Animated Email Marketing Messages

Updated: 020722

We take time each week to examine new animated email marketing messages from the top brands. We give our two cents about some and on a soapbox about others. Each email message has a measure of creative content that attempts to make our email inbox come alive.  Just beyond the email subject line, marketers capture the readers' attention in micro-moments with cleverly designed animations.

Some of the best marketing consultants in the world are using email animation to keep readers engaged and inspire consumers to take action – just long enough to sink memorable impressions about the brand.  We add new animated email samples each from the leading brands.

At Oevae, we know that producing standout creative email animations and brand messages requires the marketing and design team to leap over hurdles and crank through headaches when time is slim, so it was fun to choose our favorite from these animated email marketing messages.  Each brand has a different message and one just didn't make a lasting impression for our group of marketers.  Our favorite: Bust Buy “Rock Your Resolutions” Sparkler's that twinkle delicately and naturally bring home the fun days of childhood.  Take a look at the other email promotions:  Best Buy, Dominos, PetSmart, Redbox, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut #Hutlovers, Obama Organizing for Action, MOO, and more to come.  Perhaps our growing list of email marketing messages will inspire you.

Refresh: If an image is not animated open the .gif image in a new tab or refresh the browser to see animations

 D Magazine "Subscribe and Get This Issue for FREE” | Animated Magazine is how you get more people to subscribe to your magazine?  Offer readers a free issue if they subscribe for 12 months, and allow them to sneak-a-peek inside the free issue.  That's what D Magazine did in this animated email that features a magazine with animated pages (3) turning.  The animation reminded our group of standing in line at the grocery store checkout, flipping through the magazine.  The best thing here is there's no lower back issue picking up the "blow-ins" (those little subscription cards that fall out of magazines and promise you this, that, or the other).  Overall we found the email to be a bit wordy and the primary suggestion would be to place the "Subscribe Now" button higher in the content.  

  Tata Harper "Goodbye Summer Hello Fall Beauty Event” | Animated cosmetic bag is made up of only 10 frames which immediately catches your eye with the sparkling glitter of the cosmetic bag (vegan leather Jet Set beauty bag).  Our creative director commented on the natural flow and movement of the twirling makeup products that climb into the bag before it is zipped closed, like a scene from an old Walt Disney cartoon.  Tata Harper says these products will "Meet your defense against drying plane air and red-eye flights" with this "glammed-up skincare bag" during your travels.  We all thought the email campaign was memorable and gives email contacts a great impression about the Tata Harper brand.

  Amazon Prime "PrimeDay” | Animated Flying Origami Airplane is made up of only 96 frames.  Amazon's PrimeDay is a two-day event where you will see deals and offers on a number of electronics.  Our best guess is, Amazon Air will be delivering the packages across the United States based on the animated airplane with a trailing banner (Aerial advertising is a form of advertising from the early 1920s) – one of the first uses of marketing with advertising which allow large numbers of people and potential customer to view an ad at one time. The animation has a higher number of frames (96) which allow for a smooth or "epic" flight around the globe.  Our design team agreed that the paper (Origami) represents the shipping/packaging of the products.  Overall, we do like the subliminal aspects of Amazon's animated email marketing campaign. 

  MOO "Chop that melon!” | Animated Watermelon Karate Chop is made up of only 6 frames.  Moo email marketing campaigns offer some of our creative design team's favorite animated email marketing graphics to critique. Like many we've already seen, here's another creative approach to "slashing prices" or offering discounts, "cutting prices" or in this case "chop that melon" with a Karate chop.  We found the graphics to be not only funny but also an incredibly clever use/play on words.  Very simple and effective use of a popular prop tool to hold the watermelon – Iyengar's famous yoga blocks, obviously giving the natural support necessary for the best chop asana. 

  Spectrum Mobile "Stay Connected” | Animated Text Message is made up of only 6 frames.  Read over the shoulder of two moms with their babies using the Spectrum Mobile Unlimited Data Plan.  This is a cute and cozy way to tell a short story most anyone can picture.  The animated text is a bit faster than a real-time conversation, however, as a viewer your eyes are instantly drawn to the conversation as if you are the fly on the wall.  Although the email in its entirety seems a bit heavy on content, the message may be lacking more punch.  If you don't read the text message (ignore as bogus and rarely use text messaging) you will miss the part about "No contracts or hidden fees."  Overall this is a simple and unique way to get across the "Stay Connected" message.  

   Groupon “Groupon Select” | Animated Groupon Bucks is made up of 79 frames.  Not a lot of pizzaz here but it does stress more than one Buck with the animated graphic fanning the four bucks.  The Groupon Bucks (bills/currency) has the number five in each corner and the ad says you get $20 Groupon Bucks After Sign Up!  If you're looking to get people to move, offering money can be a great incentive for email recipients' impulsiveness.  Groupon's Fanning Money animated GIF could be a great way to help replace a portion of your customer base that some businesses lose annually. Offers to stimulate repeat purchases from existing customers and attract a new set of loyal customers which is highly beneficial for growing your business.

  Our Daily Bread “Devotional” | Animated Video is made up of 60 frames.  This is a unique way to grab the viewer's attention.  A snippet of the video loops and the animated graphics include a "play" icon which can possibly lead to a higher email click-through rate and ultimately take email recipients on the buying journey.  This is a very clever animated graphic because large .gif files used for animation can grow in file size rather quickly.  The graphic artist in this case reduced the dimensions of the video animation graphic which keeps the .gif file size low.

  CarMax “4 Year Anniversary” | Animated Car Illustration is made up of 110 frames that scroll across the page.  The email uses animated music notes over one of the cars to emphasize the anniversary, which is reinforced by the text which reads "That's a lot of dashboard drumming.  Go ahead turn it up."  A simple email reminder from CarMax adds value to the company's push to say we care about you (our customer) in a fun manner.  

  Google “Local Guides” | Animated Mobile Phone is made up of 165 frames that make this small promo really pop.  The graphics show you exactly what you can do as a Local Guide and don't take a lot of time doing so.  Our marketing team suggested that the "Start Contributing" button should be above the fold to increase conversions.  The colors are well-balanced.  The use of orange could not be any better – energy associated with red and the happiness associated with yellow.  Overall the grade was a B+ for this animated email promo.

  Vimeo “Meet Vimeo Business” | Animated Video Marketing Tools   The Vimeo Newsletter had nice icons for the different business solutions but really doesn't express "video" in any manner.  Our creative team suggested that alternating background colors could have been more aligned with the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers #SMPTE color bars – a television test pattern used where the National Television System Committee #NTSC video standard is utilized – often seen at The End of a television stations' broadcasting day.  The overall grade for the animation is a D.

  GoDaddy “World Gratitude Day!” | Animated Gift   Simple, smooth animation with call to action (Shop Now) button at top center.  The use of the strongest color (yellow), psychologically – could lift spirits and self-esteem.  The use of a soothing color (blue) adds trust and peace to the animation.  Overall we thought this animation was self-explanatory and received a C+ for speed.

  Rhapsody “Give the Gift of Music” | Animated Mother's Day Heart   The small red heart is bouncing around the image like the 1972 Pong game – a two-dimensional sports game that simulates table tennis.  Atari engineer Allan Alcorn designed and built Pong as a training exercise.  We could not make the connection between Pong and Mother's Day and Music, so please comment if you have a clue?  Perhaps we're supposed to ask mom?  Our marketing gurus commented that using such a tiny heart fails to express a great deal of love for mom.  Therefore, this email animation received a D- from a creative standpoint.

  Overnight Prints “Want to Get Lucky?” | Animated Pot of Gold   Great idea that our marketing team felt lacked oomph.  The gold coins in the iron pot could use more sparkle and the rainbow and the four-leaf clovers are barely visible.  Overall, the members of the graphics team said this was designed by someone tardy for the party.

  General Assembly “Where Will You Land?” | Animated Spin Wheel   Simple and very catchy promotion for those who want to learn how to code HTML, CSS & Web Design Circut.  After a while, our marketing team thought this cute and probably a very quick idea that could be changed on the fly to stop on specific topics related to the different email campaigns.  We also suggest the use of the company "General Assembly" or "GA" be more prominent throughout the email.

  Best Buy “Rock Your Resolutions” | Animated Sparklers Email Promotion    If this isn’t the yacht club or cool kids all grown up, we missed the message.  Best Buy wants to “help make it fun to keep your New Year’s resolutions.”  Twinkling sparklers light up the mood with a childhood favorite and bottle service must.

Best Buy "Rock Your Resolutions" | Animated Sparklers Email Promotion

  Obama “Organizing for Action” | Animated Shot Clock Count Down instantly deals the reader a sense of urgency with big bold red numbers and sporty shot clock countdown.  The caption reads, “The clock is winding down.”  Normal Obama logo brand colors are replaced with solid black images.  The animated graphics end with a "sad face" when the clock stops.  The overall tone is simple and direct in your face.  You have a decision to make.  15 seconds can save you up to 10% at GEICO, but this promotion asks you to chip in now and not wait until the last second.

Obama “Organizing for Action” | Animated Shot Clock Count Down
– Refresh web browser to see count down animation – 

   MOO “Happy Holidays” | Animated Snowflakes turns up the drama with the upside-down pineapple.  Who would imagine that the top of the pineapple would frost the tips during the winter holidays?  MOO did.  They ask the reader to look at two extremes and make friends with new worlds and possibilities using familiar images.  The first stop, MOO “Hopes yours is full of the unexpected delights!”  In retrospect, one from our group remembered his mother always cooking Pineapple Upside Down cake during the holiday season.  The tone is very simple and charming.

MOO “Happy Holidays” | Animated Snowflakes

 Redbox | Minions, King Bob,  Animated Mic Drop funny in the theater as well as the email.  This clever design will draw the viewer into the email content for a longer period of time (more micro-moments).  The animation appears to be video but it's an animated .gif file format that is low in file size, which is paramount when it comes to email and saving precious loading time.

Redbox | Minions, King Bob, Animated Mic Drop

  Papa John's | Papa John, Pizza Maker, Founder Animated Signature looks pretty snappy when you first open your email.  A nice quick and easy way to personalize the Papa John's brand with a very organic "natural ingredient" at the essence of the overall tone.

Papa John's | Papa John, Pizza Maker, Founder Animated Signature

 Dominos | DXP Delivery Vehicle Built-in Warming Oven way to go Dominos. and I can’t believe I can go for a ride in the DXP, Dominos new wheels.  The very simple animated warming oven door opens and closes in what could be an infinite loop as the count superseded our willingness to count past 10 as we all had other emails to read and no time to kill counting.  It would have been nice to see a bird fly to bring it home.  Overall the email made the point - Dominos appears to be ahead of the curve.  

  Petsmart | Ever had Deja Groundhog Day | Happy Groundhog day again Coupon is simple, cute, quick, and to the point.  The timing would have to be right for this one.  The little groundhog bats its eyes while the clouds drift in the light blue sky.  If you want $5 off a $10 purchase - get a coupon.  We thought 50% off would cause a larger head-jerk and more favorable than asking the reader to do the math.  Overall the animated email promotion was a win.

Organizing for Action - Barack Obama | Marriage Equality #LoveisLove folding heart seems to be fitting for a noble budget.  The small red heart opens like a note passed in class and goes figure, it has its own hashtag #loveislove in natural Sharpie handwriting across the center.  The email promotion asks the reader to “Chip in” (contribute would be old money talk - Obama is new money like PayPal) and “Help fund the fight against discrimination.”

  HOW Design Magazine | Double Loop Roller Coaster has spunk, even though it's really tiny.  It takes 5 trips around the double-loop coaster. The coaster actually hops off the track and it's so funny - this is a Coster with attitude.  Would have liked to see this in full color.  There are 6 flags waving in the wind which makes the whole experience fun and worth watching or sharing.  No doubt the creators know how to get your attention. 

  Pizza Hut #HUTLOVERS | Animated Fireworks and count down to more pizza was our least favorite.  We thought that Pizza Hut missed the mark.  Steam could have been rising from a warm soft crust while slices started to vanish.  The hungry consumer counts down the number of pizza slices by the number of people who return to the box for more.  The overall tone is elementary in design and a bit on the annoying side for most in our group.  We all agreed that if it's cheap pizza the reader is wanting, Pizza Hut dropped the mic!

Pizza Hut #HUTLOVERS | Animated Fireworks

  Condé Nast | All Magazines Flash Sale Animated Email is subtle and classy.  We thought the animation could be a bit smoother; the image size is larger so they may have wanted to keep the file size low to keep image loading time to a minimum.  One difference with this email is the entire email is an image – no text links.

Make a brand difference™