Explain what you do in ninety seconds, in Arabic and English.

Most explainer videos fail before anyone opens an animation tool. The script tries to cover every feature, the opening twenty seconds are spent on the company rather than the viewer's problem, and the result is a three minute film nobody finishes. We start with one question: what does the viewer need to understand to take the next step? Everything else is cut, or saved for a second video.

In the UAE an explainer usually has to work twice, once in English and once in Arabic. That is more than a translated subtitle file. Arabic narration often runs at a different length to the English, on screen text has to sit right to left, and some visual metaphors that work for a European audience land poorly here. We plan both versions from the storyboard stage, so the Arabic cut is designed rather than patched, and we use native Arabic voice artists in Gulf or Modern Standard Arabic depending on who is watching.

Where the video is watched matters as much as what it says. Many people here will see it first as a file forwarded on WhatsApp or as a silent autoplay in a social feed, not on your homepage. We deliver a full version for the website, a short vertical cut with burned in subtitles for mobile, and a lightweight file that sends quickly over WhatsApp. Timing also counts: a launch planned for Ramadan, Eid or a trade show such as GITEX needs the script signed off well before the agencies and voice studios fill up.

Explainers come in several styles, and the right one depends on the subject. Flat 2D animation suits services and software, 3D motion graphics suit physical products and hardware, and architectural walkthroughs suit property and interiors. We will recommend a style based on what needs to be shown, not on what is fashionable this year. If your product sits in a regulated sector such as healthcare or finance, we suggest your compliance team or regulator reviews the script before production starts.

Preparation on your side shortens everything that follows. Before the discovery call it helps to gather the questions customers ask most often, any sales deck or product walkthrough your team already uses, your brand guidelines and fonts, and a short list of reference videos you like and dislike. Recordings of real sales calls are especially useful, because they show the words customers use rather than the words in the brochure. We also ask who signs off the script, since a video that waits weeks for one senior approval can miss its launch slot.

An explainer rarely works alone. On a landing page it should sit near the enquiry form, not below the footer, and the page should still make sense to someone who never presses play. In paid social it is usually the short cut that runs, with the full version one tap away. Sales teams use it as a follow up after a first call, and support teams link it from help pages and WhatsApp quick replies. We plan the closing frame for each placement, so the call to action matches what the viewer can actually do next, whether that is booking a demo, starting a chat or downloading an app.

The Codeeo team works from Dubai Silicon Oasis. You can sit in on the script read and the voice session in person, or review every stage on video calls and WhatsApp, whichever suits your schedule.