Creating video articles: Turning written content into AI-powered visual stories

In 2025, video has firmly established itself as a cornerstone of digital marketing.

• 89% of businesses now use video as a marketing tool;
• 95% of marketers consider it integral to their strategy.

Email marketing is also evolving. It's no longer just about text and images; it's about engaging, visual-first communication. Incorporating video into emails can significantly boost engagement.

Let’s explore how AI can help transform written content into one-minute video summaries, enhancing the effectiveness of email campaigns and social media posts.

Why video articles matter in email marketing

Video content is a powerful tool in email marketing, offering several key benefits:

• higher engagement: Including videos in emails can significantly boost click-through rates. Studies have shown that embedding video content can increase click-through rates by up to 300%;
• improved retention: Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to just 10% when reading it in text;
• cross-channel repurposing: A single video summary can be effectively utilized across multiple platforms, such as LinkedIn, Instagram, and newsletters, enhancing reach and engagement.

By leveraging video content in email marketing, businesses can enhance engagement, improve message retention, and efficiently repurpose content across various channels.

What does this mean for Stripo users?

While this article explores how we turned a blog post into a short-form video, the real takeaway for Stripo users isn’t about article repurposing — it’s about how video can level up your emails.

Where video fits in email design

Email is evolving from static content to rich, multimedia experiences. And while embedding full videos directly in email isn’t always possible due to client limitations, there are smarter ways to integrate video content:

• use animated thumbnails (GIF or static preview) that link to full videos hosted on your site, YouTube, or a landing page;
• embed videos using Stripo’s AMP blocks (for email clients that support AMP for Email);
• add short, silent video loops to highlight products or features visually.

These approaches work particularly well in:

• newsletters — recap updates, events, or campaigns with a quick video summary;
• product emails — showcase new features or how-to guides with a clear visual walkthrough;
• event promotions — create teaser trailers for upcoming webinars or product launches;
• customer onboarding — use short explainer videos to walk users through the next steps.

Why it matters:

• video boosts click-throughs;
• better retention;
• more engagement across channels.

The vision: One-minute article summary as a video

At Stripo, we’re always exploring new ways to make our content more engaging and accessible—and video has quickly become a front-runner. Our goal for this experiment was simple: take one of our in-depth blog articles and condense it into a sharp, engaging 60-second video. Something quick, visually dynamic, and designed for today’s short attention spans.

We chose Instagram and LinkedIn as the main platforms for this test. Both are ideal for short-form content, especially in a vertical format. Instagram’s Reels and LinkedIn’s feed videos are perfect for catching attention and delivering value quickly.

The article we picked for this experiment was "Four ways to craft emails with Stripo." It’s a practical, well-structured guide that compares four different ways to build email invitations using our platform, making it a great candidate for repurposing. We believed it had just the right amount of structure and key takeaways to transform into a compact, scroll-stopping video.

We wanted to find out: Can we turn written insights into compelling video content without losing clarity or professionalism, and can GenAI tools actually help us get there faster?

Step-by-step: How we tried it

Drafting the script

The first step in turning an article into a video is rewriting it, not for reading but for speaking. Written language doesn’t always translate well to the spoken word, especially in a short format like a 60-second video. That’s why we started by identifying the core takeaways from the article.

Instead of trying to summarize everything, we focused on:

• the main idea behind each method (scratch, modules, templates, AI Assistant);
• the key benefit or use case for each;
• a punchy intro and a clean closing line with a call to action.

Once we had the outline, we rewrote the script to be more conversational. Spoken content needs to sound like you’re talking to someone, not reading off a slide. So we simplified phrases, shortened sentences, and added a more natural flow.

Tip: We used ChatGPT 4o to speed up this process. It helped rewrite technical explanations in a friendlier tone and even suggested smoother transitions between points. For example, we’d paste a short section of the article and ask it to “rewrite this like a friendly narrator in under 20 seconds of speech.” The results were surprisingly on point, and it saved a lot of time.

This scripting stage is crucial. Without a solid script, even the best visuals won’t keep viewers engaged. Once we had it locked, we moved on to the next step: actually generating the video.

First attempt: Synthesia AI video generator

With the script ready, we jumped into Synthesia — one of the most popular AI video creation tools out there. It’s designed to turn written text into spoken-word videos using avatars that lip-sync your script. And on paper, it sounded like the perfect fit.

What worked well:

• avatars with lip-syncing: The avatars were surprisingly realistic and synced nicely with the voiceovers. This helped give a “face” to the message without needing a real presenter or camera setup;
• fast production: Once the script was finalized, setting up the video and generating it took just a few minutes;
• language options: Synthesia supports a wide range of voices and accents, which is great if you're targeting different markets or want to match brand tone.

Where it fell short:

• voice quality: While the voiceovers were clear, they lacked the natural rhythm and emphasis of human speech. Even with careful punctuation, some words felt flat or awkwardly stressed;
• lack of emotion and timing: You can’t control things like pauses, facial expressions, or the pacing between scenes. Everything runs on autopilot;
• script sensitivity: To get decent results, we had to really fine-tune the punctuation — commas, periods, even ellipses to guide the AI’s delivery. Otherwise, the rhythm felt off.

Key takeaway

Synthesia is fast and easy, but it’s not a magic wand. If you're after a polished, brand-quality video, the default output will likely feel too "robotic" without some form of post-production. That’s what we realized after our first draft — it needed a human touch.

Professional polish: Involving the designer

After seeing the limitations of a purely AI-generated video, we brought in our designer to elevate the production quality. That’s when things really started to come together. With design expertise in the mix, we shifted from a basic “talking head” style to a much more visually engaging and brand-consistent result.

Visual composition and flow

The first thing our designer did was rethink the layout and scene flow. Instead of relying on Synthesia’s built-in visuals, he used Figma to create custom layouts and scene mockups that matched our visual identity. This helped us maintain a consistent look and feel across all scenes — colors, fonts, spacing, and visual hierarchy were all carefully controlled.

Once the visuals were sketched out, we returned to Synthesia, but this time with a more strategic plan. We broke the avatar recordings down scene by scene, generating individual clips for each section of the script. This gave us much more flexibility during editing, allowing for cleaner transitions, cutaways, and overlays.

By combining Figma’s design precision with Synthesia’s avatar capabilities, we laid the foundation for a video that felt far more intentional and on-brand — something that aligns better with how we present ourselves at Stripo.

Real-time scenes

To add depth and real product context, our designer recorded live interactions inside the Stripo editor. This step was crucial — it showed exactly what the voiceover was talking about, instead of relying on generic visuals or static screenshots. It helped ground the story in reality.

Then, he added custom animation overlays — highlighting clicks, dragging modules, or changing colors. These subtle effects made it easier to follow what was happening on screen. Small zooms, pans, and highlights made a big difference in guiding the viewer’s attention without overwhelming them.

Post-production

Once all the assets were ready, we moved into After Effects to stitch everything together. That’s where the real polish happened. The designer synced the avatar clips with the live product footage, layered the transitions, and added subtle motion between scenes to keep the pacing smooth.

Next, we dropped the edited file into Adobe Premiere Pro to handle final touches — adding background music, syncing subtitle captions, and adjusting audio levels. The music was subtle and on-brand, chosen to reinforce the tone without distracting from the message.

Result

The end result was a cohesive, visually engaging, and brand-aligned one-minute video. It looked sharp, sounded natural, and followed a logical story arc from intro to CTA. It was much more professional than what we had with AI alone, and something we’d feel confident publishing on any of our channels.

Key takeaway

AI helped us accelerate the process. It gave us a strong starting point. But to deliver something that feels polished and on-brand, human intervention is still essential. Right now, AI tools are powerful co-creators — but they’re not finishers just yet.

Exploring other GenAI video tools

While Synthesia was our main tool for this experiment, we didn’t stop there. We tested a few other generative AI video platforms to understand how they stack up, especially for marketers looking to repurpose written content into short-form videos. Here's what we found.

HeyGen (formerly Movio)

HeyGen stands out for its more dynamic avatars. Compared to Synthesia, it offers better facial expression control and more animated gestures, which can make your video feel more lifelike and less robotic.

• strength: You get more personality and character movement, which helps bring scripted dialogue to life;
• limitation: The trade-off is limited visual customization. You’re mostly restricted to preset layouts and backgrounds, which may not match your brand’s style without editing in another tool.

Overall, HeyGen works well if your focus is storytelling or face-to-camera delivery, but it’s not ideal for showing off products or platforms like Stripo.

Pictory.ai

Pictory.ai takes a very different approach. Instead of avatars, it uses B-roll footage, text overlays, and audio narration to convert blog content into videos. You simply paste a URL or upload a script, and it generates a video with relevant stock clips and captions.

• strength: Fast and fully automated, especially great for quick article summaries or social clips. No design skills required;
• limitation: It doesn’t use avatars at all. You get a text-to-video format, which lacks personalization and can feel generic if overused.

Still, it’s a great option for content repurposing at scale, especially if you produce multiple video summaries per week.

DeepBrain

DeepBrain is more advanced, and it shows in its output. The avatars have more natural expressions, better voice modulation, and subtle head movements that feel very close to real human presenters.

• strength: Arguably the most human-like voices and expressions in the market right now;
• limitation: That realism comes at a cost. Render times are much longer, and the interface is less intuitive, which might slow you down if you're working under tight deadlines.

DeepBrain is ideal for high-end presentations or explainer videos where production quality matters most.

Each of these tools has its strengths, and none are perfect. In practice, the best results often come from combining these tools with design or editing software to fill in the gaps.
 

Lessons learned: Can AI do it all?

After running this experiment from start to finish, one thing became very clear: AI can’t replace the full creative process, but it can supercharge it.

What AI does well

• speed: Generative tools like Synthesia or Pictory can produce video drafts in minutes, not days;
• cost-efficiency: You don’t need a camera, studio, actor, or expensive post-production to get started;
• scalability: Once your process is dialed in, you can quickly replicate it for multiple articles, campaigns, or channels.

These strengths make AI a great ally for content teams that need to move fast without blowing up their budgets.

Where AI still falls short

• brand consistency: Most AI tools can’t fully match your visual identity, tone, or brand guidelines without manual intervention;
• emotion and nuance: The voiceovers still lack human-level expression, and avatars can’t adapt to context or mood shifts like real presenters do;
• smooth transitions: You’ll often need extra editing to ensure the pacing, visuals, and voiceover feel seamless, not just stitched together.

The real sweet spot

The best approach right now is hybrid: Use AI to draft and assemble the foundation, then refine it with design and post-production tools. This combo gives you the best of both worlds — speed and quality.

The future: Where AI video is headed

The landscape of AI-generated video is rapidly evolving, presenting exciting opportunities for marketers and content creators.

Market growth and trends

The global AI video generator market was valued at approximately $554.9 million in 2023 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.9% from 2024 to 2030, reaching nearly $1.96 billion by 2030. This growth is fueled by the increasing demand for video content across various sectors, including marketing, education, and social media.

Impact on email marketing

Personalized video content is making a significant impact in email marketing. According to Vidyard, incorporating personalized videos into emails can lead to a 500% increase in conversions, highlighting the effectiveness of tailored video content in engaging recipients and driving action.

The next leap: AI-generated branded videos

Looking ahead, the next significant advancement in AI video technology is the development of AI-generated branded videos with editable templates and automatic animation. These innovations aim to streamline the video creation process, allowing businesses to produce high-quality, brand-consistent videos efficiently.

As GenAI video tools continue to advance, they are poised to become integral components of marketing strategies, enabling more dynamic and personalized content delivery across multiple platforms.

Wrapping up

Let’s be real — AI video tools are game-changers, but they’re not magic. You still need strategy, editing, and a bit of creative direction to make them work. The good news? They’ve lowered the barrier to entry in a big way.

For marketers without access to a video team or designer, a hybrid workflow — using AI for the heavy lifting and template-based animation tools for polish — is often the best move. You don’t need to go all-in with motion graphics or expensive studio shoots to get started. A one-minute, clear, well-scripted AI video is more than enough to stand out in a crowded inbox or social feed.

And yet, many teams still hesitate to dive into video. According to Wyzowl’s 2024 report, the biggest reason marketers don’t use video is that they simply don’t know where to start (37%). Another 27% say they don’t have time, and 16% aren’t sure of the ROI. Others worry it’s too expensive or struggle to get internal buy-in.

But here’s the thing — tools like Synthesia, HeyGen, and Pictory are designed to solve exactly those problems. They’re fast, budget-friendly, and increasingly intuitive. You don’t need to be a motion designer or video editor to create something meaningful.

So if you’re an email marketer looking to do more with your content, start small, test often, and build from there. Short-form video — especially when paired with emails — is a growing opportunity, and the tools are only getting better.