Animated Video: 5 Examples of Awesome Marketing Content

In a previous post, we talked about the immense creative control that comes with animated video, and why this is such a huge benefit of the medium. Of course, this can make it hard to come up with a concept that you love, just like it would if the scope was very limited.

Fortunately for you, we’ve scoured the internet for some of the best examples of animation that truly show what can be achieved when you put the work in. We’ve picked a few different styles, and have featured a variety of brands, each with a different objective, just to illustrate even further what animation can do for any business.

UK audiences know just what a big deal the John Lewis Christmas adverts have become in recent years. In 2013, they created a beautiful campaign, at the centre of which was The Bear and The Hare.

It centres around a bear who has never experienced Christmas, always hibernating at the most wonderful time of the year, until he is given the gift of a lifetime by his friend, the hare. It’s animated in a way that makes it look like one of the old-timey Disney classics and feels like a true fairy tale, giving it a real nostalgic glow. Add to that the music that really helps to tell the narrative that you see unfold on screen and what you’ve got is a fantastic advert that is built on emotion and storytelling – two of the biggest factors for a successful marketing video.

A huge benefit of animation that we may have neglected to mention up to now is that you can visually deliver an astonishing amount of information. That’s exactly what MasterCard did with this video they put together in 2017.

It demonstrates the impacted that the company has had around the world since its launch, telling the story via voiceover, but accompanying this with numbers and statistics that smoothly appear on-screen throughout. It is a fine example of what can you can do when you plan everything out in detail, and is done in a 2D style that is very attainable for organisations much smaller than MasterCard (remember what we said about animation being scalable!)

If an explainer video is the kind of project you want to start with, look no further than Dropbox’s introduction to themselves. This animation tells you everything you could possibly want to know about Dropbox, both as a potential customer and as someone who has just signed up for the service.

This video perfectly illustrates the product’s capabilities and benefits, plus what that means for users, and does so in a fun, minimalist style that is brought to life by the movement. It’s a great example of simple done well!

In 2019, MailChimp underwent something of a rebrand, changing a lot of their design to a more hand-drawn style. This short video was created at the same time as this facelift, and marks the start of the brand’s new chapter, but also acts as a brief, quirky introduction to MailChimp for those unfamiliar with the name.

It’s eye-catching and unique, not too dissimilar to MailChimp themselves, and plays on it’s audiences’ curiosity brilliantly. This snapshot leaves the ball in the viewer’s court, giving just enough for anyone who’s interested to make them want to find out more.

Now we’ll admit that this is a little bit of shameless self-promotion on our part, but this animated explainer that we put together for Control Risks is a great example of the kind of animated video you can create, even if you don’t have a prime-time television advertising-type budget.

It’s a very clean animation that keeps the focus on the product. Everything you see in the video has a purpose and contributes to achieving the overall objective of the video, meaning that there will be no confusion in the viewer’s mind about the product by the end of the clip – something that is key with any marketing content, but especially important to remember with animation when the sky is the limit and you could very easily get carried away.

That should have given you some inspiration on what direction your first (or next!) animated video could head in. With the exception of the John Lewis advert we mentioned right at the start, all of the examples we featured here are things that can be scaled to suit practically any budget, emphasising once again how accessible animation really is. Plus, didn’t some of these look fantastic AND like they were great fun to put together? All of this is waiting for you, so get cracking!