Why marketing animation is more popular than ever

From the stories of Scooby Doo’s crime-busting capers to explaining the mind-bending intricacies of complex topics like blockchain, animation has been part of all our lives from our earliest years. It is inherently engaging, which is why a growing number of marketing departments are turning to the format to cut through the noise online.

A recent report from Business Research Insights found that the global market for marketing animations was likely to increase from $0.76bn in 2024 to a massive $2.72bn by 2033. That’s a forecast annual growth rate of 15.2%, driven by a desire to expand audiences and increase conversions.

Animation in digital marketing refers to the production of motion graphics, videos and interactive visuals by a content creator to capture the attention of audiences. Its relevance lies in its ability to simplify complex ideas, tell compelling stories, and enhance the visual appeal of digital campaigns. By integrating innovative animated content, businesses can distinguish themselves, increasing audience engagement and improving brand visibility.

Creating compelling content

As a content creation agency, we’re used to helping a client build animation into their marketing strategy. We’ve helped them to describe their complex technologies, such as digital twins, and created award-winning 3D animations to explain sustainable business strategies. We’ve also found it a useful way to articulate difficult concepts, such as claims expertise and tailored adjusting services in the insurance sector.

And we use a variety of styles to create engaging content, depending on the target audience and the company’s brand personality. Combining animated words on a screen with powerful and inspiring music as we did for the new GMAT exam video, for example, can be very effective, creating a strong emotional response. Another approach we find useful is to add animation into video interviews and documentaries to bring out key points and to increase engagement with the film.

Covid content production

While we’ve been creating animations for a long time, marketing animations received a tremendous boost during the pandemic. Lockdowns, closures and transport restrictions meant that animation became a useful tool for organisations to communicate. You didn’t need to go out and film, potentially breaking lockdown restrictions and spreading the virus.

And by the time the pandemic was over, content marketing specialists had cottoned on to the huge benefits of including animated video in a marketing campaign. One of the primary advantages is its ability to capture and retain audience attention with high quality content. In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, where we are all bombarded with information, animated content stands out. Snippets of the animations also make good teasers for social media and people share video content twice as often as they share other social content.

Animated explainer videos have become particularly popular because they can cover a lot of ground about a company in a short space of time. They are frequently only around a minute long but allow the company to employ graphics and other techniques that are not only engaging but are a good way to help audiences explain both products and messaging.

High performance marketing

And we know that animation works. A study published in the Journal of Research in Learning Technology, for example, found that animated instructional videos enhanced students’ learning experiences, leading to increased engagement, improved understanding and greater retention of information. The same principles apply to content marketing, where engaging and retaining audience attention is crucial. Animation provides compelling content that can be far more seductive than a simple blog post.

Animation has been a staple in TV advertising for years, with some companies seeing very impressive results from creative content. Cryptocurrency Coinbase saw installs of its app rise by 309% week-on-week after its animated ad appeared during the Superbowl. Its animated QR code bouncing around a screen outperformed other tech companies who advertised at the game and delivered 20 million hits on the landing page in a minute.

And Compare the Market attributes 70% of its growth in the UK to its animated meerkat campaign, while the John Lewis Bear and the Hare Christmas ad elicited an emotional response from 48% of viewers. Although these successes were created with big budgets and were aimed at consumers, it’s perfectly possible to create animations within a manageable budget, and for B2B audiences, that can contribute to an uplift in organic traffic.

There is, however, a mismatch of skills within many marketing departments, which lack the capability to create animations themselves. While marketing is changing and animation is one of the areas that is growing, many teams don’t have the skills they need to create animations. That’s where a content creation agency comes in.

To find out how Wardour can support your content, email hello@wardour.co.uk.