Anyone who’s ever tried to convince their friends that joining that spin class is actually a great idea or had to explain the twists and turns of a particularly complicated film will know that explaining a complex concept or selling a vision isn’t always easy.
From pitching the big picture to making a complex idea feel accessible, you need a communication tool that can engage, inform and inspire. This is where whiteboard animation comes in. By combining a script and voiceover with illustration and animation, you can share your vision and make ideas relatable.
Whatever you’re sharing in your animation, some whiteboard animation strengths are universal. The combination of illustration, animation, creative visual thinking and a voiceover makes your message engaging, entertaining and memorable.
By drawing on a vast visual thinking toolbox, whiteboard animations can cover every topic, from the most abstract and complex to the most everyday and detail-heavy. Animation - and video - is the perfect format to reach audiences and share your messages. Videos are versatile, working just as well on a smart phone or smart TV. They can even be part of live events.
Most importantly, videos are popular. Wyzowl have found that in 2022, people watched an average of 19 hours a week, with 94% of marketers surveyed agreeing that videos have helped increase understanding of their product or service.
Pitching a big vision
All this is great news when it comes to pitching ideas to businesses or investors. Getting people on board with the big picture is important. Like a well-prepared friend, whiteboard animation is ready to help you.
Setting out your ideas and the big picture
One of the best things about visual thinking is that it transforms an idea or plan from a thought in one person's brain into an image everyone can take on board. This is crucial when pitching to or convincing people, especially if what you have in mind is particularly abstract, complex or grand.
Whiteboard has you covered in these situations. Ideas can be illustrated in a recognisable and relevant way, and the illustrations can develop or change during your animation as your vision is explained. This isn’t all, however. By laying out different ideas and sections of your message carefully, and using animation and framing, different points and ideas can be linked together. This lets you show how everything fits into the big picture and forms your grand vision.
The power of creative freedom
We’ve been creating animations since 2004, and we know that no message or client is the same. That’s why every explainer video we work on is bespoke and tailored to you. We can do this because of the incredible creative freedom whiteboard animation offers. Our scriptwriters, illustrators and animators take time to understand your vision, turning that understanding into a script, voiceover illustrations and then a full animation.
Guided by your feedback, we use the talent of our creative team and the freedom of whiteboard animation to create exactly what you had in mind, ensuring that your pitch is shown to the world just as you imagined it. Nothing is too abstract or too detail rich to be transformed into a whiteboard animation that engages, informs and stays with your viewers.
Tone and calls to action
Tone is always important, especially when you’re pitching to businesses or clients. The whiteboard animation process is packed with opportunities to set the right tone. It starts with the style and choice of language in your script, carries on through your illustration style and the design of features like characters, and it completed by who you choose to be your VO artist. Even your choice of font can add to the feel of your video.
All this allows you to create the ideal feel and style for your animation, putting your vision forward in a way which sells it and resonates with your audience. With your viewers on board, the scene is set for your call-to-action to build on the energy of your video and direct the audience to next steps. This might be a memorable message or a signpost to other places and it cements your pitch.
Sharing a complex idea or difficult concept
Complex ideas help us to push forward, live better lives and understand more about the world we live in. Explaining and sharing these ideas can be essential for them to have their biggest impact. Whiteboard animation has many qualities that make it a great way to do this.
Making complex ideas understandable and accessible
By using creative visual thinking techniques like metaphors, icons and set pieces which information forms around, even the most abstract idea can be translated into an illustration or scene that is easily understandable, engaging and memorable. This allows you to tailor your approach to your audience and reach more viewers.
The accessibility of a complex idea can be increased even further by the use of cultural references and characters that your audience will relate to. This can make a complex idea feel more relatable and familiar, and improve the way viewers respond to it, share it and take it forward.
Creating a strong understanding
Beyond these tools and techniques, whiteboard animation has even more tricks up its sleeve. Whiteboard animations use illustration and animation, a voiceover and onscreen text. This combination of information streams allows you to say a great deal. This means you can get across key points and the vital context to create the fullest understanding and biggest impact. It also means you can say a lot in a short amount of time, ideal for use on YouTube and social media.
Animated pitch and idea explainer examples
At We Are Cognitive, we’ve helped clients pitch ideas and explain complex concepts many times! Here are just a few of our favourite examples. At We Are Cognitive, we’ve helped clients pitch ideas and explain complex concepts many times! Here are just a few of our favourite examples.
BlueVolt - The Elevator Pitch
In an increasingly remote world, pitching ideas, products and services isn’t easy. We created this animation for BlueVolt to get across their ethos and solution in a fast, clear and engaging way.
The ClimateWorks Foundation - The Carbon Call
Some situations are rare, and you need your pitch to cut through and stay with viewers. That was the case for The ClimateWorks Foundation. We created this video for them to play at COP27, sharing the Carbon Call’s message.
Panorama, St Pauls
Some visions are big and paint a bright future. This was the case for Panorama, St Paul’s. We helped them showcase their building and sell its perks in an innovative and standout way.
The University of Manchester - Microplastics in UK Rivers
Research plays a crucial role in society, and it doesn’t get more timely than The University of Manchester’s linking of microplastics in UK rivers with the high profile dumping of untreated sewage. Discussed in the UK’s Parliament, we explained this important research in a whiteboard animation.
The audience response to whiteboard animation
Ever since we created the RSA Animates series, we have been overwhelmed by the response of audiences to whiteboard animation. We wanted to understand more and worked with Professor Richard Wiseman to compare the audience response to a ‘talking head’ video and a whiteboard animation using the same voiceover.
Together, we found that:
Viewers were 66% more likely to share the whiteboard animation
The whiteboard animation resulted in a 15% increase in information retention
The whiteboard animation was 33% more entertaining
Whether you’re pitching an idea or explaining a complex concept, whiteboard animation is packed with tools and options to help you do it in an engaging, memorable and entertaining way.
Make the most of these and share your next pitch or idea using whiteboard animation! We’d love to hear about your vision and offer a free creative consultation for you to ask any questions. Book your free consultation or contact us today!
This peculiar proportion, approximately 1.618, has been lurking in the shadows of human creativity for millennia, like a mathematical James Bond, seducing architects, artists, and designers with its promise of perfection.