Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio

We craft animations that give people and businesses the confidence to buy your tech.

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

Some of my work from over the years! This is actually the current reel on the Anico Animation website, check it out for other tech/SaaS animations!

#saasmarketing #techanimations #motiongraphics

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

Please don’t dive straight into creating an animated video without thinking about where it fits in the customer journey. 

Eg: A video on your homepage needs to be different to one on a landing page that’s linked from an ad.

The persons mindset and intent is different depending on how they get to the video.

We know this matters as we do it for the rest of the page and it’s content, it’s why we have a landing page in the first place rather than link the ad to the homepage right? 

So why not video too? My guess would be price and maybe time. 

But what if your video was built different - Built so that it could be easily adapted to fit both (or any) objective…

Motion systems to the rescue! Using custom designed blocks to built an animation makes adapting it much easier and way more cost effective.

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Looking for animations that give people and businesses the confidence to buy your tech?

💬 Let’s talk.

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

Web animations aren't just tiny videos; they seamlessly integrate with surrounding elements to guide attention and enhance content without causing distractions.

#webanimations #digitalmarketing #techmarketing

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

Today, someone asked who created my website, and I proudly said I did it myself. Having a background in web development made it manageable, but it got me thinking about my role as a generalist. I love being able to take action and get things done while enjoying the variety life offers. There's always something new to learn. What are your thoughts on being a generalist versus a specialist?

#Smallbusiness #onemanband #GeneralistVsSpecialist

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

Confidence to buy your tech goes beyond just knowing the features and benefits of a solution - it's the deep emotional belief that the solution will directly help the business and align with their goals.

#B2B #Tech #Confidence #CustomerExperience #SolutionSelling

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

I sometimes find it hard to write about marketing tips because it’s all so situational. Without knowing the variables it’s hard to make a blanket statement.

Marketing advice is rarely a one-size-fits-all.

So I’m going to stop with the “You must” and swap to “You could”.

I know it’s not as impactful or whatever - But it’s more honest, and that’s what I’m about. 

At the end of the day, it’s up to the viewer to take snippets of the advice and adapt it to work for them.

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

A quick example I built in Rive for a webpage section exploring the features of an app. 

Lightweight, interactive and a great way to help educate your customers.

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

You can cut up your animated video into clips for social media… 

But should you??

Whilst re-using content like this might sound great, the results often aren’t. 

This is because the intent and environment of an animated video (say an explainer video) and social media are very different. 

An explainer video is actively clicked by the user, they want to watch it, they are happy to sit there for 90 seconds and are likely researching solutions to a problem.

Social media however, the clip gets thrown at them (like this one is at you) in between a mix of other posts all competing for attention.

The same piece of content doesn’t work for both scenarios - They are two very different beasts.

Now for organic posts it’s not that much of problem, it’s super quick to cut up and any extra eyes is a plus. 

But for paid, it’s a huge waste of time and budget - You’re much better off with purpose built social posts.

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

I know it’s odd to give objectives, they normally come from specific problems, but seeing the common objectives for animation can help you see where it can be used in your business. 

Sales & marketing:
→ Push a specific conversion (free trial)
→ Increase self-qualified leads
→ Speed up the sales process

Education:
→ Increase product clarity
→ Reduce support tickets and churn
→ Increase feature adoption

Social:
→ Build a community 
→ Increase engagement
→ Increase awareness

These are just ideas, the specific objective and execution plan is based on your business. That’s why something like a discovery session is so important.

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

Been playing with a bit of Rive this week to create some interactive elements - Pretty cool tech.

#rive #motiondesign

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

Explainer videos get a bad rep...

But it’s mostly because of the term “Explainer video” has become a catch all for “Animated videos”. 

They are not the same thing.

An explainer video is just one objective for animated video. 

Explainer video → Simplify and explain a concept, product, or service.

Sales video → Drive conversions by persuading viewers to take a specific action.

Announcement video → Share an update such as new features or a product launch. 

etc, etc.

Each type of video requires a different form of distribution as they fit into a different place on the customer journey. 

The real issue comes when companies create a sales or promo video and distribute it as an explainer - It obviously won’t get the results you want.

But I can see why it happens. It’s easy for an explainer video to morph into a sales video.  

And I think it comes from the right place, companies want to explain their product but they can’t help adding the sell. 

Just remember, If the user is already on the site and clicking play on your video they are probably at least a little bit interested already so give them the info they are actually looking for.

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

An animated video isn’t a standalone asset. 

In fact, no marketing asset is standalone. 

They need to all work together to create a web of touch points for your potential customers to interact with. Slowly pulling them towards making a purchase. 

As for animated videos, There isn’t a hard and fast rule about where they sit in your ideal customer journey - It all depends on the objectives of the video and your business. 

So when planning how an animation project will fit into the journey, I like to think about:

→ The potential gaps in the viewer’s knowledge.
→ What touch points they might have already interacted with.
→ What they actually want to learn/know at this stage.
→ What knowledge we want them to come away with and what action to take.

Combining these helps with the direction for the messaging of the project and makes sure the video sits as part of the journey rather than way out on its own.

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

Wishing you all a great 2025! 🎉

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

Some section ideas to help with writing the base of your script for an explainer video:

Opening hook - To grab focus, intrigue and reinforce why they clicked play. 

Explain your product in one sentence - A no BS short and sweet description of you product. 

Story of the problem you solve and how - Try to keep it as chronological as possible in how the product works as this helps with understanding and creating a full picture. 

Explain the problems of competitors solutions and how your solution overcomes these issues - Perfect for crowded markets as you can demonstrate how your product takes it to the next level. 

Social and statistical proof - Combining anecdotal quotes with stats in a natural way that blends into the main script to add an extra layer of trust. 

Quick-fire checklist of “basic” features - This is great to make sure viewers are aware of the product features and can check them off their mental checklist without taking up too much time. 

Call to action - What do you want them to do next, keep in mind they might not be ready to talk to sales. 

Obviously every project is different and the objective of the video will play a huge role in how the script is written.

#techmarketing #explainervideos #scriptwriting

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

A few things to look out for in analytics for your webpage embedded animated videos.

 → Views
Look at video views compared to page views to see what percent of people are watching the video. If you want to increase this, you can try and make the player more enticing by changing the button text, thumbnail or surrounding elements.

→ Retention 
To see if viewers are watching all the way the through. If not, it could be that the video isn’t engaging enough or that the information isn’t what the user was expecting/wanted at this point in their journey. 

→ CTA Clicks
A clear indication of action. Good to compare with complete views to see how many people got the end of the video, saw the CTA, but didn’t click it. This could be improved by changing the button text , appearance or offer.

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

Not all animations are created equal.

I like to say that I BUILD animation projects rather than just create a flat video.

There is a lot of technical choices involved throughout the process to make sure that the project can evolve as your requirements do. 

My animation projects are:
→ Built with strong technical choices. 
→ Built with re-usable assets. 
→ Built to be flexible (formats / aspect ratios / etc)
→ Built to grow, evolve and handle changes.

Tech evolves quickly and so does your product. With animation that’s built to grow with it, you get a much longer lifespan for the animation projects that can expand into other areas of your marketing.

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

Simple and clear always win.

Messaging
Visuals
Product
UX
Strategy
Sales
Marketing

You get the idea...

#techmarketing #motiongraphics

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

Present bias makes showing the future hard for people to focus on.

It’s easier said than done but think long term goals rather than short term fire fixing.

#techmarketing #motiongraphics

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

It would be great for all the info in an explainer video to stay in the viewers long term memory… but let’s be honest, that ain’t going to happen. 

But that’s okay - We just need it to stay long enough for them to take action.

That’s how we use a lot of information, especially these days where can look things up almost instantly. 

We don’t need to remember the exact recipe for “gooey marshmallow cookies” because we can just look it up, use it, and forget it. 

Ideally what does stick long term is where to find that information again.

#techmarketing #motiongraphics

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

If price is the deciding factor then they don’t fully understand your tech product. 

Customers are often swayed by price when multiple products look the same. If the price comes up a lot during sales then they might be comparing you to the competition in a way where they don't understand the difference in product benefits. 

Price is the easy differentiator when multiple products: 

→ Appear to have the same features.
→ Don’t make it clear why you’d choose one over the other.

If potential customers can see why your product is a better fit, then a few extra £ won’t matter. In fact, the better fit justifies the price difference.

#techmarketing #motiongraphics

[Ben Newton | Anico Animation Studio @BN_Motion]

It’s been a slightly quieter week this week which means that I’ve had time to work ON the business - Behind the scenes website work, tweaking messaging and… adding Stylescapes to my animated video process!

Think of it as a Moodboard for the project but using your brand and elements - Kind of like a mini design system.

#motiondesign #techmarketing