Airwallex - Money2020
Firstly, a caveat. I can’t be sure, but my guess is that this was always designed to be a text animation without a voiceover.
Why? Well a) that would make sense for an event booth video, and b) the AI generated voiceover has about as much personality as a plank of wood.
Voiceover aside, I love the visuals and the way they’ve developed the brand here.
There’s a very subtle time effect on it with a slightly lower frame rate than normal, which gives it a cool retro feel.
They’ve gone with a ‘less = more’ approach, and used a simple set of shapes and gradients to represent the script.
Crucially, they’ve let the on-screen copy do the talking, and used the visuals to enhance rather than just repeat the messaging.
This is a great tactic when you’re trying to grab eyeballs across a conference venue:
Having an engaging video at your event booth is like painting your house pink.
Your neighbours might be jealous, or they’ll hate it, but either way everyone’s talking about it.
The one thing I’d change?: the voiceover obvs.
Rating: 4/5
Argent - Here We Go Again
I have to confess, I can’t remember where I first saw this and it was most certainly a little while back, but I had to include it here because of its unique energy.
If you’re trying to create video content that actually stands out, look no further.
I’m a sucker for the high energy dance track, but its appeal goes deeper than that.
It tells a narrative and an emotional story with very few constituent parts, and it asks the viewer to fill in the blanks.
Why does that work?
Well because it's more rewarding for the viewer when they feel like they’ve earned it. We’re programmed to look for meaning, and it's satisfying when that pays off.
Plus there’s funny memes in it and who doesn’t like those.
I can’t fault this one. Sure, it's a product update without much product info, but I certainly want to go and find out more which is sorta the whole point.
Rating: 5/5
Volt - Real Time Payment Networks
This grabbed my attention as soon as I spotted it on my feed.
Why?
Because the motion instantly pulled me in. It wasn’t all icons and text. I wanted to know what was coming over that horizon!
The transitions are what make this stand out.
Every scene flows effortlessly into the next.
As with Airwallex, it’s not loaded with dense visual information, but instead distils each line of copy down to a single idea.
Another great feature is the sound design. I love the yawn SFX and the whooshes/bass drops. All enhance the visuals and allow them to paint a picture alongside the youthful voiceover.
There’s some really memorable copy in there too. ‘Payments at the speed of the postage stamp’ is a personal fave.
One small fix: I can’t fault the visuals, but I’d maybe add a little more music under the first half as it can feel a bit bare at times.
Rating: 4/5
Wrap up
Okay that’s it from me.
I hope that’s got your creative juices flowing!
Let me know what other content you’d be interested in exploring, and do recommend anything that you’ve seen that’s caught your eye too!