Your government is the animation addicts. Did you know that?

If you think that animation in its usage is limited by the creative and branding video, you might be surprised to learn that in reality it has been used in many spheres that are quite far from inventive.

Animation has been adopted as a tool by many immigration offices all over the world to explain such complex processes as visa appliances, for example.

Surprised?

People all over the world struggle with understanding services that are vital for visiting other countries, or in some cases, moving abroad.

It is not like a big problem that is hard to solve, but the confusing nature of paperwork always gives a hard time. Just imagine – or maybe you don’t even have to imagine because you already know that – how stressful it is to undergo the whole process of going to the right window with dozens of papers that demand god knows what from you.

Besides, many companies that provide help for people who want to apply for a visa or move to another country also use animation to promote themselves.

That’s a rather interesting phenomenon we have discovered lately.

But that’s just a part of the bigger tendency: more governments use animation to explain something or share a message that has to be spread among people.

Using animation for such services is a winning decision. According to statistics, a marketing video can attract up to 300% more traffic and possible leads. Why not reshape it for people who look to visit another country or explain a new law to them?

Animation is the right package for these goals. The marketing impact on animation in 2022 became stronger, and people who work in government understand that reaching out to the public is easier with this medium.

How do immigration offices use animation to explain their services?

Indonesian immigration services seem to be fully animated. Not only they used a video to give a step-by-step guide for anyone who wants to apply for a visa or prolonged their stay, but also have cartoon-type characters in most of its offices across the country.

Honestly, we don’t know if it is a way to soften the tension people might have while waiting for an answer or just a coincidence, but many agree that it really has an impact on their understanding of the process and emotional state. 

Immigration company that helps people move to Canada presents its services in the most straightforward, plain way. Well, yet it is working — even though the video is super short, it includes a call to action and a presentation of its services.

We also stumbled upon another video concerning Canada, there are probably a lot of them 🙂

However, this is a great way to tell people about yourself, how you work and what they can receive from you. Excellent way of promoting your services.

Other cases

Generally speaking, government organizations use animated explainer videos for a variety of goals:

• To introduce new, laws, schemes, or rules;
• To communicate important topics;
• To educate people on what proved to be misused or misunderstood;
• To make announcements;
• To gather communities in order to solve specific problems.
   

When the pandemic hit, governments all over the world had an incredibly vital job of informing and calming their citizens. Politicians spoke, but it didn’t prove to be the best way to give instructions. So, many countries used explainer videos.

This whiteboard animation from the World Health Organization, which explains COVID-19 and its behavior was the first example many countries took for themselves: both in terms of the story and the message.

In the U.S. there were many cases when people weren’t aware of the importance of their role in voting. This is why the government created a video that explains both the procedure and why it is important.

Here’s an interesting case. Having a task to engage the mobile generation in their draft local plan Aylesbury Vale District Council used animation to meet the goal.

Communications Manager Kate Brewster tells the story: 

“In the summer of 2016, we launched a big campaign to encourage as many people as possible to engage with our draft local plan. With the demand on housing in the area constantly increasing, the need to build new homes is one of our key priorities, but it’s also important for us to make sure that our residents have had an input into whatever plans we develop.

Our campaign included all the traditional elements you would expect to see. We created an information document, undertook roadshows and media briefings, and produced a comprehensive Q&A about the plan and the reasons why we needed one. Although we were undertaking a huge amount of integrated activity, we didn’t really have anything targeted towards the mobile generation, or time poor people, so we set about trying to change that”. 

Just sometimes interesting and unique at the end of this chapter:

“The Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. (ACPI) is a non-profit and non-stock organization in the Philippines that specializes in 2D and 3D animation. As an organization that is recognized and supported by the Government of the Philippines, and as a business engaged in information and communications technology, the goal of the ACPI is to promote the animation industry locally and globally.

It aims to create an identity for the Philippines within the animation industry. It has the intention of making the Philippines one of the preferred countries that provides animation services. It expresses high regard for locally produced animation with original content. It aims to reinvent and present the Philippines as a “center of excellence for animation and content creation services” not only to the Asian clientele but also to countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan”. 

Wikipedia 

Incredible institution, right?

Why would government administrations use animation?

If you think about traditional ways of communicating information by governments all over the world you might remember that what we used to see is some politician as a talking head conveying important stuff.

However, this is in many cases less effective than using animation without any big figures involved and just explaining a certain process.

Let’s take a look at all the reasons why animation works for government administrations.

Animated videos can be made quickly.

During the pandemic, it was the main issue – to react as fast as possible. Many folks were in a panic, and to bring some social order, you had to explain what to do and how it is going to function.

In any urgent circumstances, animated videos could be an answer.

Animated videos are capable of creating an emotional connection.

With beautiful visuals and well-chosen, oice-overs these videos give people more reasons to understand a video and connect to its main problem.

Emotional connection is an important factor many brands crave today due to the simple fact that we all experience banner blindness and our attention span is not getting bigger. This affects the popularity of animation now.

Animation is a universal visual language. 

Sometimes to convey a message or an idea you don’t even need to hire a voice-over artist. Just visuals would be enough to illustrate what you have to say.

We call it a “universal language” because everyone can understand it. Talking to the multinational public is easier with such language.

Animation allows us to look at the problem from another angle. 

Different perspectives matter. Not every time it is about having another opinion, but rather looking through the lens that allows you to distance yourself and reflect.

Animation takes real situations to its visual world and gives us a chance to re-enter them differently.

Animated videos are easier to remember. According to studies, people retain information longer if they see it in a simplified context. Animation provides it in abundance, sorry for the pun.

No wonder more schools and universities are using animation to explain scientific ideas or just give information.

Conclusion

97% of marketers say that people understand the product or service better if the explanation is video. Hey, isn’t it the best way to explain not only brand services but also complex services like these that could peacefully make one a legitimate resident in a new country?

As we also know, using videos on landing pages will increase conversions by 86%. Isn’t it what we see on the governments’ pages?

The old-fashioned ways of connecting with the public are no longer up-to-date for modern government organizations. This is a little bit counterintuitive in terms of communication approach and the chances to reach, for example, the audience of young people is not that good.

Addressing a community on important topics is much easier and way more effective if you are using animation. If you have a community to convey something, too, just contact us — we’ll deliver the best-animated video that fits your goals.