author: carla clark, phd | neuroscience advisor for the ...draw...whiteboard animation video and a...

Author: Carla Clark, PHD | Neuroscience Advisor for The Draw Shop

Copyright © 2015, www.thedrawshop.com. All Rights Reserved. Commissioned by The Draw Shop, LLC 2015.

Long and short-form sales letters and videos, emails, newsletters, blog articles, social media posts, landing pages, webinars and webcasts, video tutorials and tips series, PowerPoints, podcasts and testimonials – there are a lot of marketing tools out there. As no two customers are the same, neither is their response to most of these tools. That’s why an integrated marketing approach is near indispensable to any successful business model. The beauty of whiteboard animation videos is that they have great mass appeal.

They don’t discriminate based on age or gender, or between skimmers and in-depth readers, or well-informed and industry newbies.


For example, a recent study compared the effectiveness of a whiteboard animation video and a talking head video, using the same music, and aimed at delivering the same message.

The results, the 1000 whiteboard video viewers of every age (from 22 to over 65) outperformed the 1000 talking head viewers. What’s more is that the whiteboard viewers were three times more likely to share the video on social media and were twice as likely to both recommend and buy the service, as well as to recall the facts and message being delivered.

Designed with ingenuity and expertise, they are attractive to almost anyone with a pair of eyes!

Why are they so broadly effective? The answers lie in the brain.The evidence coming from neuroscience and psychology research is racking up, unveiling why whiteboard animation videos are converting like wildfire. By digging deep into this research, we have compiled the most up-to-date, evidence-based reasons why whiteboard animation videos can captivate your audience’s attention and most importantly, motivate fruitful action.

1. Whiteboard Videos Bolster Memory & Heighten Learning.

The scientific-award-winning professor of the public understanding of psychology, Dr. Richard Wiseman, performed a test of viewers’ memories after they watched either a video of himself talking or a whiteboard version of the same video.



92% of the whiteboard video viewers answered the test questions correctly compared with 70% for the talking head video.

To an expert in the field, the increase in information retention and memory is very impressive,achieving a 5% increase is a resounding success, never mind a whopping 22%!


One predominant reason that facts, figures, marketing messages and suggestions are more deeply ingrained in the brain is the use of metaphoric representations that the flexibility of whiteboard animations afford. For example, if one talks about freezing sales, in a white board video this may be depicted as a product looking literally frozen, strongly reinforcing the concept in the viewer.

Considering that scientists have strong reason to believe thatknowledge itself is structured around metaphorical mappings in the brain that are derived from physical experience, visual metaphors are literally speaking the brain’s language!

What’s more is that the metaphorical aspect of whiteboard animations, coupled with displaying the full visual history on one canvas, serves up the messages within in the most attractive format


for a sleeping brain. During sleep the brain relates, binds and integrates facts into a mnemonic compositional whole for long-term memory retention. Whiteboard animation videos serve up the information in this format already, making it a prime target for viewers to retain the information for longer.However, both visual and auditory metaphors that are rather obtuse are not so universally recognized. For those viewers that don’t get it, different networks are activated in the brain, jolting it into active thinking, diverting attention away from absorbing and retaining crucial information. A little visual metaphor know-how can keep this effect at bay.

2. Whiteboard Videos Sustain Attention, and Give You the Power to Effectively Direct It!

To convert viewers into customers, first and foremost is getting their attention, and not just any old attention, but attention to the information most important for the seamless delivery of the video’s message. There are many reasons why whiteboard animation videos consistently demonstrate that they hold viewer’s attention substantially more than other videos, one of which is the use of cartoons.



Compared with photorealistic videos, the cartoon, non-photorealistic style of whiteboard animations captures and sustains attention while freeing up the mind for absorbing the message due to how we process images in the brain.

Geon psychology theory stipulates that when viewing photorealistic object, these are matched to more simplistic 2D and 3D forms in the brain. The simpler the object is, the less effort the brain needs in order to process and relate to the image, freeing up the brain for other processing tasks.


Applying this neuropsychology knowledge to whiteboard videos versus talking heads, we are wired to pay more attention to the dimensional and rendering simplicity of whiteboard videos.

All the while this frees up processing power to digest the narrative, therefore boosting chances of motivating action.

Additionally, in cases where real life people are included in videos, theory of mind brain networks fire-up. Theory of mind networks when observing others, automatically promote making judgements about others. This distracts viewers from paying full attention to the narrative that contains the real info, with the brain phasing in and out of paying attention to the person, or paying attention to the story.


The non-photo realism, 2D nature of whiteboard animations avoids this. As the narrative and the visuals are telling the same story, they bolster one another in keeping viewer’s attention firmly fixated on the message at hand. Taking this further, the use of the artist’s hand in a whiteboard animation provides a vivid visual progression, where viewers consume this information one step at a time in a logical sequence— an effective information delivery tool to prevent the wasteful wandering of attention.

3. Whiteboard Videos Stimulate Fun, Anticipation and Surprise, Rewarding Viewers with a Dopamine Rush



Many of the points mentioned likely contribute to improved learning, including enhanced viewer engagement and attention, yet a large part of this is undoubtedly, FUN, ANTICIPATION & SURPRISE!

It’s not difficult to switch off during a PowerPoint presentation or a talking head video as these marketing formats require a lot more effort and skill to inject fun, anticipation and then boom, the surprise answer that gets viewers hooked!


The magic of whiteboard animations is that the style of delivery is inherently fun. The step by step unveiling of the key message in an anticipation building, cartoonized fashion causes lots of little bursts of the infamous neurotransmitter, dopamine!

Basking in the dopamine pleasure of soaking up the video, dopamine invigorates learning centers in the brain, and like an addict, has their brains heightened in the search for more. The amazing benefit of this is that whiteboard videos can make even the most complex or seemingly dry messages more effortlessly understood and stuck in the viewers’ brains!

4. Whiteboard Videos Spark Emotion-Fueled Mentalizing Making Viewers Share, Share, Share!

As mentioned, whiteboard videos are statistically proving to be among the hottest items for viral sharing on social media. In the book, Social: Why Our Brains are Wired to Connect, the fundamental factor that sends content flying through the social network-sphere is emotions. And more importantly our inbuilt, hard-wired, brain-based desire to share them. When being presented with an idea, in any format, there is a small region of the brain, called the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) that is part of the driving force behind creating a social media buzz. Our brains by nature are diligently waiting for ideas worth sharing. The brain considers an idea worth sharing when the TPJ lights up, which as part of the mentalizing network, is involved in thinking about what other people will think and feel about an idea.



Here is where the emotions come in. The mentalizing network is tuned into what we feel about an idea by being connected to emotional networks in the brain. Our brains use this valuable emotional information to help us rapidly and near subconsciously decide how we think this will make our friends feel.

Multiple lines of research indicate that the primo emotions for viral sharing are amusement/excitement, curiosity/intrigue and surprise. Low and behold, these are integral emotions born from the whiteboard method!

Even more is that it has been shown the TPJ activity is boosted even further with unexpected twists and turns that shift viewer attention – just like in whiteboard videos! This enhanced TPJ activity creates an enhanced desire to share.


And the real kicker. The more components of the mentalizing system are activated, the more likely the viewer is able to convince someone in recommending they take on the idea. Win, win and win!

The Result: Neuroscience and Behavior Based Benefits Inspire and Motivate Viewer Action!

Unless a whiteboard video is purely for educational purposes, the ultimate aim is to motivate viewers into following through with action.

Whether it’s donating to a charity, attending an event, sharing and commenting on the video in social media, purchasing a product, visiting a webpage or recommending the product to a friend, the ability to capture attention, stimulate emotion, retain memories and ensure likability on social media can all promote these viewer actions.



The thing is that attention, emotion, mentalizing and memory networks in the brain all feed into decision making and motivational centers that control our actions.

In neuropsychology research, effectively stimulating just one of these networks can invigorate the brain’s motivational network and awaken the prefrontal cortex, prompting it to decide upon taking action.


This makes the above mentioned neuroscience and behavior based reasons why whiteboard videos are not just a few minutes of easy entertainment. Together, they provide a multi-hit winning recipe for successfully inspiring and promoting customer action.

author: carla clark, phd | neuroscience advisor for the ...draw...whiteboard animation video and a...

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