Unless you’ve been living under a bucket the last 10 years, you’ve heard the word, “Explainer”. What is an explainer exactly though?
An explainer is a video that simply explains a brand’s product or service in a quick and concise way. Often somewhere between 1 to 2 minutes in length, an explainer’s goal is to help a potential customer understand HOW a product or service can help them specifically.
This has often been thought of as a top-of-funnel piece of content to help people become both problem and product aware. An ideal first touchpoint for a brand, which is why you often find them on homepages.
Over the years, we’ve seen some really great explainers, but as brands have started seeing the value, we’ve naturally started seeing an oversaturation of the same boring tropes that are easy to forget. There’s the “Hi, this is Bob. Bob has a problem…”. And not to be outdone, there is also the infamous, but never that interesting — “whiteboard” animation.
Introducing, the Brand Film
We’ve come a long way with explainers over the years, but there is a new variant emerging… A Brand Film, similar to an explainer, looks to make people “problem aware” and , but in a different way. It uses storytelling to help potential customers remember them better. An Explainer is the HOW of your business and a Brand Film is the WHY. Rather than aiming to sell, a Brand Film focuses more on establishing a relationship. The main idea of a Brand Film is to guide people along the sales funnel, not forcibly shove them.
Brand Films are a great way to connect with an audience, not just tell them what you do.
So, are Explainers dead?
Now, this is not to say that the explainer is dead, quite the opposite actually. There’s still a great purpose for the explainer. At Made By Things, we strongly believe in the Brand Film as the first touchpoint and the Explainer as the second. It’s very important to give potential customers a clear idea of how you can help, but we must be careful of spouting facts, stats, and features too early in the customer relationship.
Want some help on creating a Brand Film for your brand?
Head over to our “Book a project” link, answer a few questions with as much detail as you can, and we’ll get back to you within 2 business days.
