Six Different Types of Animation Styles for Marketing

There are good reasons why you wouldn’t eat steak for breakfast or drink a hot cup of joe to quench your thirst. It doesn’t mean you will stop being a huge coffee geek or that you can’t appreciate a nice, juicy cut when appropriate. It just means that different foods fulfill different appetites.

The same thing happens with explainer video types!

Certain videos appeal to some marketing objectives better than others. And with so many different styles of videos out there, it can be easy to fall into a bit of analysis paralysis. Leaving you unsure of the most effective one to take for your business or current marketing campaign.

This piece is here to fix that! We’ll go over different cartoon styles meant for marketing purposes, reviewing their particular strengths and how to use them best.

1. On Making Amazing Animated Explainer Videos

One important point to make before going through that list is that style alone doesn’t make an awesome animation.

While different types of animation styles or live-action footage can indeed resonate better with some audiences, there are several important characteristics that most types of videos used in marketing should address in some way or another.

• Quality: Online, people will gauge the reliability of your product or service by the quality of your content. Making the right first impression with high-quality content is paramount.

• Targeting: Generic videos are quickly dropped and forgotten about. Building explainers with precise target audiences in mind is a great way to have them work as intended.

• Branding: Color selection, logo placement, jingles… all these branding elements are present and used expertly in the different cartoon styles that work for marketing purposes.

• Rhythm: Pacing is critical in explainer videos. Timing the action and story just the right way helps keep audiences entertained and engaged until the end.

• Message: A video that lacks a clear message, or isn’t able to convey it clearly, can’t live up to their company’s expectations.

Doubtless, having a reliable team of professionals to get this covered will make it easier. Need help creating explainer videos? Don’t hesitate to contact us!

2. 15 Effective Types Of Animation Styles

Now that you understand the main aspects that make these videos great, it’s high time we jumped into the meat and potatoes of the piece and review 15 different cartoon styles:

• 2D Character Animation

• Motion Graphics Animation

• Whiteboard Animation

• 5D Animation

• 3D Animation

• Stop Motion

• Typography

• Screencast Video Style

• Live-Action

• Live-Action with 2D Animation

• Rotoscope Animation

• Mechanical Video Animation

• Cut-Out Animation

• HUD Animation

• Plexus Video Animation

Each of these different types of animation styles is used in today’s marketing, depending on the company’s size, audience, or industry. So let’s break each one down and see what makes them great.

3. 2D Character Animation

It isn’t surprising that we start this list with 2D animation, as it is one of the most popular and broadly implemented explainer video types in use today. And for a bunch of good reasons too!

Here, both characters and scenes are created in a two-dimensional space, using perspective to give the illusion of depth. The 2D animation video style is highly versatile, allowing for insane customization that, when done right, leads to an emotion-evoking piece that can appeal directly to its intended audience.

4. Motion Graphics Video Style

Similar to 2D character animation, motion graphic animations are primarily characterized by being engaging and straightforward.

It’s an ideal style for companies trying to showcase complex products or services – like in the tech industry – as the style works wonders at visually synthesizing huge amounts of information, quickly and effectively.

In these types of videos, clever use of graphics help illustrate your message, without getting in the way or distracting from the intended marketing goal behind it. Fresh, colorful, and dynamic, motion graphic videos hook viewers from the get-go.

5. Whiteboard Animation

One of the most used types of animation styles for B2C and B2B. The whiteboard style provides the perfect platform to delve deeper into a product, service, or process’ details. It consists of simulating black-line graphics being drawn on a white background, illustrating the concepts or ideas in play.

The popularity of this explainer video type lies in its effectiveness, as the dynamic graphics and animations do a great job of delivering complex messages while keeping the audience engaged. Using a streamlined type of cartoon style that results in a straightforward and to-the-point finish.

6. 2.5D Animation Style

The main draw behind this video animation style is to simulate a 3D environment. The technique consists of layering objects to create a more sophisticated and fluid piece – Like watching cut-outs moving in a 3D-like space, even though every element is designed in 2D.

It combines all the benefits of a motion graphics animation but, since it emulates a different cartoon style, its visual effect delivers a more unique, professional, and engaging piece. And it does it without the added hassle and expense of 3D animation.