When you go to internet websites that activate pop-up screens in your browser, what you usually see are text and picture combinations that you usually ignore and close immediately because they are bothersome and not really interesting. You do pause and look at the pop-up screen if it contains some animated pictures or flashing images. When you pass by a store that sells television sets while walking, you look at the screens that have
something playing or displayed in them. Between these comparisons, you will find the difference between still and
animated images in terms of grabbing a person’s attention.
A still picture will remain a still picture no matter how long and which way you stare at it. An animated picture or video, on the other hand, will grab your attention by arousing your curiosity. Usually, it’s because you want to find out what happens next. It’s all about arousing curiosity.
The internet as it is today allows for streaming video technology that will let you view a whole movie online if you
want to. In being able to use this technology to grab a person’s attention, advertisers are getting more and more creative with their strategies. I will look at a moving image because I want to know what it is and what will happen to it. Advertisers know that I will do this and so will the majority of other people browsing the internet.
Even so, unless the individual viewing the animation or video is interested in the advertised product at that time, advertisers will fail to convince a person to spend money. Of course, this is beside the point. The immediate goal of an advertiser is to grab attention. Sometime in the future, the individual will remember seeing the advertisement and will most likely make a purchase because of that simple memory. The memory of it is carried subconsciously and will resurface at a time when you need the product or see the product as you pass by it in the shelves of your favorite grocery store.
To compare to other forms of videos that grab attention, early infants and older children are fascinated by learning modules in video form. A story book with still pictures is just not enough to grab a child’s hyperactive mind. Again, video grabs attention by acting on the curiosity of the viewer.
Curiosity is perhaps the most powerful motivator in a person. For example, the “Stargate SG1” television series shown by the Sci-Fi channel in the US is not available for viewing in some countries. Video grabs a person’s curiosity faster than you can blink (that’s because you won’t be blinking).
Animated pictures and videos are very powerful advertising tools. If an advertising video upon its creation is imbued with humor, a bit of suspense and, finally, relevance to the general public, its effects will be visibly seen in the black ink accountants’ use in their books to indicate income.
