The Wall Street Journal recently discussed the popularity of sites such as GoAnimate and Xtranormal, which make it possible for anyone to create an animated movie. The sites supply the animated characters; all you need to provide is a script that you can type in real time to generate a movie. The sites are becoming more popular as content creation platforms for both consumers and businesses (Geico being a notable example).

I waved the WSJ article at my 9-year-old daughter, and in no time we were creating a movie together — “Tour of a Space Shuttle” — on Xtranormal. The process is as easy as the site claims (“you type something; we make into a movie”). My daughter (using my account) really created the movie all by herself.

Obviously you don’t need to have a child at home to embrace these kinds of platforms — just the willingness to be as open minded as one.

I encourage any marketing executive to check out the article and find out what brands are doing to create more playful experiences (for little cost).