As technology evolves, so does marketing. In the last decade, digital marketing has been growing by at least 10% each year, working its way into all forms of traditional marketing.
Commercials are no exception. Television viewers have become accustomed to hitting the mute button when their show is put on pause by a commercial break, but animated commercials hope to change this.
What is an Animated Commercial?
A standard animated commercial is a short 15-to-60-second video, as opposed to a lengthy two-minute commercial, that promotes the products or services of a company. Most traditional television advertisements are required to hit a certain length, which is a constraint that animated commercials don’t have.
An additional benefit of animated commercials is that given their shorter time, they can also be put on social media or other digital outlets beyond just television.
What is a Live-Action Video?
On the other hand, live-action video is the stereotypical commercial that you are most likely to have seen over the years.
Using only real people and no graphic design, live-action commercials also aim to sell a product or service. Just because a live-action video uses real people doesn’t necessarily mean that CGI isn’t involved.
Live-action commercials can have 3D or “not real” aspects, such as filming people in a studio but it looks like they’re on a football field.
Animated Videos vs. Live-Action Videos: Which is Better?
Determining whether animated videos are better than live-action videos is a challenging situation that is a case-by-case question.
In general, people tend to use live-action videos for advertising when they are selling a product and animated videos when they are selling a service or something more conceptual.
This is because part of the value-add for a product is its physical appearance, whereas the value-add for a service is what it does.
However, the most effective animated commercial producers can still create a message for a physical product that gets the point across for a cheaper cost.
If you have a well-defined marketing strategy that utilizes social media and other forms of advertising beyond just television, animated commercials could be the right choice for you.
4 Benefits of Animated Commercials
To further assist in the decision of graphic vs. live-action commercials, there are four primary benefits that animated commercials bring which could sway your choice:
Reduced cost
The largest benefit of using animated commercials over live-action commercials is the fact that animated videos will be cheaper. You don’t need to pay the cost an actor will charge, there is no venue or stage that needs to be rented out, and no props that need to be rented for the shoot.
Compared to all of the above costs, the majority of animated commercials will be in the low five-figures.
Greater creative vision
When trying to advertise your product in a unique way, using real people can stifle the vision you’re trying to create.
Animated videos allow for a greater range of creativity that can help a marketing team set their product apart from others on the market who are just using people in their advertising.
Ease of editing
Another major benefit of animated commercials over live-action commercials is the fact that animated commercials can be edited at any time. For live action, if there is an error in the shoot then all of the actors need to return, plus the props and venue need to be re-rented. This costs both time and money that an organization might not have.
On the other hand, if the creative vision behind an animated commercial isn’t quite what you wanted, going back and making changes to certain parts doesn’t require reworking a million factors.
No real-time actors needed
While saving money by avoiding paying the cost for an actor is certainly a plus, there’s also a convenience aspect to it. Actors are people which means they have variable schedules. Emergencies may come up or the actor you really want may be unavailable.
If this is the case, you may be forced to wait to shoot your commercial which can result in fewer eyes on your product or service. Animated commercials can be created anytime, anywhere without real-people involved beyond the designers.
How to Choose Between an Animated or Live-Action Video?
At the end of the day, the choice of whether to use animated or live-action videos for your commercial or general advertising is a personal one.
While animated videos often come at a reduced cost and allow for more creative flexibility, certain organizations may benefit more from the increased range of emotions live-action offers despite the higher cost.
The other consideration many companies need to consider is the amount of time they have to put into the project. Live-actions commercials or advertisements may require reshoots, which take additional time and potentially money, whereas animated videos can be changed and edited on the fly.
Consider your organization’s budget, time commitment, and advertising goal when choosing between animated or live-action advertising for your marketing strategy. Alternatively, use both. Mixed media animation can combine live-action videos with animated videos.
For example, say a commercial is trying to advertise a health supplement in the form of a pill. A commercial could show a real person swallowing the product, followed by an animated journey of the pill traveling through the body and enhancing the muscles or tissues.
This can allow you to have the best of both worlds in regard to animated and live-action videos.
Elevate your marketing strategy today
As with any organization, preparing for the future of work means finding ways to adopt new technology into your business processes.
In the world of marketing, taking advantage of animated commercials, with the help of mixed media animators, can set your organization apart from competitors still using the traditional live-action-only model.
Rather than ditching live-action completely, think about combining animated commercials with live-action commercials, with the former being used to better explain how a product or service works, as introduced by the latter.
Developing a new marketing campaign is never easy but staying successful as the advertising field changes means becoming comfortable with the unknown.
