Animated Product Video Production

Using motion graphics, animation, and, at times, real images, to better communicate how your product works and all the benefits that comes with it.

A Demo Duck dive into our animation experience

3,400+ animations produced

48% 2D animation

31% mixed media animation

21% mixed media animation

We've been doing this for 15+ years so we know our way around an animation. From start to finish. And we've seen the way an animated product video can be the perfect way to show potential customers how a product works and the benefits of using it. Unlike live action explainer videos, a good product animation video gives you the freedom to break out of the real-world and simplify complex ideas or processes using whatever environments, characters, and graphics you dream up. Looking for a little inspiration? Here's a sampling of animated product videos we’ve produced, which all do a great job of introducing a product to the world.

1. Adesso Animated Product Video

Adesso asked us to touch on a semi-complex topic—tax services. This mixed media product animation uses photography and motion graphics to showcase the various business that could benefit from these services and reiterate some key product points, respectively. A quickly paced edit, that balances content clarity, presents a fun product video that goes down smooth.

2. Culligan Product Animation Videos

When you've got a sweet new product rolling out, you could find ways to film the item being used in real life or you could go the 3D route like we did here. The benefits include, but aren't limited to, increase visibility into the various angles, exploding components optionality, and earlier production times while full products are being fabricated. Want some sizzle to the steak? Think about something like we created with Culligan to get people hyped about your new product.

3. Pella Lifestyles Product Animation Video

Pella is the second largest window and door manufacturer in the US – crafting wood, fiberglass and vinyl products. Within their popular Lifestyle Series they offer five different performance packages (for different levels of energy efficiency and sound control). The challenge here was to show their physical products as well as the benefits they provide. This animated product video used a mix of 3D product renderings and 2D environments to weave through familiar customer scenarios.

4. IBM's Animated Product Video

Who says that sci-fi can't apply to product videos? In this partnership with IBM, we used modern storytelling devices to speak directly to the target audience. IBM wanted people to get excited about their video services. We didn’t shy away from using a concept that flips the script on the viewer, whose behaviors are being watched by the content creators with the help of IBM and Watson. The cinematic camera moves used throughout the animation setup how businesses can start watching back, incorporating playful sci-fi tones, and how this analytics advantage will launch businesses into the future (and drive revenue).

5. Netflix Animated Product Demo

For those of us who aren’t accustomed to binging on Netflix for hours on end, this animated business video series shows users how to set up Netflix on their TV. The use of illustrated user interface (UI) avoids copyright issues while still giving the customer enough visual reference to do what they need to do. Plus, if the UI or titles offered ever change, this animated product demo video series can be easily adjusted down the road.

6. Surge Animated Marketing Video

Look, all the animation marketing videos above are great too, but there's something about the water visuals here that makes it stand out. Surge built a tool for publishers to help them get the same sort of valuable insight and data advertisers do, allowing them to adjust and present their content so that they can gain as much value as possible from the ads they serve. They wanted to develop an animated explainer video for their marketing efforts, that helps explain their product to the publishers the value of this information, and therefore their tool, so we suggested utilizing fluid, water-themed design and animation that would reflect their branding and design.

7. Matrix Care Animated Product Video

MatrixCare wanted an animated video that showed how a more connected care network, like CareCommunity, can lead to better results and healthier patients. For us that meant creating a concept that showed long-term care customers, their competitive edge, modeling what the software looked like, characters representative of key stakeholders, and the challenge to avoid using the word “care”… nah, just kidding about that last one.

8. Appfolio SaaS Product Explainer Video

Appfolio Investment Manager is an online platform that helps real estate developers better keep their investors in the loop. This video uses a mix of custom footage, stock video, and animated motion graphics to give viewers a sense of what the product looks like, how it works, and why it's helpful to everyone involved. We know that in the world of marketing animation video styles can be met with a range of preferences, this is a nice way to satisfy a few tastes.

9. Phonesoap Product Animation Video

You know that product in your pocket that you use every day? Yeah, your cell phone. Well, it's probably quite filthy. This animated product demo video explains a solution to that problem. PhoneSoap has created an effective a safe way to clean your phone with its handy device. It was important to showcase what this product looked like and how it worked so this animated business video uses 3D elements to better tell that story. Something like this may also fall into the bucket of commercial video production, where there's a high focus on branding and awareness as well.

10. Denovo Dental Product Animation

Denovo Dental came to us wanting a product animation video that their young patients could watch while in the dental chair prior to a procedure. So, it was most important to them to have this video really appeal to kids and take the scary unknowns out of the procedure. Through our meeple characters and realistic representations of the space maintainer, we made the process a bit more approachable...maybe even cute.

11. Beumer Pouch System Animation

Beumer came to Demo Duck looking to highlight their new pouch system and how it was revolutionizing the logistics space. They had an animated business video they came across as a primary point of reference, but given the 2D style of that project, we knew we wanted to try to use some 3D here to better bring the value proposition to life.

12. Eyz Animated Product Explainer Video

The creators of Eyz, Darewise, are building a lot of cool stuff and this project was their first foray into using video production to tell the story of one of their products. Eyz is a server technology product that can really elevate gamers online experience. Bringing this product video to life was a joy!

13. Atlantic 10 Brand Video

The Atlantic 10, like many collegiate athletic conferences recently, has seen a lot of change but hasn't changed who they are. They came to us to see how we could communicate their conference narrative in a short brand ad that would be used throughout the school season.

They were able to provide us with some amazing photos and pieces of footage, which we supplemented with a little stock, and then it was on us to elevate the piece visually with motion graphics throughout. The whole project felt like a slam dunk.

14. Stairwell Animated Marketing Video

Like other tech companies on this list, Stairwell was excited to see how we'd break down a complex topic and they quickly grew fond of the particular way we paired colorful visuals with a more pencil-like, sketch approach to a few of the scenes.

Let's break down some key animation terms

Now that you've watched a few of the animated videos above, you likely noticed that there is a wide-range of styles that all fall under the umbrella of animation. Here's a breakdown of some key terms and how Demo Duck thinks about these various animation types for our productions.

Motion Graphics: We usually consider this animated pieces that use icons, typography, UI, and other design elements (ie. shapes). In our eyes, these types of projects feature minimal use of characters, if any at all.
Cel Animation: These are projects that feature elements, or entire scenes, drawn by hand every frame. They tend to have a really unique, elevated look but the budgets often reflect the increase production time. A lot of our favorite character work is cel animation.
Character Animation: If we're animating a character it doesn't have to be cel. We may also use rigging so that we can control their limbs, face, bodies, etc. via some plugins and tools. Character rigging is usually it's own step in the process, and takes some time, but it's worth the invest of time to move more efficiently through animation.
Kinetic Typography: This is onscreen text that is custom animated to create vibrancy and drive home key points throughout the animation video production.
3D Animation: A bit more self explanatory but this features projects that feature 3D scenes created in Cinema 4D, Blender, or a similar software. These can leverage customized models or have elements be entirely made from scratch. If you are able to provide us with CAD (or applicable) files, it makes it a lot easier to get things in motion sooner.
2.5D Animation: This one is a bit trickier to define, but we usually use this term when we're discussing a technique that sees us creating the depth and look of 3D but doing so in a 2D software like After Effects.
Animated Sizzle: This likely leverages a lot of motion graphics (defined above) as well as some stock, or custom, photography or video. These are usually to give sense a general vibe of your company and a brief overview of some key product points. Some folks refer to these as product hype videos too.
Mixed Media: While this contains a lot of the same types of assets as an animated sizzle video (typography, photography, motion graphics) this style can be used across a wide-range of video use types but we commonly see it with educational video productions and branded video content.

Animated video production FAQs

How long does an animated video production take?

You're going to always hear "it varies" but here's a breakdown of production steps, and their typical length, from our experience. Script and storyboards take about one week each, with style frames and animation taking closer to four weeks. So, with all the other elements of production added in (concepts, sound design, etc.) you're likely looking at 6-10 weeks for an animated video.

So is it just one single animated product video or are other deliverables possible?

Cut-downs! You've got to have some cut-downs. For us, it's relatively easy, for a little additional budget, to get you cut-downs of the videos that are shorter in length or different aspect ratios. Admittedly, creating a video in horizontal or 16:9 aspect ratio and then converting that to 9:16 can be tricky, but if we know that upfront we can present some cost-effective was we can get it done for ya.

How do you land on the animation style for the video?

If there's not a set animation style in the provided client guidelines this will come together during the concept and treatment phase. We'll start with some moodboards that outline the look we're going for and then create a few, initial custom style frames for the video for feedback and approval before we build out all the assets to be animated. It's pretty fun to see how it all comes together!

What's the best way to show the UI for our product video?

We break showing UI into three buckets: Actual screens, representative illustrations, or abstract illustrations. Our recommendation is usually to go with one of the latter two buckets because UI can change quickly! These allow more breathing room while still showcasing how the product feels, or even looks. If the video is more detailed in how the product works, it likely makes sense to go with representative illustrations. If your product animation is more focused on the benefits, then you're freed up to explore abstract illustrations of the UI.

What are the biggest drives of budget for animated product videos?

The factor that affects budget the most, outside of the obvious like video, is the complexity of the style. Characters and 3D are often more complex and expensive than 2D and motion graphics. And, transparently, there is a huge range of budgets for these videos. And we like working across a range of budgets, so get in touch and let's see how we can make the budget work, and create something engaging in whatever constraints, or lack thereof, that exists.

What's the biggest hurdle while making a product animation video?

From a timing perspective, animating the video takes the longest but isn't really a hurdle because the vision has been made clear during the prior steps of production. Usually the script is trickiest because there are so many directions it can take, particularly with an animated video where the visuals can truly be made into anything—real or imagined. We prefer to take the first pass at the script, based on the provided brief and other materials, but good collaboration is key.

The final answer on animated videos

If you're still reading this, then you're likely still trying to think of the best way an animated product video could help you with whatever business problem your trying to solve. We've created thousands, literally thousands, of animated videos in our 14+ years as explainer video company so please don't hesitate to send us a question, a request for advice, or anything that you think would help clarify how you can best tell your story with animation. Even if you don't work with us, we believe in the power of video and are happy to help in any way we can.

office of an animated explainer video production company