By Scott Mahr, Art Director
The foundation for any successful advertising/marketing campaign is to communicate your brand’s message effectively and efficiently to the intended target audience while keeping them engaged and intrigued. One great way to do that is through animation. And the word may not mean what you think it does (if all you’re thinking about is Pixar and Disney). 
The world of animation truly offers infinite solutions, which leads to a lot of questions and variations on how people interpret and use it. There are numerous categories such as traditional character animation (i.e. cartoons), motion graphics, broadcast graphics, dynamic typography, simulations, explainers, 3D, product visualization, virtual reality, etc. With so many sub-genres and buzzwords within this craft, some confusion and misconceptions can arise. But one thing is clear—animation offers the unique ability to visually communicate your message in a way that is dynamic, emotional, and appealing to the audience. Animation can be a stand-alone solution, an alternative to traditional communication methods video and photography, or play a supporting role in a campaign using multiple forms of media.
Animation can be used to portray ideas, processes, and objects that can’t be adequately captured or presented by video alone. You can bring dinosaurs to life (https://runningpony.com/portfolio/memphis-zoo-dinosaurs-tv-campaign/), explain difficult concepts (https://runningpony.com/portfolio/bodine-school-miracle-reading/), and add flair (and flame) to video (https://runningpony.com/portfolio/university-of-memphis-athletics-tigers-on-fire/). You are only limited by your imagination (and of course, budget and deadlines). The amazing opportunity within animation is there is a style that can fit any idea, need and budget. Animation brings the ability to share content across broadcast, television, web, social media, and even print. Yes, even still images! Animation is simply a sequence of many stationary images that “move”, so it’s easy to use just one of those images for print.
My favorite example of this is called Product Visualization. By “visualizing” a product in a “photo-realistic” way through animation, you can allow customers to experience a product in a manner they simply could not in “real life”.
Product Visualization is frequently used in advertising campaigns for watches, vehicles, medical, science, food and beverage…really, almost any industry. There are times 
when a product is too large, too small, or certainly too expensive to distribute as a sample. These products still need to be presented for customers or fully explained to the sales and support staff. Having the ability to present a 3D model of the product digitally offers invaluable opportunities to educate and dynamically show off the product and have the control and environment to reach more of your audience. For example, here’s an animated video we where we created a house filled with appliances…all done in animation: https://runningpony.com/portfolio/servicemaster-throughout-homes-businesses/
You can see various examples of different styles of our animation work here: https://runningpony.com/portfolio/running-pony-animation-reel/. Just give us a call and we’ll help brainstorm ways that you can use animation to help your marketing and communication efforts.
