Video or Animation: who wins?

You have a product, value proposition and a plan to share your message far and wide… but do you share it with video or animation? Both have their own merits but is one better than the other?

Here’s 5 considerations that might help you make up your mind

1 Budget

As you’d expect the devil is in the detail. There’s a misconception that animation is cheaper than video, and it can be, but it depends heavily on the style of animation and how much complexity is involved (Pixar animations don’t come cheap after all). The more detail in the models, movements, textures and length of animation can mean it takes a lot more time, people and computer power to produce. Having said that, simpler animations can be very cost effective and like for like come in around the same cost as video.

2 Audience Engagement

At a base level, video is a more personal. People like to see people, particularly for testimonial videos where seeing the person you’re listening to has weight and encourages truest. A really well scripted and sympathetically designed animation can still achieve that (think about some of the Christmas adverts retail stores use) but it’s likely to take a lot more time and cost.

3 Your product

What you’re selling can often lend itself to one medium over the other. Physical products, places, people often benefit from video so your audience can see the reality of what you’re selling. Services and processes (intangibles) are hard to show in video so animation may be the winner here. That’s not to say both can’t still be effective for either situation though.

4 Speed

Video can be quicker. If it’s not majorly reliant on special effects or large amounts of editing, video is the preferred option. Storyboards and pre-production are usually noticeably quicker and once you’re shooting you’ve got content whereas animation often requires creating everything from scratch.

5 Future proof

3 months later and you want to repurpose your campaign? Depending on the change, it’s generally a lot easier with animation. Changing a scene in animation means reopening the file and changing a segment of what’s already there, whereas with video it may mean sourcing locations, actors and re-shooting a new scene.

Conclusion

The budget, message and product often influence the media you use, even what your competition are doing, but don’t forget your audience. If you know where to advertise in front of them that might be your deciding vote too. But the ultimate decision is up to you.

Need help deciding which media works best for you? Talk to us about your next campaign