Whether it’s a product launch, educating your audience, branding, or generating a buzz, videos are one of the most effective types of content you can use to enhance your marketing pushes.
This isn’t an industry secret at this point.
However, while video marketing is a powerful tool, the amount of content out there vying for viewers’ attention can make it hard for your videos to stand out. And if your target audience isn’t watching your videos long enough to get your message, all the time and resources you spent on producing them will go to waste.
To prevent that happening to your content it’s worth studying some successful marketing videos to learn from them.
We’ve selected seven high-quality marketing videos which can teach you a lot about top-tier video marketing content.
We’ll take a closer look at the different design and production elements they leverage and how they combine to deliver their message while also leaving a lasting impression on viewers.
Let the viewing begin! 🤩
1. Wix: logo-making service product demo video
No one likes a marketing video that's difficult to understand, and that’s why we’re opening up with this charming product demo example.
Product demo videos are all about demonstrating the benefits, features, and functionality of a product in real-life situations in ways that viewers can easily grasp.
Wix’s video explains step by step the functionality of their logo-making service. This allows them to show the viewers not only the value of their product but also how easy it is to use it.
The decision to make a screencast video - a screen recording of the software in action - to convey their message was spot on. They can show viewers in detail how to use the software, moving along through the process at a nice pace so viewers don’t get bored.
Rather than just listing the benefits, Wix’s video demonstrates their service’s best feature - how easy and user friendly it is to use.
Choosing to feature a lovely doggo front-and-center in the opening frames is brilliant. It’s visually appealing and attention-grabbing, and ties the piece to content that performs extremely well on most channels.
2. Dropbox: mixed-media animation as social brand video
Our second example is a heartwarming social media brand video. This type of content is designed for social media distribution, as its primary goal is to contribute to the brand’s online presence and to generate awareness and brand recognition.
To bring out the real potential of your social media brand videos, it’s crucial to capture the viewer’s interest and attention as quickly as possible. Failure to do this means your audience will swiftly move on to other more engaging content.
The Dropbox piece is built around a series of captivating personal questions, starting with "Remember the sound of your sister’s laugh?”
That seemingly simple opening fulfills a dual function in the best possible way. It piques the viewer's interest right away while also planting the seed for a strong emotional investment the company will later tie to their product's functionality.
Throughout the video, a narrator addresses these questions with the help of colorful visuals, fast-changing takes, and a combination of different types of media that keeps the audience engaged until the very end.
This style of design is called mixed-media animation, and it’s achieved by splicing and blending illustrations, text, photos, and videos, creating a combination of different styles.
Mixed-media animations allow you to produce unique pieces with powerful visuals that stand out and require a relatively smaller investment than other types of marketing videos.
The value of this example lies in how they catch the viewer's attention at the beginning and maintain it, thanks to a unique and entertaining animation technique.
When you work on your own content, take some time to polish your video’s first few moments to shine. Much of the time, these initial moments represent your best opportunity to keep viewers around long enough to hear what you have to say.
3. Amazon: Amazon coins explainer video
Explainer videos are short marketing pieces designed to help illustrate a complex idea in a fun and engaging way, making it easier for an audience to understand and remember the message.
It's a style meant to get potential customers to stick around long enough to hear you out while effectively delivering info that allays skepticism and answers any questions they may have. As a way to accomplish all of that, it pairs storytelling with compelling visual elements.
Effective video explainers require you to anticipate and address your customer’s questions and deliver information to dispel any fears you think might keep them from taking action.
In short, your video has to be designed from the ground up to give your audience all the answers they need, while also delivering enough value and appeal to keep them engaged (often in the form of entertainment!).
But how can you cover all those bases without overloading viewers? Well, we chose this example because it answers that question.
First, you have the voice-over narrator that guides viewers through the details and explanations covering all the key details. Then, you have the visual and design elements — like color palettes and animation — that help illustrate and complement your narrator, while giving viewers enough interesting tidbits to keep them engaged.
And underneath it all, there’s the rhythmic pacing and fluid transitions designed to create a cohesive product that doesn’t really provide many opportunities to bale before it finishes, seamlessly keeping viewers engaged all the way through.
When working on marketing videos of your own, make sure you approach production in a holistic way. No single element of your video should be treated as an isolated piece but like strands that weave together into a compelling tapestry!
4. Hootsuite: Hootsuite & Stuckey's testimonial ad
Testimonial videos are built around having customers talk about how a product or service has helped them. They use authentic customer reviews that paint a brand or product in the best possible light and help build trust and awareness in potential customers.
When you're making a testimonial video, it's important to keep in mind that the main topic isn't really your company but your clients. Their struggles, the problems they faced, and yes, how your product helped overcome them.
The core principle of a good testimonial is, give others a chance to talk you up! And this one from Hootsuite achieves it perfectly.
CEO Stephanie Stuckey, talks about the difficulties she faced when relaunching her business and how Hootsuite's platform contributed to solving them.
Through her personal experience and compelling story, we also get to see the different functionalities and resources that Hootsuite’s services offered - and which would also be available to the viewer.
Stephanie talks about the marketing challenges she faced and the opportunities she found through social media advertising, which is right front and center of Hootsuite’s tools.
Most importantly, the brand chose a client that reflected the bulk of the target audience they were trying to engage. Her story will be relatable for any small business that’s trying to get the most out of social media advertising. An audience that, after watching, will want to see what Hootsuite can do for them as well.
The best lesson you should take from this testimonial comes from the words of Stephanie herself: ”You’ve got to do it in a way that’s not selling. And that’s storytelling."
5. TOMS: corporate social responsibility video
Corporate Social Responsibility videos show the efforts of corporations to ‘give back’ by carrying out a variety of activities that benefit good causes such as people in need, wildlife, the environment, and society as a whole.
The goal of this type of video is to showcase your brand’s socially conscious activities. By doing so, you can help nurture brand awareness and build stronger connections with your viewers in a more compelling way than you would by simply promoting a specific product.
In this example from TOM, the voiceover explains the social movement the company is supporting. But it does so in a way that frames the customers and not the brand itself, as the main player.
Videos of this kind have to be genuine and not just look like a marketing ploy — which viewers will quickly rumble. Your brand has to put the work in long term for any cause it espouses in this way.
On the visual side, there’s a unique use of camera work. The camera alternates between stable shots, zooming movements, and takes that follow the subjects. It’s energetic and constantly moving, and this represents the message the brand is trying to convey perfectly: “Shoes for moving forward."
The video is upbeat, and tries to make an emotional connection with the viewer through a common philosophy or lifetime-goal. It allows TOMS to connect with its audience on another level and to tie its socially conscious efforts to its brand (and indirectly to one of its product lines as well).
Be on the lookout for ways to follow the same principles and accomplish similar goals with your video content, and you’ll have a 10 out of 10 marketing piece in your hands.
6. Apple: social media announcement video
Here, we have another social media video. But this time, the goal of the piece isn’t so much about nurturing brand awareness — Apple hardly needs to — but sharing corporate initiatives and news the company thinks customers will find appealing.
People on social media like to keep up to date with what's happening in the world and are far more likely to do business with brands that engage them with content beyond just ads and product showcases. That's why social, with its huge reach, can be one of the best channels to post video content when it comes to brand news and announcements.
In this example, Apple announces a new company policy. Rather than making a generic announcement, Apple’s video keeps things interesting and engaging by adding fun elements to the piece, with fast-moving data and visuals that give the whole thing a dynamic vibe.
Kinetic typography plays a big part in why this video works. This animation technique uses moving text to capture and keep attention, set a tone, and entertain viewers.
Meanwhile, a friendly voice-over and upbeat music work together to highlight the most important parts of the video and set a mood that's both playful and effective at the same time.
If there's a key takeaway you should learn from this example, it is that leveraging video marketing doesn't always require a huge budget.
Apple is no stranger to huge live-streaming conferences and top-of-the-line 3D animated product showcases. But they also understand the power of simplicity and creativity, and they leverage these perfectly in this example. You should look for every opportunity to do the same.
7. Glossier: product video
A good product video highlights the features of, well, a product, and showcases its core attributes in as practical a fashion as possible. A great one? Also helps establish its personality and the brand's aesthetic while at it.
The downside of this type of video, though, is how common they are in marketing. Audiences are used to them and often pay them less attention.
This is why taking a unique approach to your product video is vital.
We chose Glossier’s video because it accomplishes just that, showcasing its product's attributes in a fairly unusual and so much more compelling way.
Makeup products can be very similar between companies, so in order to differentiate itself Glossier builds an experience around its brand's video content.
By forgoing narration, Glossier puts the focus on the visuals of the video. Images of models showcasing the products overlap with elements of nature that combine with key pieces of text and background music to communicate the aesthetic feel they want potential customers to associate with their brand.
The video builds a calming tone of voice through a slow-moving carousel of models with images and sounds of nature, creating a relaxed atmosphere.
This aesthetic or tone of a video is created by these kind of inflections used to communicate the creator’s attitude towards a subject. In this case, they're used to create the mood the brand wants to establish around its product.
Instead of just listing their product’s benefits, Glossier’s video creates a mood and expresses what it symbolizes with a new and innovative strategy. And that’s a powerful approach you should consider when you are in the early stages of planning your new product video!
Wrapping up
If you want to stand out among all of the companies that are competing in the same space, differentiating your brand and delivering good content is fundamental.
These seven examples show how you can take advantage of different design elements and animation techniques to achieve that, giving you the basic tools and perspectives to approach your new video marketing project like a pro!
