Black Friday email header: a 2-second motion clip for 12.5 cents

To add motion to a Black Friday email header, send the finished header image to Sume's Video Router as the first frame of a 2-second Wan 3.0 clip. At 480p that is 2 x $0.0625 = $0.125, and 2 seconds is the shortest duration Wan 3.0 accepts. Black Friday is November 27, 2026, the day after Thanksgiving, so a header made in the first week of November leaves time to test.

A short loop is the right size for a header: it draws the eye to the offer without a play button or sound. The cost is small enough to render two or three variants and pick one.

What should move?

Move a background element and leave the offer text alone: sparkle across the product, a slow zoom, falling confetti behind the headline. Say "keep all text unchanged", and look at the last frame; if the lettering bends, change the prompt rather than raising the resolution.

What is the request?

Pass the header through image_url as a public HTTPS URL (Media inputs), set duration to 2 and pick the tier. Poll GET /v1/jobs/{id}/status for the result (Jobs and results).

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/video-router/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: bf-header-001" \
  -d '{
    "model": "wan-3.0",
    "prompt": "Keep all text and the product unchanged. Soft sparkles drift across the background. Static camera.",
    "image_url": "https://example.com/bf-header.jpg",
    "resolution": "480p",
    "duration": 2,
    "aspect_ratio": "16:9",
    "mode": "async"
  }'

What does it cost?

Wan 3.0 lists $0.05, $0.10 and $0.20 per second by tier, and the Video Router bills list x 1.25 (Video Router docs).

Will it play in the inbox?

The output is a video file, not an animated GIF, and many email clients do not play video inline. Send a static image as the header and link to a landing page where the clip plays, or convert the clip yourself and test it in the clients your list uses. Keep the still image as the fallback either way.