Most animated brand videos run the same script. Logo. A problem in friendly shapes. The product. Logo again.
Nothing on screen changes. So nothing sticks.
A story needs something the viewer can watch change. A tangle gets sorted. One person's week gets easier. An invisible system gets a picture. A product earns the whole frame.
The short answer: the animated story videos that work pick one of four shapes. Turnaround animates the bad state, then fixes it in the same scene. Lead Character follows one person whose day changes. Picture Swap gives invisible tech one everyday picture. Hero Object makes the product the main character. The 18 examples below, from software, fintech, hardware and B2B brands, are sorted by the shape they use.
Planning an animated story video?
Talk to the Advids team about style, budget and timeline before you write the script. Start with the one change your viewer should see.
If your buyer can't see the mess, animate it before the fix.
A makeover show never opens on the finished room. It opens on the clutter. Your buyer's clutter is the scattered data, the dead zone, the scam text they almost tapped.
I call it the Turnaround: the bad state animated first, then the same scene fixed by your product. Six examples.
Deloitte DataHub animated explainer
Deloitte's DataHub animation sells a cloud-based data platform. It opens on the mess, scattered multi-colored data orbs, and ends on one automated workflow.
What works here:
The problem is a picture. Loose orbs stand for disorganized enterprise data, so nobody needs a slide to explain it.
One mechanism does the fixing. It gathers the orbs, then collects, validates and processes them in order.
The payoff is named: less human error, with secure outputs ready for downstream services.
The move: Draw your buyer's data the way it feels today: scattered. Then let one mechanism gather it. If a viewer can't point to where the mess ends and your product starts, the turn isn't clear yet.
Hotjar animated explainer
Hotjar's “What is Hotjar?” video answers one question for product teams: what are people actually doing in your product? The old way is charts and guesses.
What works here:
The guess is the villain. Teams who only read charts can't see what causes friction.
Three tools replace it, each one shown: heatmaps of clicks, session recordings and direct feedback.
The payoff is a team decision, not a feature: build with certainty and prioritize.
The move: Name the guess your buyer makes today, then show the screen that replaces it. If your fix is still a sentence instead of a screen, it isn't shown yet.
Digicel SmartWiFi animation
Digicel+ SmartWiFi's video turns a home into an isometric 3D model, then shows the WiFi signal moving through it.
What works here:
The obstacle is literal. Signals hit walls and appliances, so the dead zone is something you can see.
The fix adapts. SmartWiFi learns what people in the house are doing and moves coverage to match.
It ends on the family: streaming, gaming, working and relaxing in different rooms, with a booster placed to close the last dead zone.
The move: Draw the obstacle your product gets around, in the room where your buyer meets it. If the obstacle is only named in the voiceover, put it on screen.
Expleo anti-smishing animation
Expleo's video introduces ExpleoNóra, billed as “the world's first anti-smishing solution for banking apps.” It follows a scam text before it shows the fix.
What works here:
The threat travels. A fraudulent message leaves a neon-lit hacker's den and crosses cityscapes and homes on its way to a phone.
The fix is mechanical. Each link is compared against a blocklist in real time, and the customer is warned at once.
It fits what banks already run. The defense sits inside banking apps on Apple and Android, and the scene turns bright once it's in place.
The move: Follow the threat before you show the shield. If your buyer can't trace the attack from sender to phone, your fix has nothing visible to stop.
Remote global hiring animation
Remote's “How to grow your international team with Remote” turns global hiring into an animated world map. Each country brings its own legal, tax and payroll hurdle.
What works here:
The hurdles sit on the map: local legal entities and different rules in each market.
One visual flip carries the promise. Warning icons turn into green checkmarks as benefits, taxes, compliance and payroll get handled.
The scope is concrete: full-time, part-time and contract workers, paid in their local currencies.
The move: Pick one icon for “problem” and one for “solved,” then flip them on screen. If you need a voiceover line to say it's fixed, the icons aren't working yet.
Gympass explainer animation
“What's Gympass?” is a 60-second answer for HR teams. It opens on workforce well-being as a tangle of moods and HR worries, then shows one platform.
What works here:
3D characters show the range: gyms, online classes, therapy and nutrition coaches, for employees and their families.
Each benefit is a before and after: “from off to on” for exercise, “from buzzing to zen” for mental health.
A character juggles the wellness pieces, so “one platform” is shown, not said.
The move: Write your benefits as “from X to Y” pairs in your buyer's words. If a pair needs your feature name to make sense, rewrite it.
Story 2 · Lead Character
If your product changes someone's day, follow one person through it.
A turnaround shows the fix. But whose day does it fix?
Nobody tears up at a headcount. They tear up at one face. Your buyer works the same way: “teams save time” slides past, while one person's calmer week stays.
I call it the Lead Character: one person, or one small cast, whose day changes on screen. Four examples.
Life Happens animated short
“A Promise Kept” sells life insurance without selling it. A husband tells, in first person, how he kept his promise to “always take care” of his family.
What works here:
Small objects carry the feeling: a recurring blue cap, hidden love notes, a brochure for “Happy Land.”
The voice is his. A first-person voiceover over 2D characters makes it one man's story, not a category pitch.
The brand waits. Life Happens holds its reveal until the emotional peak, so the product arrives as the way the promise was kept.
The move: Hold your logo until the story pays off. In a SaaS brand film, the customer's promise comes first and your product is how it gets kept. If your logo shows before the viewer cares, move it later.
Geely Women's Day animation
Geely's “International Women's Day Greeting to Geely Women” is an employer story. 2D animated women work across the company, from the factory floor to leadership meetings.
What works here:
Roles, not slogans. Each character is doing a job, so the contribution is shown, not claimed.
Growth has a picture: blooming flowers and growing landscapes, set to a gentle soundtrack.
A split-screen sequence puts the company's key words on screen, so the commitments read even on mute.
The move: Show your people mid-task, in their real roles. If a viewer can't name 3 roles after watching, the characters are decoration.
memoQ culture animation
“Work-life Balance at memoQ” is a recruiting video. Real employees describe what they love about the company, voiced over 2D animated characters.
What works here:
The words are theirs. Employee testimonials replace the corporate voiceover.
The topics are what candidates ask about: learning, work-life balance and the freedom to try new ideas.
Hobbies and team moments give each character a life outside the job title.
The move: Record real employees first, then animate around their words. If two speakers could swap lines, the quotes are too generic.
MRI Software character animation
MRI Software's real estate video follows residents and businesses through connected communities where people live, work and play.
What works here:
Both sides get scenes. Tenants apply online and send maintenance requests. Property managers lose the busy work.
The manager gets the data: accessible numbers and flexible tools for decisions.
The close is about openness: software built to adapt as the business grows.
The move: If your software serves two sides, give each side a character and a scene. If the tenant's scene and the manager's could swap, sharpen both.
Story 3 · Picture Swap
If your product works where nobody can look, give it one everyday picture.
A character works when there's a person to follow. What if your product runs inside a database, a race car or a network?
A weather map doesn't show air. It shows arrows. Your API, your algorithm and your data pipeline need arrows too.
I call it the Picture Swap: one picture the viewer already understands, doing the explaining for something they can't see. Five examples.
district0x blockchain animation
“The Byzantine Generals Problem: An Intro To Blockchain” borrows a classic puzzle to explain trust. It stands in for a network that has to agree even when some members are malicious.
What works here:
The setup is a story, not a diagram. A historical scenario sets the stakes before any cryptography appears.
Then the mechanics, step by step: messages flow, get hashed and get validated in 2D motion graphics.
Proof-of-Work arrives as the answer to the generals' puzzle, so the solution has a problem to solve.
The move: Borrow a story your buyer can follow without the tech, then map your mechanism onto it. If the story needs a glossary, pick a simpler one.
Bosch Motorsport data animation
Bosch Motorsport's “Software takes the lead” makes race car data visible. Blue data streams run from in-vehicle sensors to analysis in the cloud.
What works here:
The path is the picture. Data leaves the car's sensors, travels over encrypted LTE and lands in cloud analysis.
Particle streams and glowing circuits on a white background keep one visual language from start to end.
Digital twins, virtual copies of the hardware, stand in for expensive real-world testing.
The move: Draw your data's route as one continuous line, from source to answer. If the viewer loses the line between two scenes, cut a step.
Temasek animated explainer
“Temasek Explained EP 2” explains why the investor focuses on sustainable returns. Isometric 3D cities and building blocks stand in for a long-term portfolio.
What works here:
Contrast sets it up: jittery stock trading on one side, a long-term plan that benefits “every generation” on the other.
A magnifying glass opens a company up to show its management, governance and business model.
Then the portfolio gets built: opportunities, regulatory environments and risks, weighed against minimum required returns.
The move: Give your analysis one visible tool, like a magnifying glass, and use it the same way every time. If each scene invents a new visual, the viewer stops following.
Google Cloud AlloyDB animation
“AlloyDB: The new way to PostgreSQL” is a 30-second spot for developers. Abstract 3D shapes carry every claim, with no interface shown.
What works here:
Each claim gets its own visual: “4x faster transactional workloads,” then recovery from system failures in 60 seconds.
AI is a switch. “Powered by AI” appears as a toggle, so the upgrade reads as one flick.
The ask matches the audience: “build gen AI apps” and “run them anywhere.”
The move: Give each claim one shape and one beat. If two claims share a shot, cut one or split the shot.
Nutrition International animated explainer
Nutrition International's video argues that vitamin A should be called “Vitamin Eh!” It explains Canada's role in fighting vitamin A deficiency around the world.
What works here:
One map holds the big claim. An unfolding map of Canada shows the video's figure: Canada provides 75% of the world's vitamin A supplements.
One capsule stands in for the outcome: stronger immunity, prevented blindness and better survival odds for a child.
The pun does the branding. Bottles labeled “Vitamin Eh!” with a maple leaf make the message hard to forget.
The move: Tie a big number to one small object the viewer can picture holding. If the number floats on a blank screen, give it a thing to sit on.
Story 4 · Hero Object
If you sell something people hold, make the product the main character.
Some products don't need a stand-in. The object itself is the picture.
A jeweler doesn't describe the ring. They turn it under the light. If you sell a device, or software that ships inside one, the product earns the frame.
I call it the Hero Object: the product on screen in every scene, one feature per beat. Three examples.
Lenovo Legion monitor animation
Lenovo's “Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED Gaming Monitor Product Tour” is a CGI tour of one monitor, for gamers and creators. Every scene is built around the screen itself.
What works here:
Split screens make the specs visible: 60Hz against 240Hz, with a 0.03ms GtG response time.
AI features get one beat each. An ambient light sensor adjusts brightness, and a human detect sensor powers off when you leave.
Setup is one cable. USB-C carries power, data and video with up to 140W, and a KVM switch toggles between devices.
The move: Put your new number next to the old one on a split screen. If a spec needs a footnote to mean anything, it needs a comparison instead.
Amazfit GTS 4 Mini animation
Amazfit's “GTS 4 Mini | Compact and Power-packed” sells a small smartwatch through 3D product renders and CGI landscapes.
What works here:
The watch is revealed like part of nature, emerging from petals and water ripples.
Features land as synced on-screen text and motion graphics: health monitoring and sports modes.
The close is three facts: an ultra-slim design, 15-day battery life and Zepp OS.
The move: End on 3 facts your buyer can repeat to someone else. If you'd need 5, you haven't picked yet.
Sony MDR-MV1 headphones animation
Sony's video for the MDR-MV1 open-back studio monitor headphones turns a normal studio into a glowing virtual mixing room.
What works here:
Sound becomes objects. Movable spheres sit in a 3D soundstage, so spatial audio is something you can point at.
Callouts name the engineering: an “open back acoustic structure” and a “specially developed driver unit.”
The close moves the studio. Light construction and soft ear pads make it a mixing studio that travels.
The move: If your product's benefit is invisible, turn it into an object the camera can move. If the benefit only exists in the voiceover, the animation hasn't found it.
Pick your story
Which story does your animated video need?
The short answer: ask one question. What can't your viewer see yet: the mess, the person, the mechanism or the product? The answer picks the story. One story per video. If two are missing, make two short videos instead of one long one.
Now go back to the script from the top: logo, friendly shapes, product, logo. Nothing in it changes. Each of the four stories above gives the viewer one thing to watch change.
The move: write one sentence before your script. “At the start, the viewer sees ___. At the end, they see ___.” If both blanks hold the same picture, you don't have a story yet.
Shapes moving is animation. Something changing is a story.
FAQ
Animated Storytelling Video Examples FAQ
What is an animated storytelling video?
It's an animated video where something visibly changes from start to end: a mess gets sorted, a person's day improves, or an invisible system gets a picture. For software and tech brands, that change explains the product better than a feature list. Deloitte's DataHub video, for example, starts with scattered data and ends on one workflow.
How long should an animated story video be?
Most of the 18 on this page run 1 to 1.5 minutes: 13 fall between 1:01 and 1:27. The shortest is AlloyDB at 0:30, one claim per beat for developers. The longest is memoQ at 2:17, carried by real employee voices. Let the story set the length, and cut anything that doesn't move it.
Should an animated story video be 2D or 3D?
Pick the style that shows your change best. Life Happens and district0x use 2D, which suits people and simple diagrams. Digicel and Temasek use isometric 3D, which suits rooms, cities and systems. Lenovo and Sony use CGI, which suits hardware. For more flat work, see these 2D animated story examples.
Does an animated story video need characters?
No. Characters help when your product changes someone's day, as in Gympass, Geely and MRI Software. When the product runs where nobody looks, a stand-in picture does the job instead, like Bosch Motorsport's data streams or AlloyDB's toggle switch. Use characters to show who it helps, and objects to show how it works.
When should the product or logo appear in an animated story?
It depends on what the viewer needs first. Life Happens holds its brand until the emotional peak, because the story is the argument. Hotjar puts its name in the title question, because viewers came to learn what it is. If the viewer doesn't care yet, wait. If they came looking for you, show it early.
How do you animate a software product with no interface to show?
Give the invisible part one picture. Bosch Motorsport draws data as blue streams from sensors to the cloud. district0x uses the Byzantine Generals' Problem for network trust. Deloitte turns enterprise data into colored orbs. Pick a picture the viewer already understands. Most technical animation videos work the same way.
Should an animated story video use a voiceover?
Usually, yes. A voiceover lets the animation show the change while the words carry the reasons. Life Happens uses one man's first-person voice, and memoQ uses real employees. Add captions either way, because many people watch with the sound off.
Is animation or live action better for a SaaS story?
Animation wins when the thing you need to show can't be filmed: data moving, a network agreeing, a scam text crossing a city. Live action wins when real faces are the proof, like a customer on camera. Many teams mix them: real people for trust, animation for the mechanism.
How do you write the script for an animated story video?
Start with the change. Write what the viewer sees at the start and what they see at the end. Then write the last line, then the first, then the middle. Gympass squeezes its whole script into pairs like “from buzzing to zen.” If a line doesn't move the viewer toward the last picture, cut it.
Can animated story videos work for recruiting and employer brand?
Yes. Geely shows women working across the company, from the factory floor to leadership meetings. memoQ animates real employees talking about learning and work-life balance. The rule is the same as for a product: show people mid-task, in real roles, saying specific things.
How do you measure whether an animated story video works?
Pick the goal first: demo requests, sign-ups or recall. Track clicks on the call to action against that goal. Then check where viewers drop off. That second is the scene that lost them, and it's the next thing to fix.
How many messages should one animated story video carry?
One change. Each video on this page shows a single change: a mess sorted, a day eased, a system made visible or a product earning the frame. AlloyDB fits several claims into 30 seconds only because each one gets its own shape and its own beat.
Patterns from the analysis
Animated Storytelling Video Best Practices
Every count below comes from the 18 breakdowns on this page, written from each video's existing description, YouTube title and channel. None was checked against a full transcript. Read each count as what these write-ups describe, not as market data.
Problem State
Should an animated story show the problem before the product?
Observation
Deloitte opens on scattered data orbs. Expleo opens in a hacker's den. Gympass opens on well-being as a tangle of HR worries. Digicel shows signals hitting walls, and Remote maps hiring hurdles country by country. district0x sets up its problem with an allegory, Temasek with a contrast.
Data
7 of 18 write-ups describe a problem state on screen before the product's answer.
The move
If your buyer doesn't feel the problem yet, animate it first, in the room where they meet it.
Human Lead
Should an animated story have a person in it?
Observation
Life Happens, Geely, memoQ, MRI Software, Gympass and Digicel put people on screen. The rest carry the story with objects, data or the product itself: Bosch Motorsport's data streams, AlloyDB's shapes, Sony's sound spheres.
Data
6 of 18 write-ups describe people carrying the story. 12 of 18 don't.
The move
Use a person when your product changes someone's day. Use an object when it changes how something works.
On-Screen Number
Should an animated story put a number on screen?
Observation
Lenovo shows 60Hz against 240Hz. AlloyDB claims “4x faster transactional workloads.” Nutrition International puts Canada's 75% share of vitamin A supplements on a map. Amazfit closes on 15-day battery life. The other write-ups describe no figure.
Data
4 of 18 write-ups mention a specific number on screen.
The move
Give one number a visual to sit on: a split screen, a map, a closing card. A number alone on a blank frame is a slide.
Late Logo
When should the brand appear in an animated story?
Observation
Life Happens is the only write-up that says the brand reveal is held until the emotional peak. Hotjar puts its name in the title question. The rest don't say when the brand appears.
Data
1 of 18 write-ups describes a delayed brand reveal.
The move
If the story is the argument, hold the logo until it pays off. Then test an early-logo cut against it with the same audience.
How to plan
Where to use your animated story video
Match the story to the page where its doubt shows up. That one rule decides most placements.
Jai Ghosh is a Video Producer at Advids, where he has planned and produced videos for B2B software and technology companies for 7 years. He works on product demos, explainer videos and brand videos, from the first script to the final cut, for clients from startups to enterprises.
Before Advids, Jai spent over 11 years in freelance media consulting, after starting out in digital journalism. He writes the Advids blog's breakdowns of product and demo videos, sorting real examples by the question each one answers for a buyer.
Focus: SaaS product demos, explainer videos and brand videos
Experience: 7 years at Advids, over 11 years in media consulting
