The use of 3d product animation as a contemporary marketing tool

Among all the competition that the world has, sufficing the customer’s demand and attention has become the hardest thing to do. The creator’s remorse is even more valid in the digital age as a lot turns to communications that are predominantly visual; thus, a product’s shape and functionality remain a mystery. 

This is where 3D animation of products comes in handy. Combining imagination with realism through animation in marketing allows businesses to showcase their items effectively. While stills or videos might be a flat representation of products, CG (computer generated) -animations dynamically illustrate graphic aspects, how the product works, and how the customer will enjoy the product. 

What makes 3D product animation easy to work with is overcoming all the disadvantages of other advertising. It suppresses the requirement of costly photo sessions, provides uniformity in images, and adds creativity in the market. Anytime you need to market products on social media platforms or e-commerce sites, three-dimensional animations can inject a sense of life to the products making it hard for any prospective customer to resist buying the product.

3D product animation benefits for companies

There are several reasons why 3D product animation is considered beneficial by a plethora of companies. The following outlines the major ones: 

• Expanded product presentation: 3D promo video makes it possible to exhibit a product from all possible perspectives, allowing clients to inspect every potential feature. Such a product visualization increases trust, and removes doubts associated with making purchases.
• Better customer retention: 3D video presentations grab focus and direct more successfully than text and pictures as well as control the attention of the audience for a longer period thus improving the rate of conversion.
• Effective and efficient advertising: The cost of producing 3D animations seems too steep, but it does not offer the continuous cost of photos and product showing. Moreover, these animations are the sort of advertisement that can turn out to be reusable, so in time, they make a sound investment.
• Reduced time to market goods and services: A 3D video animation can be made without necessarily having a tangible item, ensuring faster campaigns than the rival’s competition.

Product animation is a great tool that any company can add to their marketing arsenal and in a way that the desired results are achieved without overspending the budget.

Key industries benefiting from 3D product animation

Many businesses in the world have taken advantage of digital product animation to expand their marketing reach. Let’s take a closer look: 

• E-Commerce: In the industry of e-commerce, 3D animations allow constituents to understand the product better even prior to grocery shopping. For instance, customers can rotate, enlarge, and examine the items they intend to buy, hence making better purchasing decisions. 
• Technology: It’s always been hard to explain some gadgets and devices. With the help of animations, technology entrepreneurs are able to break down complex systems and show how it works, thus making it easy for customers to comprehend. 
• Manufacturing: For machines and other industrial devices, 3D simulations are a great way to showcase features and even provide everyone with safety measures pertaining to the device and its assembly. Manufacturers use these graphics to educate their employees and market their products as well. 

One of the great wonders of 3D animation for business is that animated product presentations attract people, as well as the number of sales, making it clear how potent the advertising tool can be.

Case studies: campaigns that stood out because of 3D animation

1. Coca-Cola’s «Happiness Factory»

The «Happiness Factory» campaign of Coca-Cola can be considered one of the best examples of CG product video usage that engages audiences. The advertisement takes the audience on a tour into a world inside a vending machine where creative characters and an animated universe exist to make bottles of Coca-Cola. 

Through the 3D animation, the very essence of the brand, which was about celebrating and creating relationships, was enhanced to an emotional level with consumers. This campaign improved engagement with the brand across the globe and received several accolades, including a CLIO award. 

2. Nike’s «The Last Game»

In the World Cup marketing campaign «The Last Game,» Nike employed 3D animation with the participation of animated Ronaldo and Neymar. The short film presents an imaginary movie with a message about the importance of creativity in sports, opposing creative people and machines. 

The original and high-quality CGI (computer generated imagery) came to enhance the entertainment and the values of the brand, earning over 50 million views in a few days after the launch and generating many discussions on social networks.

3. Chipotle’s «Back to the Start»

The advert was an example of imagination and animation in Chipotle’s marketing, the advert was culled from the short film titled ‘Back to the Start’. This ad showcased a farmer who was living on a factory farm and slowly began farming the right way. Thanks to the animation, which was ultra-rich in detail, coupled with a moving soundtrack by Willie Nelson, the story worked well with Chipotle’s consumers, making them quite popular and increasing sales volumes. Chipotle’s advertising campaigns have never been bland, and this one won the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions.

How to use 3D animation in your marketing approach

Strategy for animations in your marketing does not need to be hard. If you apply some simple guidelines, you can get the most out of it: 

• Establish your targets: Ask yourself what you want to achieve through 3D animation; for instance, do you want to drive more sales, boost engagement, or improve the visibility of your brand?
• Prioritize the essence: Avoid using overly complex animations unless necessary. When visuals become too intricate, they can lose their intended effect, and the viewers may fail to understand the desired message.
• Use suitable software and services: Blender, Maya, Cinema 4D are quite professional product animation software for high quality animations, for that purpose get in touch with professional animation studios. 
• Adjust to various media: Valide the adjustments made to your animations to be visible across several platforms such as social, websites and mobile applications. 
• Be consistent: You need to evaluate the click-through rate, time spent on the engagement, and the conversion rate. This will help you understand how your animations performed and what changes you need to make going forward. 

These steps should help you with the ease of integrating 3D animations into your strategy approach while ensuring you get the best out of them.

Conclusion: The future of 3D product animation in marketing 

As the marketing landscape continues to evolve to more options, including the use of product CGI’s, so do the customers’ needs and the trends to follow. It is a fact that the more developed the technology gets, the more advanced and cheap these animations will be. 

It is stated that the sooner a company adapts such trends as 3D product videos, the easier it will be to compete in the coming years. Given how important forms of 3D animations have been in contributing to marketing efforts, it would not be wrong to assume that they will remain relevant in time to come. If you need services like marketing with 3D video presentation, we are ready to help you.