Whiteboard animation is a technique uniquely placed to make complex or dry information accessible, memorable and highly engaging. We pride ourselves on our ability to turn our client stories into exciting animations that inform and entertain viewers, often to such an extent that they share our films with friends, family and colleagues.

A great example of this is our work with Cynthia Hall and the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development. We made four films that embody how whiteboard animation can really capture your audience’s imagination. For example, in only four days one of these films was viewed 83,000 times on Facebook, reaching 294,173 people and experiencing 6000 engagements.

We have made four films for producer Cynthia Hall and the Karyn Purvis Institute. The first three have been collectively viewed over half a million times. The fourth, IDEAL Response©, has just been launched and received over 25,000 views on Facebook in under 24 hours!

The Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development is dedicated to helping children suffering from the effects of trauma, abuse and/or neglect. These films raise awareness the impact of trauma has on these children. They are targeted at law-makers, professionals working with children and parents to help the institute deliver their message and create change in important areas.

Telling the Karyn Purvis Institute story

Capturing the essence of the Karyn Purvis Institute and the stories they wanted to tell required careful and considered visual thinking from our team. These delicate, sensitive and important subjects needed the full array of whiteboard animation tools to present them properly and to reach audiences in a way that informed and engaged.

To bring these films to life we used visual metaphors like a child’s railway set to guide viewers around the information rich narrative of the IDEAL Response© and a child’s face acting as a mask, hiding their true emotions in Attachment. No detail was too small in the process of making these films engaging and informative. One example of this came in the third film Toxic Stress and the Brain where our creative team went as far as reenacting the child’s pose on the swing to get the perfect position to communicate an anxious and scared child.

Through visual metaphors, bespoke characters and unique scenarios - the flexibility of whiteboard animation allows it to capture a tone and emotion that helps create a link between the viewer and the animation. Not only do the films work on an informative level, where they give viewers valuable insights, they also engage - appealing to the parent and child in each of us. When we hit the right chord, when we resonate with the audience make, they do the rest and share the film far and wide.

The power of Whiteboard Animation

A professional whiteboard animation draws on nine elements to tell rich, engaging and powerful stories. To find out more about these and how they combine to create successful whiteboard animations read our blog post. You can also read more about the making of the Karyn Purvis second film, Attachment, here.

Able to tackle any subject, watch how we brought to life the black hole theories of Professor Stephen Hawking, the story of WeTransfer and services provided by UniteBT below.

The research: Whiteboard Animation increases likelyhood to share by 66%

We were fortunate to work with Richard Wiseman, Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology. Professor Wiseman ran research for us, comparing whiteboard animations with ‘talking head’ videos.

In a direct comparison, he found that whiteboard animations:

• created a 15% increase in the retention of information

• were seen as 33% more entertaining

• made volunteers 66% more likely to share

You can download the full research report here.

It has been a great pleasure and honour working with Cynthia and the Karyn Purvis Institute, bringing their important messages and insights to more than 50,6000 people. We love supercharging stories and helping our clients share their message in an engaging and memorable way.

If we can help tell your story and bring it to your audiences and channels, contact us here. We would love to hear from you.

Cognitive are award-winning pioneers of whiteboard animation, and the creators behind the RSA Animates series. We help corporate, academic and charitable organisations like the BBC, TED, Coca Cola and Sanofi to tell their stories more powerfully. Find out more about us here.