boosting your brand identity with characterful, personable content
● Using originality and creativity to make your message memorable
● Keeping your content accessible for all viewers
● Fostering your content’s ‘shareability’ online, to maximise its outreach
● Creating content with inherent versatility, which can be featured across all of your digital channels
OK Social is a specialist animation explainer video company. Our team consists of highly skilled animators, voiceover artists, scriptwriters, illustrators and sound experts, all of whom are renowned for their bold approach and signature creativity.
We work on a close one-to-one basis with all of our clients, to ensure their new content is striking and will completely differentiate themselves within their market, while also remaining firmly on-brand.
It’s for these reasons why we have been trusted to create animations for some of the biggest brands in the UK. Our previous clients include the likes of the BBC, Coca-Cola, Harper Collins and Ford, just to name a handful.
So, if you would like to find out more about our animation explainer video services, or learn what impact a corporate explainer animation video could have for your brand, get in touch with our team today.
