Drag and drop motion graphics: genius
There has long been an underserved market between presentations and videos made by non-marketing business professionals that feature old clip art and ugly animation, versus the high end market of fully custom videos that are television advertising quality. Not only has this middle ground between the two been underserved, options are typically not affordable, have a high learning curve, and to be frank, still look unprofessional.
Simplifilm (motion graphics and videos for software demos) has answered this need with Flowtility which is a drag-and-drop motion graphics library not only for any videos you can dream up to make, but for presentations and demonstrations as well. The company launched over the Thanksgiving holiday and today already boasts 750 paying users, which is no small feat given all of the freebie (albeit low quality) options on the market. What caught our eye about the pricing is that for the rest of the year, their $47 membership is unlimited and requires no renewal, annual costs, or surprise expense. For life. For ever. Download Flowtility files to your own hard drive or login to their servers.
Flowtility features and compatibility
Currently, Flowtility says they have 200 objects in their library – transitions, bullets, objects, backgrounds, hand gestures, and more, and they’re all available for the membership fee, whereas these types of files are typically $15 to $20 per item to cover royalties (which Flowtility users don’t have to worry about). Flowtility offers full 1080p Hi-Res asset files rendered over transparency so presentations look sexy, even on a big screen, which is extremely rare.
All objects can be used in one or multiple projects with no limits, and the company offers tutorials and demos so you’re never in the dark with a learning curve. Additionally, every video editor that supports transparency and layered files works with Flowtility files. Flowtility is compatible with Keynote, iMovie, Screenflow, After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Pro X, and more.
Why give away the farm?
Flowtility Co-Founder, Chris Johnson told AGBeat, “for a lot of small companies, demos are too expensive, so we put together a library of all our best assets so people can make them themselves in Screenflow. It’s really, really, really easy.”
To us, it appeared the company was giving away the farm for such a low price since they are so well known for their high quality, professional video demonstrations and presentations. Johnson said, “what we wanted to do was keep startups from spending stupid money on lame stuff. Let them test ideas on their own. And then be able to come back to us down the road. With better insight.”
Modernizing marketing to improve conversion
Because Simplifilm’s custom work is not priced at an entry level, Johnson acknowledges that “it’s a big move, and you have to do it right.” So why offer high quality assets rather than the tradition of offering ugly clip art? Johnson says it’s all about conversion. “Cheaper companies are essentially anti-marketing – they have cartoons that simply do not convert.” Johnson points to the Verizon Guy, Progressive’s Flo character, and Progressive’s Mayhem Guy of today contrasted with Mrs. Butterworth and the Dig ‘Em frog pitch people of yesteryear, presented in cartoon form. Conversion doesn’t happen when marketing is outdated.
Now, small business decision makers can use Flowtility with their current presentation and video editor to create demonstrations, pitches, reports and the like, and embed them right on their blog or website at a low cost without having to sacrifice quality.
