As we discussed in part one, Explainers: What are they? Why do you need one?, This medium is an amazing way to communicate with your audience or customer base. They weren’t all created equal however, we’ll look at four different types. First of all though, when would you use one?
When are Explainers useful?
Simple animated explainers are perfect for when you have a message or information you want an audience to understand and absorb fully. They are especially good at dealing with complex or dry information, or very data heavy messages. They are particularly useful because they are able to present this type of content in a very memorable and engaging way. Good uses include product launches, feature updates, book launches and user tutorials. The example below was done brilliantly by Coca-Cola, when they outlined their 2020 marketing goals. Used to launch their five year marketing strategy and delivered at the Cannes Lions festival by then Vice President of Global Advertising, Jonathan Mildenhall.
What style should you use?
As we have said, there are several types of explainers you could try and this isn’t a one size fits all situation. There are a few factors that need to be considered.
Six things you should consider when thinking about using a video explainer:
Your goals
Your product
Your message
Your brand
Your budget
Your audience
Then, as if by magic, that should tell you what format to use. In this article we’ll be looking at examples that use live footage, motion graphics, whiteboard animation and 3D animation.
Live Footage
Using live footage is great if your message or product is more ‘real world’ and tangible than conceptual. Live footage is a good way to tell a story or deliver more simple information. It is also great if you have a lower budget. If you plan them carefully they can tell your story well and in a relatable way, getting you in front of more people. Because they are so commonly used, it can be much harder to boost engagement however compared to other Explainer Video styles. Sometimes you have to use a bit of humour to get noticed! We love Billion Dollar Shave Club’s approach. The business concept disrupted the razor market and the viral videos that CEO Michael Dubin created led to a billion dollar aquisition by Unilever!
“If you plan them carefully they can tell your story well and in a relatable way, getting you in front of more people.”
Motion Graphics
Motion Graphics are animation with text and typography as a major component. The action centres around text, simple graphics, music and colour. They are usually animated in a kinetic and attention grabbing way. There is some debate about the line between motion graphics and full animation. Motion Graphics can be used to great effect when delivering information. With the combination of music and effective copy, they can pump out an effective message and are format suitable for a lower budgets. If the elements are combined well, motion graphics animations are stylish and watchable. However, in our opinion, they can struggle to deliver more complex information. Still, if your message fits the delivery style you can make some very effective videos. Here’s a lyrical example made for Airbnb by DesignStudio.
“ The combination of elements can make typographic videos stylish and very watchable.”
Whiteboard Animations
Whiteboard animation allows you to illustrate and animate anything you can imagine. This makes them great at communicating the tangible, the abstract and the ‘intangible’ equally well. They can deliver the simple and the conceptual in a way that is easy to understand and remember. They are also great for that vital modern day component: social media engagement. Suited to a mid-level budget, whiteboard Explainer Videos are great when telling a story, delivering product information or presenting a complex scientific theory.
“Use the whiteboard technique to tell a compelling visual story, deliver product information or present a complex scientific theory just like The Stephen Hawking Foundation.”
3D Animation Explainers
Using fully animated 3D is a very powerful way of telling your story! Done well, they provide a slick, glossy and visually stunning video more than capable of giving a simple or more abstract subject a very effective treatment. This type of animation leans towards storytelling and suits people with mid to high-level budgets. Like the whiteboard technique these explainers they are very good at generating engagement on social media platforms, something which is a must, especially today when grasping attention is the dish of the day!
“They provide glossy and visually stunning animations that are more than capable of giving a simple or more abstract subject a very effective treatment.”
Which Scenarios Call for an Explainer Video?
If you’re wondering when to use an explainer video, let’s establish one thing at the outset: No matter what your story or how dry or complex it is, an explainer video is the best bet for explaining it in an easy to understand, digestible, and extremely engaging manner.
Whether you’re a business, large corporation, nonprofit organization, association, club, or a budding startup, we can help tell your story, with the richness it deserves. So when should you use an explainer video? These are just a few cases in which our explainer videos have proven to generate fabulous results:
Do you want to deliver a pitch in the most compelling manner?
Do you want to sell your company’s offerings?
Do you want to explain a dry or complex topic or subject?
Do you want to increase brand awareness?
Do you want to raise funds or awareness for a cause?
No matter what your business goal or scenario, our explainer videos can help tell your story to a vast audience, generating shares and clicks every step of the way.
Embrace Dynamic Story Telling with our Explainer Videos
When you compare our highly sharable, engaging, and memorable videos to a talking head video, you instantly know why the former enjoy such enormous viewership. In a talking head video the primary subject or subject matter expert talks directly into the camera without any interesting animations or visual storytelling footage. Quite understandably then it’s not as dynamic as our richly animated explainer videos that can literally bring any topic to life.
Plus thanks to the interest these animated videos generate on any online platform, they’re also the quickest way for getting your story out there - in front of millions of people. Quick fact: our RSA videos that brought to life complex and dry subjects have so far attracted more than a 100 million views.
We have been supercharging ‘talking head’ videos since 2009
In summary, explainer shorts are a brilliant asset for anyone with a story or a message they want to get out to a wide audience. Depending on your needs and your budget you have several options.We specialise in the whiteboard style - why? Because we know it works. In our research with Professor Richard Wiseman from the University of Hertfordshire we found out that the whiteboard approach boosted engagement by 15% and the likelihood of sharing the content skyrocketed to 66%!
A real-world example of just how effective the whiteboard approach to explainers really is comes from our work with the RSA. Dan Pink’s presentation for Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, was first broadcast as a live capture of his talk delivered in the Great Room of the RSA House in London. This ‘talking head’ video currently has 243,554 - which is no slim pickings!
We were asked to synthesise an edited slice of Dan’s content into our trademark ‘Scribe’ style of super engaging pictures and text to help bring Dan’s message to life.
If you want help in supercharging your story then please get in touch.
If you could pin down the essence of truth, could you draw it? That’s the question that lingered in my mind after speaking with Dan Ariely for my RSA Animate documentary—a project allowing me to reconnect with some of the most compelling thinkers of our time.