A 2D or 2.5D animated spot — illustrated characters, motion-graphic scenes, flat or lightly dimensional artwork.
When to use it
When the thing you are selling is abstract: software, insurance, a process, a marketplace. Animation also travels better across markets than a live-action cast does.
The thing to get right
Illustrated styles are where a rendered look drifts most easily between beats. Keeping one named style across the whole spot matters more here than in any photoreal format.
The format at a glance
- Output — a video ad.
- Structure — 5 beats, each one a separately planned shot.
- Family — Cinematic & brand film.
- Recipe id — cartoon, which is what you name when you ask for it by hand or from an agent.
Why does the style drift between beats?
Illustrated looks have more room to drift than photoreal ones, because there is no physical reference pulling them back. Name a specific look rather than the genre and hold it across the whole spot.
Related formats
Directed, produced-looking spots: the commercial, the hero product film, the manifesto, the animated piece. Longer beat counts, a story shape, and a look that is meant to read as a budget rather than a phone.
- Giant product — the product at impossible giant scale in a real environment — a surreal, scroll-stopping spectacle played straight
- Classic meets modern — a stylish split between timeless/heritage and contemporary — the product bridging classic and modern worlds
- Cinematic / narrative — a filmic, emotional, story-driven brand film
- TV commercial — a glossy, broadcast-quality 15s commercial
- Product hero film — photoreal product cinematography — the product is the star
- Kinetic typography — type-as-hero — bold animated text drives the message (minimal imagery)
The full catalog is on the creative recipes index.
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