The drive80 Explainer Video Blog
This blog collects practical insights about explainer animations for marketing teams,
including pricing, ROI, distribution, and best use cases.
Hi, I’m Mike Doyle.
I’m a freelance animator based in Raleigh NC specializing in explainer videos for marketing teams.
Explainer Video Ideas Marketing Teams Are Planning for 2026
Explainer Video Ideas Marketing Teams Are Planning for 2026 If you are planning video for 2026, the biggest shift is not animation style. It is how explainer videos are being used across marketing, sales, onboarding, and training. Marketing teams are no longer asking...
I gave a talk to Carroll Magnet Middle School
From Doodles to a Career in Animation Two Fridays ago I gave a presentation about animation to six different classes at Carroll Magnet Middle School. The teacher who invited me, a guy I know from around Raleigh, follows my dailyBred comic and knew I worked in...
How Animation Helped Expose a Hidden Story of Torture in North Carolina
How Animation Helped Expose a Hidden Story of Torture in North CarolinaHow drive80 helped the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture (NCCIT) bring a painful truth to light through animation.When the Message Hurts, Clarity Matters Even MoreSome stories are so...
Animated Explainer Video for Solar Startup: How Neptune PV Showcased Its Vision in 60 Seconds
Explainer Animation for Solar Energy Startup: How Neptune PV Brought Its Vision to Life Turning complex solar tech into a clear, investor-ready story with clean grey-line animation. Project Overview We created an explainer animation for a solar energy startup called...
Keeping a Webinar Crowd Engaged with Whiteboard Animation
Whiteboard Animation for Webinars: How We Kept a Technical Audience Engaged Simple drawings. Clean motion. A clear path from problem to solution. This is how whiteboard animation for webinars keeps people watching.Webinars can drift. Attention slips when slides get...
One Video. Two Formats. Endless Reach.
One Video. Two Formats. Endless Reach. One animation. Two versions. Maximum visibility. You don’t need to make ten videos. You need to make one video that fits everywhere. Most marketing teams still think of video as a one-size rectangle. They edit a single horizontal...
How to Get More Marketing Assets Out of One Explainer Video
How to Get More Marketing Assets Out of One Explainer Video Direct answer: You can get more marketing assets out of one explainer video by planning for reuse before production and creating multiple cuts, formats, and placements from the same animation. One well...
The Top Places to Use an Explainer Animation
The Top Places to Use an Explainer Animation Direct answer: Explainer animations work best when they are placed where people need quick understanding, such as homepages, sales outreach, onboarding flows, and presentations. Strategic placement increases clarity,...
ROI of Explainer Animations: Real Data from Wyzowl & Zebracat
ROI of Explainer Animations: Real Data from Wyzowl & Zebracat TL;DR: Explainer animations actually pay for themselves. Here’s the proof, the math, and a simple way to measure the ROI of explainer animations without needing a degree in data science. I’ve been...
How Much Does an Explainer Video Cost? (A Straight Answer Without the Agency Fluff)
How Much Does an Explainer Video Cost? (A Straight Answer Without the Agency Fluff) One of the biggest frustrations I hear from marketing and creative directors is how hard it is to get a straight answer about explainer video pricing. Agencies dodge numbers until...
Frustrated that people don't "get" how your company helps them?
Since 2011, I’ve created over 500 explainer animations for busy marketing teams.
If you're tired of bloated animation agencies, missed deadlines, or hand-holding freelancers — I’ve got you.
~Mike Doyle, Chief Animation Dude