Creamy Animation delivered excellent work that met the client’s needs and expectations. We were impressed with the turnaround time and quality of their work.
DANIEL BLUMER
Head of New Product Introductions, Logitech
Branded Content Production
Branded content video, also known as native video advertising, is a type of video marketing that creates an emotional connection between the viewer and a brand.
When a company publishes a branded video, the primary intention is to strengthen its brand further, and not necessarily to drive more sales.
Branded content video talks about issues that your audience can connect to emotionally while keeping your brand in the background. Most branded videos will only show the company’s brand at the very end.
Branded Content Video Examples
We were looking for a studio to create a product explainer video and came across Creamy Animation. Needless to say, we were impressed with the outcome. They did a fantastic job in creating a professional looking video for us. From the start, Larry and team provided detailed guidance on the different stages of the project such as scripting, voice work, and illustrations. In the end, everything came together beautifully. Highly recommend
Duong Tran
Marketing Manager | Dr. Bill by RBC
The difference between Branded Content and Video Ads
Call to Action
Branded content videos focus on creating brand awareness and not necessarily driving sales. At most, they will have a logo or link at the beginning or the end of the video. Advertising videos are mostly sales focused. As such, they will often have a call to action as a core aspect of the video.
For example, if you run a beauty products shop called Skin Love, Creamy Animation can help you create a series of videos that talk about the different skin types and how to take care of each. As branded video, the videos will not explicitly market or even mention your products.
Instead, at the end of each episode, the video will say something like, “Series brought to you by Skin Love.” While the video did not mention your products or brand during the show, the brand mention at the end creates an emotional connection with the viewer and strengthens your brand.
Narrative
Branded content video is a narrative form of marketing, which uses stories and storytelling to stimulate an emotional response from viewers. Advertising video, no matter how cleverly designed, almost always has one common theme, to push sales in some way or another.
Placement
Branded content video is formatted for online placement or other “feature” placements. As most are 3 minutes or longer, they are not optimized for ad placement. Advertising videos are usually designed and formatted for TV placements or ad placements. Because of this, they are often short and heavily focused on pushing an advertising message.
Types of Branded Videos
Branded content video comes in all kinds of flavours. If a medium is considered video, then you can likely use it to create and publish branded video. Here at Creamy Animation, we specialize in a variety of video types that we can use to create your branded content video. Here is a breakdown of each video type and how it applies to branded video:
Cartoon Character Animation Branded Videos
Cartoon character animation videos use cartoon characters to tell a story or explain a concept, These are called explainer videos. Most cartoon character videos use a narrator and one or more cartoon characters participating in an unfolding story. Whiteboard animation brand videos offer a lot of flexibility, customization options, and versatility.
Live-Action Branded Videos
Live-action videos are videos shot on location or in a studio and feature real characters. Live-action videos are especially well-suited for branded content video as you can make longer videos with complex storylines. They may take longer to make than let’s say a whiteboard animation video, but they can also result in spectacular results.
Live-Action + Animation Branded Videos
Live-action + animation branded videos combine real characters and cartoon/animation elements. An example would be a human character speaking and graphics appearing next to them on the screen. In a branded video, combining live and animation elements can enhance a video’s ability to tell a compelling story.
3D Animation Branded Videos
3D animation videos are great for presenting complex and highly detailed information. When making a branded video, 3D animations can be used within a broader narrative to explain the complex elements of the story. We recommend combining 3D animation with live-action to create a well-rounded branded video.
Motion Graphics Branded Video
Motion graphics videos use extensive graphics to present detailed information. If you want your video to feature a lot of numbers and stats, we recommend using motion graphics for either your whole branded video or a part of it. Motion graphics animation videos can be used for both informational purposes as well as for marketing purposes.
When Should You Use Branded Video?
When it comes to video marketing, different types of brand content videos are best suited for various applications. Branded content videos thrive in certain use cases where you need to convey a powerful message clearly and non-intrusively. Here are some use cases where branded video thrives (keep in mind the list is not exhaustive so you can find more creative ways to apply brand video to other use cases).
Brand, Product or Service Value Overview
Conveying your product or service’s value through brand video can help your audience internalize and appreciate what you have to offer. For example, if you have a product that helps make a daily commute more comfortable, a branded video that shows someone using your product and having an easier commute can compellingly communicate the value you have to offer.
Powerful Storytelling
Audiences love stories, especially those that invoke a positive emotional response. Branded video is one of the best ways to use storytelling to grow your brand and your business. Through storytelling, branded video can create a strong emotional link between your audiences and your brand, helping you win lifelong customers and fans.
Introduce New Products, Services or a Rebrand
If you are launching a new product, service or brand, we can help you use branded video to share the behind the scenes stories in the run-up to the launch, or how you created the new product, service or brand. Branded video, focusing on telling a story, is a great way to gently introduce your latest offering to your audience, avoiding the hard-sell approach most customers have come to shun.
Boost Brand Awareness and User Engagement
Brand awareness is a necessity for any business seeking to dominate a market niche. While marketing and sales focus on acquiring market share, brand awareness is focused on keeping that market share safe. Branded content video is an excellent tool to achieve this. Using compelling storytelling and emotive visuals, you can create a strong emotional bond with your customers and boost user engagement. Including an educational component to your videos is an added advantage.
Explain Complex Concepts
Sometimes, the relationship between a product or service and a need can be hard to explain or capture in 30 seconds of video. Branded video, often more than 3 minutes long, can help build the context needed for an audience to get that aha moment about your service and see how your product can help meet their needs.
Humanize Your Brand and Build Trust
As your company grows and your brand expands, people may come to view it as a soulless corporation. Branded video can help bring back some soul and relatability to your brand. Using powerfully emotional stories that connect with your audience, you can help them see that your company and brand see, feel and appreciate the same emotions that they do.
Share Tutorials and How-to Content
Branded video is a great way to share tutorials and how-to information. If you have a product that has a complex or highly specialized use case, you can use a branded content video to help your customers understand how the product or service works. In such a case, we will help you to cleverly convey this information without focusing too much on a sales and marketing angle.
Support Sales and Marketing Campaigns
Sales and marketing have their work cut out for them – build awareness and drive sales. Branded video, while not explicitly focused on either of these functions, can serve a supportive role. By strengthening your brand through branded video, we will help you improve the effectiveness of your sales and marketing teams, helping them achieve more conversions.
What are the Benefits of Using Branded Video?
Using branded video has multiple and far-reaching benefits. One of the things we see here at Creamy Animation is how our branded video clients continue to benefit from campaigns that ran years ago. If your branded content video is live and viewable, you can continue to benefit from it for years to come. That said, here are some benefits a Creamy Animation branded video will bring you:
Builds Brand Identity and Trust
Customers buy from companies with a strong brand identity that they can trust. While the path to such an identity and trust can be long, branded video can help shorten it. Through a well thought out branded video, Creamy Animation can help you outline and solidify brand identity and then build and drive trust through personal, wholesome and engaging stories.
Puts Your Brand on Google’s Radar
Google (and Facebook) loves video. Video is one of the most consumed forms of media on the Internet today. With a well-made branded video that is optimized for search, Creamy Animation can help you capitalize on this trend and drive more brand awareness, as well as more traffic to your site.
Offers Easily Shareable Branded Content
In the same way that video is one of the most consumed types of media on the Internet today, it is also one of the most shared media too. When you work with Creamy Animation to create a brand video, we’ll add easy share tools to your videos so your audience can quickly spread them, helping your brand gain more views and better recognition.
Summarizes Your Brand Message
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words and a video worth a thousand images. Brand video content uses this maxim to help you summarize your brand message in a way that sticks with people. Instead of struggling to write copy that poorly conveys your brand message, let us work together to use video to broadcast your message powerfully and concisely.
Keeps Your Brand Current
As far as marketing trends go, branded video is right there at the top. Leading global brands have latched onto this trend and use branded video to capture new audiences. Creamy Animation can help you also capitalize on this trend. Our branded content video service will help you impress, attract, and engage your target audience while communicating your brand’s relevance and value.
What are the Characteristics of a Great Branded Content Video?
Great branded video is sort of like a gourmet meal – it has just the right ingredients and touch of magic from an experienced hand. Creamy Animation has the experience to help you create amazing branded content videos for your campaigns. Now, here are the ingredients that go into make a great branded video:
Non-disruptive
When it comes to branded content videos, the message comes first. Focusing on telling a compelling story, branded videos play down disruptive elements like calls to action and brand mentions. Well-designed brand videos from Creamy Animation offer a smooth, uninterrupted viewing experience, allowing the audience to experience the entire story as it unfolds.
Connects with People On An Emotional Level
All marketing is about appealing to an audience’s emotions, more so branded video. When designing a branded video storyboard, Creamy Animation will create a narrative that touches on your audience’s emotions. Whether through stories of hope and redemption or generosity and charity, we’ll help you create that human connection with your audience.
Engages Its Audience
Video engagement is related to emotion but with an action element in it. Creating a branded video that is non-disruptive yet engaging can seem like a paradox, yet it further strengthens the emotional connection created. Here at Creamy, we experiment with small micro-engagement elements to create a smooth yet engaging branded video.
Is Authentic
Authenticity in marketing is often challenging to come by yet that is why we strive all the more to create authentic branded videos. As a brand, showing your authentic values and culture can attract people of similar values to your brand. More powerfully, we can help you identify with a cause and use it as a rallying point for your brand and internal values.
Is Shareable
People share what they love. But if a video is not sharable, that can make this magical moment difficult. Our focus on making branded videos is to make them as easily shareable as possible. Yes, that means adding sharing tools but also optimizing the video for sharing including using the right encoding and publishing channels.
Trackable
We know you do not want to create branded video for the sake of it. You want to see data on how your campaign is performing. Depending on the publishing channels you choose, we can add tracking tools to show you metrics related to views, playbacks, and shares.
Delivers A Compelling Message
Lastly, a great branded content video must be compelling. It must connect with the user in such a way as to prompt them to take action. Remember, this does not mean adding a call to action. It means telling a story in a way that inspires an audience to engage more with your brand, visit your website, or remain loyal to your brand.
Branded Video Production Process
Every video production process is unique. However, they all share some standard building blocks. Branded video production is no different. While the standard building blocks will be the same, there will be differences based on the type of video you request, as well as its length and complexity. At Creamy Animation, here are the three primary stages we follow:
Pre-production
The first phase in video production is called the pre-production phase. During this stage, we focus on understanding your needs and conceptualizing the video you have in mind. Think of it as setting the stage (pun intended). Here’s a quick list of some of the things to expect at this stage:
- Define strategy, goals, and objectives.
- Outline budget and scope.
- Story selection.
- Scripting and storyboarding.
- Talent scouting/character development.
- Itemize production requirements.
- Location scouting (optional).
Production
Once pre-production is done and you sign off on the project, we move to the production phase. Here is where most of the raw work gets done. The goal at this stage is not to come up with a finished work but to collect and create all the components required for the final work. Here are the activities we focus on at this stage:
- Storyboard animation.
- Voiceover recording.
- On-location filming.
- Background music recording or selection.
- B-roll footage creation/collection.
Post-production
Post-production is where all the magic happens. In the previous phase, we collected a whole lot of raw elements. Post-production involves putting all these elements together to make the final branded video. Here are some of the things we do:
- Video editing.
- Final story production.
- Graphics selection.
- Music/sound selection.
- Draft production review and approval.
- Final cut delivery.
How Much Does Branded Video Production Cost?
We understand that no matter how important branded video is, the cost is always an important factor for any business. While branded content video production costs depend on several factors, here at Creamy Animation, the four main factors we consider are:
- Video length – As a standard costing factor in video production, video length is a fundamental factor we consider. Usually, we will bill you per minute of the finished video. That way, you know how much each additional minute will cost.
- Story complexity – How complex the story is will also determine the cost. For example, if your story involves interviews of people around the country, this will add to the price.
- Video type – Different video types attract different costs. For example, animation videos are lower priced than live-action videos because they do not require on-location shooting, video talent, and video shooting crews.
- Timeline – Brand video production timelines also affect the final costs of the project. Urgent projects needed in a matter of days cost the most, while those that take the typical timeframe of a few weeks cost less.
The final cost of branded video production relies a lot on your needs. Schedule a free consultation with Creamy Animation to discuss these factors and get a custom quote that fits your budget and your needs. See our production costs guide.
Branded Content Video Promotion Ideas
We’ve worked hard and created a fantastic branded content video. What next? Do you post it on your website and hope your customers see it? No. Branded content video promotion is as important as branded video production. Luckily, when you work with Creamy Animation, we won’t just send you the video and wish you well. Here are some of the video promotion approaches we will share with you:
Segment
Branded videos, although appealing, cannot appeal to everyone exposed to your brand. The most successful brand marketing videos focus on specific audience segments.
In most cases, those segments comprise your target market. If your company sells toddler toys, your video should appeal to parents of toddlers, not just any parent. This way, the message is not lost on those who may not relate to your brand video.
Optimize Your Videos
Optimization is a broad and inclusive process that includes technical optimization and search engine optimization (SEO). At Creamy Animation, we approach optimization as a way of ensuring the video meets your objectives as successfully as possible. If one of your goals is to get as many shares as possible, we’ll optimize the video for sharing. Similarly, if you want people to watch it across different channels, we’ll also optimize it for this.
Create Engaging Thumbnails
Thumbnails are a significant promotion factor, especially in search results. When someone sees your video in a search result, whether on YouTube or Google Search, you want the thumbnail to be as appealing as possible. We provide you with creative thumbnails that help your video stand out in all search results.
Share Your Videos On Youtube and Other Platforms
The best way to help people discover your branded video is to share it widely. There are a lot of platforms your can use, like YouTube for example. We recommend creating a sharing strategy that includes:
- Online and TV ads
- Advertorials
- Sponsored blogs
- Social media
- Email newsletter
- Blogs
- Landing pages
- Press releases
- Media and press coverage
How Do You Measure Branded Video Success?
Measuring branded content video success helps you quantify your marketing ROI. Having worked on several branded video campaigns, we know that a successful branded video campaign can significantly impact a business’s market visibility. Once you publish your Creamy Animation branded video, here are some of the ways you can measure its performance:
View Count
Measuring views is the most basic way to understand a video’s performance. Video views data comprises the number of times the video page is seen and how many times the play button is activated. Although views are an important metric, this data alone does not tell the whole story. Combining views and playback metrics offers better insights into your video’s performance.
Playback
Commonly misunderstood as meaning the same thing as views, playback refers to how many times a viewer watched your video from start to end. As branded content videos are longer compared to other types of marketing videos, playback numbers will tell you whether the video was engaging enough to keep viewers watching until the end.
Engagement
Engagement is a broad term that can mean anything from how many views a video got to how many shares and likes it got. In general, the engagement metrics we have seen that yield the best insights are shares, click-through-rate (CTR), and time-on-page. These three metrics show your video inspired your viewers to take action.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate metrics vary based on your objectives. For example, if you post your video to your YouTube channel, one conversion metric you can measure is how many channel subscribers you get after publishing and promoting the video. These are called indirect conversion metrics as they are incidental to your video, not directly embedded in the video itself.
The Creamy Animation Branded Content Video Production Difference
From all the information shared above, we hope you have a solid understanding of what branded video is and how they are made and used. The last missing piece is the “who” of branded content video. If you want a branded video, who do you talk to?
Creamy Animation is a world-class video production company based in Vancouver, Canada. We would love to have a chat with you about your next branded content video project. In our conversation, you will quickly realize three things about us:
Objectivity
We are obsessed with making amazing videos. When you work with us, we focus 100% on understanding what your needs are and how best to use our extensive skills and experience to meet your needs. Our focus on your objectives helps us create stunning brand videos that will amaze you and delight your audience.
Research and Insights
The best branded video results come through extensive research and deep insights. When we work on your project, we leave no stone unturned in discovering all the angles and ideas we can add to your brand video to increase its quality and watchability. Our research and insights span the entire production process, from pre-production through to post-production.
Time-tested Process
We know our stuff. Here at Creamy Animation, we have been creating professional videos for years. When you work with us, we won’t start trying to figure out how to get your video done. We’ll use our time-tested video production process to smoothly and efficiently create your video.