How to Use Animoto to Make One Ad in Three Sizes

The short answer: save your logo, colours and font as a Saved Brand, draft the ad with the AI Video Creator from your product photos or product page, finish one master version, copy the project twice and switch each copy to square and vertical, re-check every scene, export all three, and give the version you share by link a play page with a call-to-action button.

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Most small teams need the same ad in more than one shape: landscape for the website and YouTube, square for the feed, vertical for stories and reels. Animoto makes the shape a project setting, one click on the Ratio icon, which applies to the whole video (aspect ratio guide). The trick is to finish one version properly before you multiply it. For plans and prices, see the Animoto glossary entry.

Before you open a project:

1. Choose the plan by what you must export. Free exports at 720p with the Animoto watermark; Basic removes it and downloads in 1080p for $19 a month on monthly billing, and Professional adds Saved Brands, Getty Images stock and 4K for $29 (pricing page, checked on 26 October 2026). For example, three ad versions a month need no more than Basic, unless the logo and colours must be applied for you, which is Professional.
2. Gather what you already have. Product photos, a short clip or two, the product page URL and the logo file. The AI Video Creator works from images, from a description, or from a URL (AI Video Creator guide).
3. Give each size its own address. Decide which placement each version is for and tag the link that goes with it, so the comparison a month later is between three rows, not one blend.

Step 1: Save the brand

On Professional or Professional Plus, open the Design tab at the top of the Workspace and click the + icon under My Brands. Upload the logo, set the brand colours and the font, and click Create Brand (saved brands guide). On a team, only Team Admins can edit the organisation's brand settings, so ask the admin to set it once. Deleting a Saved Brand later does not change videos it was already applied to.

Step 2: Draft the ad with the AI Video Creator

On the Projects page, open Create a Video and choose Create with AI. Pick the kind of video, write a description and choose an aspect ratio; you can change it later. Upload your images from the computer, or scan the QR code to send them from your phone. The next screen shows a scene-by-scene breakdown of the text: edit it there, then click Generate Video to open the project in the Workspace (AI Video Creator guide).

If the product page says it better than your notes, choose Generate from URL instead, drop in the page address and pick the kind of video. Either way, read the scene text as an ad, not as a summary: one claim, one reason to believe it, one offer. Product pages are written to be scanned at leisure, and an ad has a few seconds.

Step 3: Finish the master version

Apply the Saved Brand from the Design tab. Replace any stock image that shows a product you do not sell, set the music, and record a voice-over in the browser if the ad needs one (Professional). Pick the master's shape on purpose: the placement that carries most of the budget gets the version you polish first.

Watch it through twice, once with sound and once without, because most feeds start muted.

Step 4: Copy the project for each extra size

Back on the My Projects page, hover over the finished video, click the three dots and choose Copy (copy guide). Do it twice. Animoto's own tip is exactly this: copy the project, change the ratio, export a new copy (aspect ratio guide).

Step 5: Change the ratio, then re-check every scene

Open the first copy, click the Ratio icon at the top of the Workspace and choose Square (1080x1080); open the second and choose Vertical (1080x1920). The ratio applies to the whole project. Then go scene by scene: text that fit across a landscape frame wraps or crowds in vertical, and a product photo framed for landscape can lose its edges in square. Resize or reposition the images and clips where they no longer sit right, using Scale and the frame handles (resize guide).

Step 6: Export each version

In each project, click Share in the upper right of the Workspace, then Publish and Share; on Free and Basic the button says Export (export guide). When it finishes, the Share page lets you watch, share and download. Basic and above download in 1080p, and Professional and Professional Plus also in 4K (sharing and downloads article). Name each file by product, size and date.

Step 7: Give the shared version a call to action

For the version you send by link, in a newsletter or a sales email, open its Share page and the Link tab, tick Use Custom Play Page and click Edit. Set the background, logo, cover image, title and description (play page guide), then add the call-to-action button with your own colours, link text and URL and click Save and Apply (call-to-action guide). Point the button at the tagged link you chose for this version.

Professional also lists video analytics on the pricing page. A view count is the platform's own report on its own player, which is a reason to make the tagged link, not the view count, the number you judge the ad on.

Mistakes Animoto's help centre covers

• Download greyed out after upgrading. The video is still in an edit state; export it again and the download appears (sharing and downloads article).
• Changing the ratio on the only copy. The ratio applies to the whole project, so resize a copy, not the master (aspect ratio guide).
• An AI draft with no images. If you add none, the project starts blank; you can add them later (AI Video Creator guide).

FAQ

Can I make a 4:5 version?

Not as a preset. Animoto's ratio menu offers landscape, square and vertical only, per the aspect ratio guide.

How many brands can I save?

One Saved Brand and 3 saved templates on Professional; on Professional Plus, 25 saved templates and unlimited brand settings, according to the plan article. The pricing page lists 10 saved brands for Professional Plus, so check before you rely on the higher figure.

Can I post to YouTube from Animoto?

Not directly. The YouTube guide says to download the video from My Projects and upload it in YouTube Studio, and downloads need a paid plan.