Animation and Branding: Using Motion to Reinforce Brand Identity

📣 Attention, all designers and marketers!

Get ready for the branimation rush.😮

What’s that like, and how can you seek your fortune in it?

By now, 65% of brands have already leveraged animations in their marketing strategies, including branding. You wouldn’t want to leave your brand lifelessly lying somewhere at the bottom of the digital universe, dusted and forgotten, would you?

Let’s figure out why motion can become a vibrant pulse of your brand’s presence in the e-space. You’ll later discover how to employ animation for branding and shape a stronger brand image with motion graphics.

So, go mine the branimation gems in the article!

The Rise of Branimation and the Role of Animation in Branding

By introducing the dance of animated elements to the branding stage, marketers and designers coined one of today’s hottest design trends—branimation. It’s a niche term that emerged organically from the creative fusion of “brand” + “animation.”

While using motion graphics for branding, companies traditionally emphasize their visible (logo, fonts, color scheme) and not-so-visible (culture, mission, values) brand differentiators.

Let’s explore how animation revamps brand identities.

Noticeability

Imagine a street dancer who catches people’s attention with rhythmic moves and makes the audience gather around without taking their eyes off the performance. That’s what animation does while reinforcing your brand’s image. It turns your brand into a highly noticeable “personality” and glues your target audience to it.

Which one has caught your attention: a static or dynamic cat? Heh?

Visual and emotional appeal

Brands that use motion organize dazzling “mini-shows” that resonate emotionally with viewers. Their motion designers craft magic that happens in real time in front of an audience. They transform ordinary, lifeless visuals into captivating brand narratives with high emotional resonance.

Immersion and engagement

I’d look at this spinning bicycle wheel animation in branding forever—a metaphor for the Get the Hell Out of Debt book by Erin Skye Kelly. And you?

Actually, an animated post gains 59% more impressions (total views) on social media than a static one. It engages the audience and allows them to interact with the content longer.

Memorability

Motion design applied to branding may drive an unforgettable, ever-lasting impression.

Have you ever experienced it, too?

You see a branded animation, and then you can’t unsee and unthink it, musing over the brand’s unparalleled creativity.

I had such an exceptional moment after noticing the animated character Lily—unenthused yet so amusing—in the Duolingo app.

A similarly memorable experience occurs whenever the animated owl, Duo, jumps, rolls, and gives words of praise for language-learning achievements.

Shareability and convertibility

Animations are immensely shareable. Likewise, branded animations also join the ranks. Moreover, they are more efficient at converting leads into paying customers.

Social media users share animated videos 12K times more often than links and text-only posts. And when embedded on landing pages, their conversions are 70% higher than texts.

How to Use Animation to Boost Your Brand Image

Grab expert tips and creative strategies on branimating.

Enliven your logo

Why don’t you start the ball rolling with an animated logo to enhance your brand identity?

McDonald’s, Pixar, Xbox, Nike, and Pinterest have done it successfully.

Consider these options to animate your logo and fortify your brand differentiation:

• Dynamic 2D motion (e.g., spinning or bouncing logo)
• 3D animation
• Visual effects (e.g., modifications in color, glitching, optical illusions, psychedelic or futuristic effects)
• Hand-drawn design
• Kinetic typography, etc.

Having created some of the greatest animated logos, Google could probably write a playbook on animation for branding, particularly featuring their doodle motion graphics.

Yet, there’s another stellar card up your sleeve: sound.

Sturgeon Christie, CEO of Second Skin Audio, cracked the code of its functionality and explained how to use it in animation and branding. “Audio clips or sound effects usually trigger specific moods and emotions, and when used in animated logo designs, they amplify brand’s resonance and recognition. Such a sound should be short (from two to three seconds at most). It should also match your brand’s personality.”

Indeed, 96% of people are more likely to recall a brand if it is associated with a suitable sound.

For example:

Take Netflix, its animated logo, and the iconic Ta-dum, a “blossoming sound” at the film’s beginning.

Spotlight your brand values through vivid animations

Now, let’s talk about your company values—the foundation of your brand and the North Star of your business.

What are those?

They can be:

• Simplicity
• Honesty and integrity
• Diversity
• Innovation
• Sustainability
• Or others.

Your task is to illuminate your brand values so they can shine in the animated glow—literally or metaphorically.

“Motion design can embody your brand ethos and make it more concrete and distinct, almost tangible,” mentions Pierce Hogan, Owner of Varied Lands. He reveals his branimation plans. “As we share our travel passion with our readers at Varied Lands, we consider adding zooming maps, highlighted landmarks, or road movements to symbolize traveling freedom.”

Let’s see an example of an already manifested value through motion. L’Oréal expresses eco-consciousness via a fully animated page for their new, environmentally friendly Water Saver showerhead product.

It is a scroll-based animation. Once the scrolling movement starts, it triggers different animated segments. They rotate and change as the visitor scrolls further down the page.

Weave in your brand’s fonts and colors

For Jerry Han, CMO at PrizeRebel, the color-font synergy is the key to unlocking animation’s psychology in branding. He notes, “When strategically adding your brand’s colors to your motion graphics, you can set the desirable emotional tone and achieve better brand recognition and recall. The same logic applies to the brand’s typography.”

For example:

PrizeRebel seamlessly stitched the brand’s color palette (blue and yellow) and font from the ProximaNova font family into the animated video.

Suppose you are preparing for a new product launch. To make it more familiar and appealing to your existing customers, you can create a demo animation filled with your brand’s fonts and colors to smoothly integrate it into the existing brand family.

And here comes another hack! 😉

Pick a suitable motion graphic from LottieFiles and apply your custom color to harmonize it with your overall brand design. For example, the Setel design team enhanced the brand identity on mobile thanks to customizable Lottie animations.

Empower animated characters to tell your brand stories

Do you have a character or mascot representing your brand?

If not, create one. Even better, animate your character and let it convey your brand stories.

You can simply derive the character’s name from your brand name if it’s applicable. For instance, in Duolingo, it’s Duo, and in Ninja Transfers, it’s… That’s right—Ninja!

Tom Golubovich, Head of Marketing & Media Relations at Ninja Transfers, shares the company’s experience: “Our animated Ninja character serves as a powerful visual representation of our brand. It embodies such qualities as mastery, speed, and reliability, which perfectly align with our unique value proposition. It also contributes to cohesive storytelling and strengthens our brand image across all touchpoints of customer interactions.”

For example:

The Ninja helped Ninja Transfers with their branding strategy on the website by narrating an animated video story.

Check out another example of how twobirds tapped into branding by using animated birds as characters that move or fly over web pages.

Go multichannel with branimation

Bet you want to expand your brand’s reach and connect with more people. Don’t you?

If that’s the case, you should move beyond the website’s canvas and use motion graphics in branding across various channels: your app, social platforms, and email.

In-app animations

If you have a mobile application, add branded animation to it!

For example:

Let’s look into the financial platform developed by Toss. The company incorporated Lottie animations in mobile app design and branded them to fit its aesthetic (color and style).

Social media animations

Your next step is to improve your brand’s image with animation on social media.

For example:

Starbucks often shares animated content via social networks. And, of course, it typically involves the Starbucks branded coffee cup with the flavor emerging from it.

And finally → email animations

Roman Zrazhevskiy, Founder & CEO of MIRA Safety, remarks that businesses frequently underrate the power of email animation. He recommends bringing it to light with the help of branimation. “Email still remains the flagship carrying the most significant marketing initiatives. Imagine that you don’t use branded animations in it. Your brand image (your flag) will easily fade out among tons of other brand fleets sailing to your customer’s inbox.”

To avoid that, the MIRA Safety team incorporates a rotating tactical gas mask into emails.

Now, it’s your turn to animate your emails with branded motion designs.

Attend to every microscopic element

In everyday life, we say: The devil is in the details.

Sergey Taver, Marketing Manager of Precision Watches, thinks this principle is equally relevant for branded animation. “The true power of branimation lies in subtle nuances. It’s meticulous attention to detail that differentiates the brand’s personality through motion graphics, whether it’s just a tiny animated icon, button, or a navigation arrow.”

Sergey Taver enlists a few things to never leave overlooked when you use animation for branding on the website in particular:

• Cookie consent banner
• Limited-time offer (e.g., you may set a countdown timer)
• Lead generation form
• Call-to-action button
• Booking form
• Exit-intent popup
• Error page

Yup, even an animated 404 page can contribute greatly to boosting your brand image.

For example:

Here’s how Thingiverse perked up the error page with falling elements to remain on-brand.

Unlock the Vault of Lottie Animations for a Standout Brand Identity

LottieFiles is your go-to hub for any branimation needs.

It lets you export your creations to MP4, JSON, GIF, MOV, and many more formats. Besides, it integrates with Canva, Adobe After Effects, Figma, and other superb design tools.

Not yet convinced?

Then, scroll through WordPress sites with Lottie animations to absorb inspiration and make the right decision.

Branimate with LottieFiles!