Persuasive Wordplay in Animated Email Advertisements

Animated email advertisements by Google. An incredibly well-known company, which began as a search engine but now houses an entire suite similar to that of Microsoft Office. The following advertisement is for their advancement into becoming something of an "all-in-one" company, similar to Apple's "Siri," "Google Assistant" is an assistant to help people complete tasks by only using vocal commands. However, let's see how their advertisement compares to our standards.

Google Assistant Advertisement - Overall Grade: A

ANIMATED:


The animated portion of their advertisement is extremely well made for email-based marketing approaches. Firstly, it's a small portion of the email that's fully animated, creating smaller file size, and therefore, a shorter loading time. 

The pretense of this advertisement is the sentence, "Have Google -blank- it." Putting different words in place of this "blank" is effective in that it's able to give examples of what the audience can do with this specific product. In giving multiple different uses for the Google Assistant, more people will buy into the idea of using it, because they can see a practical use for the product. Having the text move quicker and quicker as the animation goes on before replacing the changing verb into the slogan is smart because it gives the audience a sense of there being many, many more options available, and that there isn't enough time to look through them all. This is smart as a way to also lead into the ending, where the slogan appears.

The bold statement of "Make Google do it" is extremely effective in that it's able to very simply explain what the entirety of the animated advertisement had been trying to say; essentially, that Google, or Google's Assistant, can do anything you ask it to, and that all you have to do is tell it to do so. It's a smart way to tell the audience that they need to "Make Google do -blank-" in a way that doesn't sound like a command. If it were phrased that way, fewer people would be inclined to listen, even just a little bit, because people don't like being told what to do. However, with the email advertisement saying that they should make Google -blank- it, the audience doesn't feel as if they're being commanded, but that they can tell Google what needs to be done.

To finish off the animated advertisement with the logo for Google's Assistant is extremely smart, especially coupled with the fact that it is the only color in the entire animation. Having it be the only splash of color helps to make the logo stand out, as well as making sure that the audience remembers it from the animation. Considering the logo is also used within Google Assistant itself, it's good that it's in the advertisement to give the audience and customers a tie-in to the product itself.

STATIC:

The rest of this advertisement is great, considering that it came up in time for spring. The imagery of someone pruning a tree, getting it healthy for spring, is not only a great juxtaposition of the monotony of black, grey, and white (minus the Google Assistant logo, of course), but it also brings in the color green as a focal point, which is not only associated with nature and life but also money and wealth, slightly inspiring imagery of Google Assistant being a product that will help someone's life be prosperous. "Spring into action" is a really cute way to blend in the time, and give a reason to begin using Google Assistant, which we'll mention soon. Through the statement, "tidy up and make way for what matters most with help from your Google Assistant," one can assume that the email advertisement is alluding to the fact that, in spring, many people participate in spring cleaning, in order to have a clean start for the rest of the year. This can also be helped through the fact that they're advertising a completely hands-free version of the AI, meaning that the audience can be cleaning with their hands, and begin searching things, create reminders, and more, simply by saying a vocal prompt. 

The final part of the email advertisement states that Google Assistant can be available across different devices, which not only helps sell their product to people who maybe have multiple devices that support Google Assistant, or at least, try to send a subconscious message for people who don't have multiple devices, to perhaps look into buying some for the upcoming seasons. 

Overall, the grade I've given is simply because I believe that every aspect of this animated email advertisement is absolutely wonderful. The subtle psychology behind the wording of the slogan, the color aspects of the animation, the color of the static image below, the wordplay on the season, and the slight advertisement at the bottom; everything works cohesively together, and it's orchestrated into a beautifully simple, yet complex advertisement that is succinct and persuasive.

Related Content: Using Free Email Accounts for Business (Podcast: Morning Joe with Gibrón) 

Animated Email Advertisements and Color Theory

We continue our examination of animated emails from top brands by taking a look at Olive Garden's National Breadstick Day advertisement. Olive Garden is a well-known restaurant known for its home-style attitude, its never-ending garlic breadsticks, and its amazing salad dressing. The following email advertisement was for National Breadstick Day, trying to get their newsletter followers to "celebrate breadsticks" at their nearest Olive Garden.

Olive Garden National Breadstick Day Advertisement - Overall Grade: B-

ANIMATED:

This specific advertisement is alright. The animation itself is choppy, almost looking like stop-motion, which could potentially be in order to add to the homemade feel that the restaurant likes to advertise. The way that the breadsticks are crawling off the plate is definitely a plus, though, because it seems to imply that everyone at the table is taking the breadsticks and that everyone wants some. The composition of the advertisement is very good, though, having the plate of breadsticks in the center as if the reader were looking down at their table, then having their signature salad in the upper lefthand corner and what looks like a soda in the upper right. 

Having the colors of the letters be the light green that they are is both aesthetically pleasing against the dark brown of the table, and is great at connecting the entire piece together as it's the same color as the salad in the upper lefthand corner. The alternating brown color is good as it also connects to the brown wood of the table the plates and whatnot are sitting on, and as a good contrast to the white plate. This is all ignoring the fact that the new logo is made with the same colors, however, and the colors could just be exact color drops from that. The same logic could be applied to those colors being chosen for the logo as well, though. Green is usually associated with nature and freshness, which are good to think of with a restaurant that has a very memorable salad appetizer. Not to mention that it's associated with growth and money, possibly subconsciously telling their customers that they are a very successful company and that they're a good choice to go to. The brown is effective in sharing the idea that the restaurant is friendly, which is a selling point in most of their advertisements as well.

STATIC:

The message below is very clever. Most, if not all, of Olive Garden's audience, love their signature breadsticks, and the company is capitalizing on that. By saying that "one breadstick is never enough," Olive Garden is subconsciously telling its audience that they need to eat multiple breadsticks to feel satisfied, which is good, considering that the restaurant gives unlimited servings. Even the button at the bottom is useful with this, by bringing home the entire advertisement and reminding the audience why it was sent out. By stating "celebrate breadsticks" on the button to the website, they both remind the audience that it's National Breadstick Day, but also make them crave exactly what they're trying to sell.

The grade I've given is derived from the overall placement of the components and the design of the advertisement, but not the animation itself. Even if the point of having the choppy animation was to add to a homemade, stop-motion feel to the advertisement, it seems lazy and uninteresting. The composition and colors were nice, as well as the written message below, which definitely helped boost the grade a bit. Although, no matter the interesting thought development behind it, and the message it may have, this advertisement doesn't make me feel as though I need to go out and get some breadsticks alongside some Olive Garden Italian food, even if it was National Breadstick Day.

Animated Email Advertisements are Instinctively Interesting

As people who frequent pizza delivery services may have heard, “No One Out-Pizzas the Hut.” Pizza Hut is a well-established company with over 11,000 stores across the world, with thousands of people subscribed to their emailing services to gain coupons and the newest, freshest information about the company. With so many people to reach out with simply email, Pizza Hut stepped up its game in October of 2016 with an animated Halloween email promotion.

Pizza Hut Halloween Advertisement - Overall Grade: B+

ANIMATED:

This advertisement is simple, yet effective, especially for parents wanting to host Halloween parties or events. It grabs attention immediately by being extremely dark, contrasting a usually red and white color scheme that Pizza Hut uses almost universally as with their branding. The black is also a considerate contrast to the Halloween orange that is usually used in branding in October. Once the audience is looking, either the bright red text at the bottom will have them reading, or the scary animated red eyes that seem to pop out of nowhere will have them looking at the ad for longer than if it were simply a still image. The animated leaves that move across the image from right to left also keep the audience interested, and if they’ve finished reading the text, bring their eyes back to not only the image of the door but also the beginning of the text. A good addition to this advertisement would be perhaps having the door open slightly, or maybe having it slamming shut after the eyes look around, maybe adding creaking noises or a growl of some sort. I gave this animated advertisement a B+ for its creativity in design for a Halloween advertisement, and the quality of the animation that they’ve included. The best way to improve, in my opinion, would be to add extra movement to keep the reader’s focus for longer or to keep it memorable.  

STATIC:

The effectiveness of this advertisement would be lacking if it were just a still image instead of an animation because some would simply look and move on, perhaps not even reading the text on it. However, with the small moving details, the brain gets distracted and will look to see what information it’s missing that’s causing the movement to happen.

The benefits of having animation in email marketing are more than just eye-candy, it’s psychology, and while I won’t go into too much detail here, it’s similar to what I just stated. Our brains instinctively see motion in order to protect ourselves, so when there is a static image, our brains will more likely ignore it in favor of one that’s moving.

This opens up a world of opportunity with our advances in technology, especially for the best marketing advancements. While some are content with static billboard images, innovators are creating interesting animated email advertisements. As these types of animated email ads are produced and become more mainstream, the importance then turns to not only if an advertisement is eye-catching, but also if it’s pleasant to look at, if it keeps the reader’s attention, and if it evokes the correct response out of who the company is trying to reach. With all of these attributes in mind, creative marketing strategies such as making interesting animated email advertisements such as the Pizza Hut one above are not only effective because they might look cool, but they have a psychological reason to do so. It is only through tactics such as these that the companies willing to keep up with the ever-changing field of marketing will be able to flourish.     

Sources:

Pizza Hut Statistics

No One Out-Pizzas the Hut

Brain Evolution