Buying presents can be an art - it needs to feel thoughtful and the recipient needs to like it, but as we think outside the box, it can become difficult to get the balance right. There is nothing worse than watching the expectant face of our recipient change to one of confusion. Personally, that painting spoke to me, but when the recipient of my carefully chosen art piece unwrapped it, they did not see what I saw in it.
This is where whiteboard animation can save the day, beating confusion and distractions by packaging ideas and messages in visuals and storytelling designed just for you, telling your story in the perfect way while appealing to your audience in the way that feels relevant to them.
At Cognitive, we’re passionate about helping people learn, discover and engage with information through whiteboard animation videos. One area where whiteboard animation videos can be an amazing asset is in marketing and we want to share just a few of the ways they can help with your marketing efforts.
First things first, why use whiteboard animation videos in your marketing?
Whiteboard animation is a great choice for marketing. Like a well-seasoned meal, whiteboard videos bring out the best in your message while making it visually delicious. The effect of this seasoning was shown by research we conducted with Professor Richard Wiseman. Professor Wiseman is Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire and while working with him, we took our chance to ask if he’d like to conduct some research with us.
To our delight he said yes, and we set about comparing a ‘talking head’ video with a whiteboard video. We found that compared with the ‘talking head’ video, the whiteboard animation:
was 66% more likely to be shared
resulted in a 15% increase in information retention
was rated 33% more entertaining
Whiteboard animation videos are able to achieve results like this because they combine information with storytelling, onscreen text, rich visuals, cultural references, humour and animation. Together, these allow whiteboard videos to be highly engaging, taking the visual storytelling of whiteboard videos to a new level by allowing it to stand up to the multiple distractions we face.
Whiteboard animations take all this supercharged content far and wide, partly because like our research found - they are more likely to be shared, and partly because they are very versatile. Whiteboard animation videos are equally at home on a social network, your landing page or YouTube. They also work equally well whether the device is a smart TV, a desktop, tablet or phone.
This versatility is important because the way we engage with video has been changing. Research by Google has found that:
68% of YouTube users watched YouTube to help make a purchase decision
YouTube users were 2x more likely to pay close attention while watching YouTube compared with TV users watching the TV
On mobile alone, in an average week, YouTube reaches more adults aged 18 and over during prime time than any cable network does
1 - Social stings that stand out
One way of using whiteboard animation in your marketing is as a social media sting. Whiteboard videos are perfect for this because they are able to deliver a lot of information in short time in a creative way. You can create illustrations and characters to appeal to your audience and tell your story in the way which gives it the greatest impact and engagement.
Whether you use it as an advert on YouTube or a sting on social media, videos like these can get your message far and wide. We enjoyed making a series of stings like this for Big Yellow Storage, bringing the horror of storage nightmares to life.
2 - Information campaigns
A bit like trying to explain a film to someone that has missed half of it, some things need an explanation with a lot of information and a lot of context. Whiteboard animations shine in moments like this because they are able to connect ideas and layer information, allowing you deliver overall points and fine details in one marketing film.
This type of video can be essential when you’re introducing something new or you need to create something which is highly accurate, detailed, information-rich but still engaging. These videos come in to their own in the technical and medical fields, where quality information and engagement are goals.
We loved creating a series of films for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, explaining important information about coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease and treatments and a series for EuroQol, explaining the EQ-5D and their processes.
3 - Homepage and landing page explainers
First impressions are everything, and when it comes to a homepage or landing page, creating these along with a great experience is key. With their rich storytelling, engaging visuals and vibrant voiceovers - whiteboard animation videos are well placed to help you make that all-important first impression a good one.
Whiteboard videos can help whether you’re sharing your ethos, values and history or introducing an idea, product or service. By combining visual storytelling with information, data and your business’s voice, they can make your message engaging and memorable while also packing lots of information into a small amount of time.
Adding to these benefits, videos on important pages are a good idea from a SEO perspective. Wistia found that people spent 2.6x longer on pages with videos on them and Google has announced page experience will add towards their ranking criteria. We love this kind of storytelling, whether it’s the essence of your organisation or the introduction of something exciting and new. We enjoyed capturing the essence of The Berkhamsted Group into this video and telling the story of WeTransfer.
4 - Got a book or some research coming out? Create a trailer!
A lot goes in to books and big pieces of research and whiteboard animation is a great way of sharing information from these in a way that does them justice while making people aware and excited! The combination of your story or findings with visual storytelling allows you to share points of interest and the context needed to understand them fully without taking anything away from entertainment experienced by your audience.
As our research with Professor Wiseman shows, whiteboard videos come with the added benefit of being very shareable - giving you the opportunity to get the news of a publication and its contents far and wide. Strong engagement with whiteboard animation is the cherry on top, which is good news for any calls to action you include in your trailer.
We think of this as democratising information and we’ve done it for books like Canongate Books/Dan Pink’s ‘When’ and research like More In Common’s ‘Britain’s Choice’ report.
5 - Celebrate your history and success
In life or business, milestones deserve to be celebrated. Often a lot of work and years have gone into these milestone successes and they should be shouted about. This is where the storytelling aspect of whiteboard animation shines, tying together the history and build-up to your moment while explaining its importance and what it means in one connected and cohesive whiteboard video.
We did this for TE Connectivity, looking back on their 75th anniversary at how their innovations have shaped the technology we use today and for International Idea, reflecting on the threats faced by democracies and looking back at the actions of International Idea 25 years after their creation.
6 - Share world-changing ideas
The world is a complicated place and we face lots of challenges. However, one of the greatest things about people is that we’re an inventive bunch, always coming up with new solutions and ideas. Sharing and explaining these is one of the uses for whiteboard animation that makes us proudest. We pioneered the medium while creating the RSA Animates series and it makes us happy to see the medium being used to share so many ideas.
Speaking to us about the RSA Animates, the RSA’s Abi Stephenson said, “smart, appealing, creative communication of ideas is an ESSENTIAL part of social change – far too often I see worthy, evidence-based causes falter because their advocates assume the arguments are self-evident."
This highlights the need for effective communication and whiteboard animation is perfectly placed to deliver it. As well as making information engaging and memorable; whiteboard animations are able to communicate complex ideas in a simple way and make things which may not seem fun feel entertaining. One of our favourite whiteboard animation impacts is starting informed conversations, and of course, getting ideas far and wide.
Whiteboard animation videos allow you to create bespoke visual thinking to share your idea in the precise form it needs, and we have been honoured to do this for this for CEA Consulting, explaining the role of the ocean in absorbing atmospheric carbon, and for Professor Stephen Hawking, explaining his Supertranslations theory.
7 - Make your message accessible and multilingual
Whiteboard videos can come into their own in a marketing campaign when you create versions with added accessibility and in different languages. Not only do versions like this make your marketing more inclusive, they also take it global - reaching much wider audiences.
When it comes to accessibility, whiteboard animation videos give you plenty of options. This W3C WAI article has lots of good advice, and just some of the options from it include:
audio descriptions
captions and subtitles
colour choices
Whiteboard animation gives you several options with varying levels of detail and complexity when it comes to translating your video as well. We go into more depth in this blog on whiteboard video translation, but as a quick overview, the options are:
subtitle the English film with captions
translate the script and record multiple voiceovers in different languages
minimise text and ensure the visual language is globally recognisable
provide completely re-drawn and ‘trans-created’ videos
This final route is the one we took with our film for the Red Cross/Red Crescent. We created versions of this whiteboard video in English, French, Spanish and Arabic. For each version we translated everything from the onscreen text and voiceover to the direction the video played in, ensuring it as perfect for each audience.
Spanish version
Arabic version
We are passionate about whiteboard animation videos and their ability to make information memorable, accessible and engaging. Whether it’s a short social media sting or the sharing of a complex idea, whiteboard videos have a whole host of strengths and features to make sure your message is delivered in the perfect, bespoke way. Read our post on how to make a whiteboard video for more information about what goes into our films.
If you think whiteboard animation could share your next marketing message, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us today!
I have written a lot about failure. It’s something of a fascination for me. I am in a constantly evolving process with failure. When does failure become a success? Are there any true failures or is it just an endless process?