No matter what your product or brand is, an explainer video can be the key to getting your message out there or preventing a potential customer from being confused. Explainer videos range from about 30 to 90 seconds in length and require a short and simple script with interesting visuals. If you want to figure out how to go about planning an explainer video of your own, we’ve curated a list of diverse and creative explainer videos that you can draw inspiration from.
1. Headspace:
Headspace is a meditation app that aims to make meditation simple and accessible for everyone. They stick to these ideals when helping people understand their app and how their guided meditations work. I use this app often and their explainer videos played a big part in my becoming a regular user of the app because they made it simple and easy for me to see the benefits of using the app. The cute characters and clear instructions actually made me want to get through the sign up process and set a daily meditation routine. This is a great example of a video that connects with the viewer instead of trying too hard to make a sale.
“Dollar Shave Club’s concept for subscription razor blades was great, but it was their explainer video that allowed the company and customers to really benefit from it.“
2. Slack:
Slack // Work, Simplified (Director’s Cut) from Giant Ant on Vimeo.
Another video that focuses on relatability and evoking an emotion instead of making a hard sale is this slack explainer video. Slack is a workplace communication application that integrates chats with file sharing and also works as a replacement for email as the primary means of communication. Interestingly, the video uses no words or even text, yet it effectively communicates what it’s all about through powerful visuals. You see a character dealing with overwhelming notifications and haphazard communication, happily settling into the organized and simplified world of Slack. The animation is colorful, fun and keeps you watching till the end.
3. Dissolve:
This video by Dissolve, a stock footage and photography site, showcases everything the brand has to offer in a clever and humorous way. When I first saw this video, I didn’t really know what type of service Dissolve was, but the sarcastic tone of the video made me watch until the end. The video was particularly relatable and funny for their audience of creative marketers and advertisers. It was so successful that it led to over 20 million views and a Shorty Award for Best in B2B.
4. Dollar Shave Club:
There probably isn’t a digital marketing class out there that hasn’t seen this video since it came out. Dollar Shave Club’s concept for subscription razor blades was great, but it was their explainer video that allowed the company and customers to really benefit from it. The video features the company’s founder and is casual, humorous, and fast paced. The tone this video takes is unique and very different from traditional razor blade companies, but at the same time it gets all the information across. It’s no surprise then, that the video went viral with 23 million views and the Dollar Shave Club inventory was sold out within 6 hours of its release.
5. Spotify:
Everyone knows what Spotify is now, but when it was being launched, people needed to be told what the music streaming service was all about. With this explainer video, they chose to focus on the upbeat music and used only a few lines of text to let the audience know what set them apart from other services. There was no voiceover but a lot of brand reinforcement since their main objective was to make their new brand easily recognizable. It was very effective as you can quickly pick up on the Spotify color scheme and personality.
6. PayPal:
You would never expect an online payment service to explain their purpose in the form of a funny lighthearted song, but PayPal decided that was the way to go. Their fun country song video is a great way to tell potential customers about payment efficiency, while also being entertaining and more memorable than just a voiceover. The mix of scribble animation and live action also makes the video distinctive and whimsical.
7. SafeDrive:
This SafeDrive explainer video first talks about the problem their app is trying to solve. They let the audience know how texting and driving is actually more dangerous than drunk driving. Their animated video shows how texting and driving can happen because of casual negligence and have dire consequences. It then explains what the company is doing to combat this and how people can get rewards for not texting and driving. The focus on problem solving and rewards makes their product look like a great tool to add to your life.
8. TripCase:
Trip Case is a travel app and website that organizes your travel itinerary for you and presents it in a simplified way. The TripCase explainer video does a great job of conveying all the information about how the service makes travelling easier. The live action video also does a great job of reminding viewers just what a hassle travelling can be, by placing the user in that chaotic context. It takes the viewer through each feature of the app and how it removes all kinds of nuisances. Plus, I really liked seeing a business woman talking about how she manages travelling like a pro.
“The explainer video for the company Digit is a perfect example of why your video doesn’t have to be too flashy or complex to still be successful.“
9. Be My Eyes:
Be My Eyes is a free app with a very unique value proposition. The app connects blind and low vision people with sighted volunteers or representatives of their company to guide them through tasks that might be difficult for them. The company made a really good decision by going for a demonstrative explainer video for such a unique service, as it effectively shows exactly how the service works and what kind of impact it may have. The video is informative and has a wonderfully human approach that suits what the company is trying to achieve perfectly.
10. Digit:
The explainer video for the company Digit is a perfect example of why your video doesn’t have to be too flashy or complex to still be successful. Digit is a savings app that analyzes your spending habits and tells you how you can save effortlessly. The video’s animation is minimalistic without seeming bare and quickly explains how the service could be useful to users. The conversational tone of the voiceover gives the brand a very friendly persona, especially with the humorous quip at the beginning of the video.