Here's a fun exercise: take a screenshot from your latest product video. Now take a screenshot from your biggest competitor's latest product video.
Put them side by side. Can you tell them apart?
If you're honest, probably not without reading the text. Same blue/purple color palette. Same floating UI elements. Same upbeat electronic music. Same voiceover cadence. Same "revolutionize your workflow" messaging.
This isn't a coincidence. It's a systemic problem with how the SaaS industry produces video content.
How we got here
The visual sameness in SaaS video content has three root causes:
1. Template economics
The motion graphics industry runs on templates. Envato, Motion Array, and dozens of other marketplaces sell pre-built animation templates that motion designers customize for clients.
This isn't laziness — it's economics. A freelancer charging $2K for a video can't afford to build everything from scratch. Templates let them deliver acceptable quality at an affordable price.
The problem: your video and your competitor's video might literally be based on the same template. Different text, same animations, same transitions, same visual DNA.
2. Reference recycling
When SaaS companies brief video projects, they share references. "We want something like this Loom video" or "we like how Notion did their launch."
Every company in the category is sharing the same references. The designers are interpreting the same inspiration. The output converges toward a single aesthetic.
3. Risk aversion
Video is expensive. Nobody wants to be the person who approved the "weird" video that flopped. So companies default to what looks safe — which means what looks like everyone else.
The irony: the "safe" choice (looking identical to competitors) is actually the riskiest choice in a feed-based world. When everything looks the same, nothing gets attention.
The cost of visual sameness
Looking like your competitors doesn't just waste your video budget — it actively hurts your brand:
Reduced attention. Audiences pattern-match familiar visual styles and scroll past them. If your video looks like the last ten videos they saw, their brain categorizes it as "already seen" even though they haven't.
Zero brand equity. If someone watches your video and doesn't remember which company made it, you've built equity for the category, not for your brand.
Commoditized positioning. When your visual content is interchangeable with your competitor's, you're signaling that your product is also interchangeable. The visual treatment becomes a proxy for product differentiation (or lack thereof).
How to break out
1. Claim a visual territory
Pick a visual direction that no competitor in your space has claimed. This could be:
- A distinctive color palette (not blue/purple)
- An unusual production style (character animation instead of motion graphics)
- A specific visual metaphor system (physical objects for digital concepts)
- A cinematic approach in a sea of screen recordings
The goal: someone should be able to identify your content in the feed without seeing your logo.
2. Invest in custom creative, not templates
The per-video cost is higher, but the brand equity is incomparably greater. Custom creative compounds — each piece reinforces the visual identity. Template-based creative doesn't compound because it has no identity to reinforce.
3. Lead with opinion, not features
Most SaaS videos are interchangeable because they say the same things. "Manage your projects." "Streamline your workflow." "Boost your productivity."
Take a stance. Be opinionated. Say something your competitors wouldn't say. The message differentiation will naturally lead to visual differentiation because you'll need different creative approaches to express different ideas.
4. Think in systems, not singles
Don't make one distinctive video. Build a visual system — a design language that can produce hundreds of distinctive pieces. Invest upfront in the system (character designs, 3D environments, motion design language), then execute within it efficiently.
The test
Go to your competitor's website. Watch their hero video. Then watch yours.
If a stranger couldn't tell them apart, you don't have a video problem. You have a positioning problem.
Fix the positioning. The video will follow.
