Go with the Motion – Why Animation Matters
In 2017, the average internet user’s attention span is decreasing, but the competition to catch their attention online is increasing. Video is the king of animated content, but it isn’t the only piece on the marketing chess board. Animated display ads are an effective player and should be the queen of your chess board. For the past few years, gifs have consistently been the internet’s favorite play thing. Now people can use them for everything from a reaction to their friends, to adding a story to still images with a cinemagraph. Harness the affinity for animation by using animated advertisements to hook your audience. Combine elements to generate an ad, like the one below, that your audience will engage with.
Animated display ads are an effective player and should be the queen of your chess board.
From a marketing standpoint, animation is paramount. Movement catches the eye, which is hard to do with a population on the go. People aren’t spending a lot of time scrolling through the internet on a web browser, instead they are on their phone. A static ad is going to find itself unclicked, but an ad with motion and a strong call to action is going to attract attention.
Even web design is slowly merging with videography. Designers are working video into multiple web elements from background and sliders to website function. Parallax scrolling was originally seen as a fun feature to play with when CSS3 was first introduced, but it is now a staple in web design function. The graphic at the top of this page is a simulated example of a parallax scrolling effect. When worked into a page as an element of the design as a whole, the effect helps bring a page to life.
Motion in Web
How can motion be implemented into web? Use our own website, www.quantifidigital.com as an example: our slider is animated, and our transitions are visually interesting, compliment the design, and are the most obvious use of motion. While you’re there, take a look at the menu. When you hover over a menu item, it fades from grey to red – a subtle but important feature. Finally, on the home page, if you scroll down you’ll notice an arrow appear at the bottom. The arrow takes you back to the top of the page with one smooth, scrolling animation. We even make subtle use of the aforementioned parallax scrolling on our inner pages. Pay attention to the title section as you scroll through our portfolio page – the background has a parallax scrolling effect.
Animation is everywhere, and its importance grows every year. Take a look around the Quantifi Digital website and see if you can spot each use of motion within the site. If you would like to learn more about how Quantifi Digital can help your company keep up with the ever-changing game of digital advertising, check out our portfolio here.
