Marketing and animation: A new world of opportunity

However, over the years, other industries have seen the potential of animation to reach audiences and convey powerful messages, and slowly but surely the reach of animation has expanded far beyond the borders of pure entertainment. One of the most notable fields to which this applies is marketing.

The global reach of the internet, combined with the popularity of international travel and the ease of overseas shipping, has resulted in new challenges for today's marketing professional. Brands aren't just competing locally, but with all brands online, whether directly or indirectly. In this attention economy, where the consumer's attention is the most valuable commodity on the market, brands have to know how to impress. And what better way to capture attention than by using animation effectively.

Here are some of the opportunities and benefits:

• The growth in popularity of content marketing has created a perfect opportunity to use animation to offer value by educating or entertaining your audiences.
• Animation offers the potential for being more than ordinary. It is not limited to real life, which means that the only limit is your imagination.
• Animation has the power to catch - and keep - audiences' attention.
• Using animation is an excellent way to define your brand identity and make your brand instantly recognisable.
• The use of animation is not limited to character animation - think text and graphics too.
• Animated banner ads are more likely to be noticed, making them more likely to be clicked on.
• Interactive animated web design is an excellent way to make your website memorable.

Many job advertisements for web designers and graphic designers call for expertise in Flash and working with storyboards. If you haven't added animation to your marketing skill set, consider the University of Cape Town Digital Animation (2D) short course. The course is presented part-time and entirely online by the University of Cape Town in partnership with GetSmarter and starts on 9 September 2013. Visit www.getsmarter.co.za for more information.