Technology has changed the pace of business. Today, a sale can be made and money can change hands in an instant. In many cases, the business and client don’t even need to be in the same room. Things can begin to feel…er, a little less than personal these days.
Storytelling is a welcome pendulum swing in the other direction. By infusing brand storytelling in your business strategy, you establish your personality with clarity, welcoming a true connection with your audience and potential clients.
In an age of advertising glitz and glamour, brand storytelling is a way to re-infuse your business with the personal aspect. Humans crave connection, and brand storytelling is a way to provide that.
This is where animation steps in. Animation is inherently built for storytelling, especially for businesses interested in developing consistent and re-usable marketing material.
Animation is an ideal tool for visually communicating even the most complex ideas in engaging ways. Whether you’re looking to simiplify intricate concepts or evoke emotion through compelling visuals, animation provides the flexibility and creativity needed to tell your story in a way that sticks with audiences long past their first viewing.
Brand storytelling helps organizations infuse their message, colors, characters and values into a narrative that audiences can connect with.
Your Brain on Brand Storytelling
What exactly is brand storytelling? It’s more than just talking about your products or services—it’s about weaving a narrative that brings your brand to life, one that resonates with your audience’s emotions and values.
Brand storytelling is important because it deepens the relationship between your audience and your organization. A good, true narrative staring your solution demonstrates to potential users that you relate to them, bringing them closer to use of your product.
Although we can all recognize what it means to get swept up emotionally in a story, not as many of us understand how we are reacting to stories on a neurological level. Because stories engage multiple parts of our brain, they actually enhance focus and retention. And who isn’t looking to increase memorability when they set out to create great marketing?
Quantified AI reports that messages delivered as stories can be up to 22 times more memorable than facts presented traditionally. When storytelling is integrated into your overall sales strategy, you are more likely to build a deeper connection with your audience by demonstrating the relevance of your product to them.
Why Animation is Perfect for Brand Storytelling
Animation allows businesses to stay true to their brand voice while offering endless creative possibilities, including ones that don’t break the bank. Here’s why animation shines when it comes to brand storytelling:
Video is Versatile: Discover Your True Brand Voice
Unlike static graphics or live-video footage, animation gives you the ultimate creative freedom to express your brand’s identity. There is truly no limit to what can be made possible on screen – except your imagination!
Animation can reflect your brand’s unique tone and style, from playful to serious, and everything in between. This flexibility helps you maintain brand consistency while telling a fresh and engaging story.
Our sample reel is a good way to understand the variety of animation styles that are out there. From delightful whiteboard video to higly technical 3D modeling, anything is possible with animation.
Authenticity is a core value at our studio, and our highly-rated process includes specific time for getting into the nuanced details of your branding goals. This is known as our kick-off call: a roundtable discussion with your team and your dedicated video producer, expert scriptwriter, and video producer, to better understand not only who you are, but exactly what you want to come of your animation.
Maybe you already have a solid brand kit, and are ready to find how it fits into animation. Maybe you’re just starting out on your branding journey, and need more guidance and support.
Wherever you are in the brand development journey, we’ll help you prioritize the most important thing: discovering a feel and tone that resonates with your audience.
Animation has Proven Long-term ROI
The engaging nature of animation has already been discussed here; any savvy marketer knows more engagement is bound to lead to things like more awareness, less bounce, and importantly, more conversions.
But what about the less obvious impacts on ROI?
Investing in animation is an investment in your brand’s long-term success. Animated videos, particularly explainer videos, can be reused, repurposed, and reformatted for various campaigns and platforms over time. We’ve seen companies roll out incredible, comprehensive campaigns built around animated characters developed with our studio.
Animated content also tends to have a longer shelf life than live-action videos, especially when crafted around core messages rather than time-sensitive information. Even still, animation is highly malleable and relatively cheap to update along with the changes that any business expects to go through.
With an evergreen appeal, animation keeps delivering value long after its initial launch, giving you a greater return on investment.
This blog takes a deeper dive into video ROI and how explainer videos increase conversion rates.
In this project with United Way, our animators build custom characters that could be recognized beyond the explainer video: United Way partnered with us to create the traditional marketing and social media campaign seen here.
Animation Empowers Global Reach and Integration
Animation can help bring your brand to any market you desire. Visual storytelling breaks language barriers, enabling brands to communicate with a global audience more effectively. The on-screen illustration of explainer videos often leverages universally understood visuals and symbols, conveying complex ideas without relying heavily on text or spoken language.
Moreover, is also easily adapted to different cultural contexts, with characters that reflect local customs, or adjustments to color schemes to suit regional preferences.
To empower your business goals, our studio proudly offers subtitles, voiceover translations, and accessability options like audio description – with discounts on packages of 3 videos or more!
Emotional Engagement
Storytelling thrives on emotional connection, and animation excels at creating it.
As reported by EducationalVoice, viewers experience an activation in certain brain regions associated with the same emotions characters experience on screen. This emotional connection helps viewers engage more deeply with your brand’s story, making it more memorable and impactful.
Whether you’re aiming to inspire, entertain, or inform, animation draws audiences in, holding their attention while embedding your brand’s message in their hearts and minds.
Creative Brand Storytelling Ideas for Businesses: Animation Examples
If you’re looking to dive into animated storytelling for your business, here are a few ideas to inspire you:
Supercharge Your Mission Statement
Communicating the depth of DKT’s impact and dynamism is no easy feat. Leveraging a synergy of animation and captured footage, the explainer video rises to the challenge.
You and your team are guided by a set of ideals and aspirations, but how does the world see you? Animated video can help people better understand all the incredible things that you do.
An engaging, birds-eye view of your story is an excellent example of the brand storytelling magic discussed above. With a professional studio at your back weaving in your values and personal story, you build trust by honestly sharing who you are.
Your mission, vision or value statement make a great foundation for an evergreen piece of content to support your business. Check out more from this project, created with DKT International.
Introduce Organizational Change
Whether you’re unveiling new leadership or restructuring teams, organizational changes can be complex. Animation provides a versatile announcement medium, supporting you when the inevitable time for changes comes.
Video is a great tool for internal and external communications because it breaks down your message with visual clarity and storytelling power, helping employees, clients, and stakeholders understand the “why” behind the changes. Our team is dedicated to discovering the most important pain points for your audience and weaving them into the story – with your solution as the answer.
Using animation to introduce shifts in your business ensures transparency, builds trust, and keeps the focus on your brand’s evolving mission. Click here to see more from this project with the Schenck School.
Through a playful concept featuring ‘hard-hitting’ interviewees, we transformed a mundane staffing announcement into a delightful introduction with the Schenck School.
Reflect On Success: History and Success Videos
In this Success Story explainer video, we see qualitative and quantitative data supporting the 2022 Money Moves program. The video quickly aids audience understanding of the program’s impact.
If telling a story is such a powerful way to connect with your audience, why not tell your story?
An animated explainer video allows you to highlight key milestones, celebrate achievements, and reflect on your brand’s history in a visually compelling way. In this bubbly example from Zelle, viewers are invited to review the impact of a specific campaign. Snappy statistics and bright, branded colors take audiences on a quick, but informative, journey through their Money Moves program.
Alternatively, consider a wider lens: make an animation sharing the story of your foundings. From your humble beginnings to your biggest wins, animated history and success videos build a narrative arc that showcases your growth and endurance, making it clear why your brand is one to trust.
Product Launch
Animation is a powerful tool for product demos, allowing businesses to clearly showcase features, functionality, and benefits in an engaging and easy-to-understand way.
Banking again on an unparalleled ability to break down complex concepts, animation makes it easier to communicate your product’s value to potential customers. In fact, Wyzowl reported in 2024 that 69% of consumers reported a video product demo being critical in their choice to purchase a product.
This 3D Animated video is perfect for demonstrating the power of Toothshower, providing highly technical imagery that speaks to dentists, oral surgeons, and caring consumers.
Bonus: 3 Expert Tips for Telling Your Brand Story with Animation
If you’ve made it this far, you’ve earned your keep: here are three tips from our award-winning studio. If you decide to leverage the power of animated video for your business, these ideas will help you fine-tune your strategy.
It’s time to put Animated Explainer Videos to work for your business.
Get a quote for your animation instantly: (202) 747-0404
