I’ve watched silent movies in the past, and a couple of the ‘oldie’ cartoons (e.g., Tom and Jerry) that had no talking. But I never would have thought a full-length movie for kids without words would work in today’s dwindling-attention-span society.
Well, I was wrong.
Shaun the sheep has NO talking. No captions either.
The entire 1-hour-and-25-minute cartoon movie conveyed the 'grass is greener' concept, conflict, obstacles, heroism, loyalty, and emotions. And it did it all through actions, through animation.
I took my grandsons to the movie several years ago, and the theater had lots of other grandparents with their grandchildren. Every child was captivated, the adults too. In fact, you forgot there were no words – no dialogue.
My 9-year-old grandson (at the time), who has ADD, paid attention through the entire movie, and he didn’t want to go in the first place, thinking it was a baby movie.
I was amazed that it not only held his attention, but it also held mine... someone who is always thinking of what I have to do next.
Quite an accomplishment.
This is the power of animation.
And imagine if an hour-and-a-half animated movie can hold children’s attention, think how it will hold your readers’ and visitors’ attention on your website in short,focused clips.
But, aside from my own viewpoints of Shaun the Sheep, there is research that backs up animation’s benefit in book marketing.
Some Statistics
According to TippingpointLabs.com:
• People are 64% – 85% more likely to purchase your product or service after watching an animation/video – that’s a significant boost to your conversions. • Visit lengths are another factor that gets a boost. Visitors will stay on your site at least two minutes longer with animation/video. • And there’s the power of YouTube. You’re 53x more likely to get on Google’s first page for search results by embedding video on your site. (1)
Along with this, another site that is now closed explained, “Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL are among the hundreds of Search Engines that give priority listings to websites that host video content.”
Taking advantage of tags, descriptions, and other SEO strategies allowed when publishing the video is another avenue for search visibility.
If this isn’t enough incentive to jump on the animation bandwagon, think about the social media marketing aspect. Video significantly increases shares and click-through rates.
Animated videos can be humorous, serious, entertaining, and educational.
Using animation in your marketing, specifically your blog posts, is a win-win strategy that you should be taking advantage of.
For the icing on the cake, according to HubSpot:
• Ninety percent of the information the brain receives is visual. • The brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text. • Videos in posts get 3X the inbound links compared to posts with only text. • Animation (visual content) increases engagement. (2) • Short-form video has the highest ROI of all marketing trends
Summing It Up
Animation is a powerful way to capture attention, communicate emotion, and tell a story—even without a single word. Shaun the Sheep is a perfect example of how much can be conveyed through movement, expression, action, and visuals alone.
For children’s authors, animation and short-form video offer another way to bring your books and stories to life. Whether you use a brief animated clip, a book trailer, or relevant visual content for your website and social media, animation can help attract attention, increase engagement, and encourage readers to discover your books.
In today’s crowded online world, where attention is hard to capture, showing can sometimes be more powerful than telling. Consider adding animation or short-form video to your book-marketing strategy and see what it can do for your reach and engagement.
I’m a working children’s ghostwriter, book doctor, editor, and self-publishing consultant. I help turn your idea, outline, or manuscript into a book you’ll be proud to call your own—and provide hands-on guidance through every step of the self-publishing process.
Interesting read! It really shows how visual storytelling can sometimes communicate more than words ever could.
Thanks for stopping by, and glad you found the article interesting.