Deloitte Consulting is always ahead of the times when it comes to their services and business advertisements. They have to be, they are a top Fortune 500 global consulting company. They contracted me to illustrate two comic style advertisements that they would place as full-page ads in magazines. The comics were advertising a new free book about “Profitable Growth in a Downturn” featuring a character designed as the hero “Captain Value Add”.

As a company that prides itself on innovation, thinks out of the box, and is always ahead of the competition, Deloitte Consulting’s idea to use comics in their business advertising was genius. Unfortunately only two issues were created because one person on their executive staff thought that using custom illustration during a recession had the appearance of extravagance because he believed the work would cost most than the usual professional photography they were used to purchasing. Sadly, this belief was incorrect. These custom illustrations were actually cheaper than the cost of photography Deloitte Consulting was used to paying.

If you are anything like me, you pick up a magazine and flip through the seemingly endless pages of advertisements looking for the articles mentioned on the cover. Many of the business advertisements all look the same. If you’re like me, you look at the beautiful photography but rarely read the text. If I were perusing a magazine and came across a full-page comic, I would stop and read it, if for no other reason than curiosity about it. But isn’t that what you want from your business advertising? Make someone stop and take in your message?

The internet continues to grow at a phenomenal speed. Television is being delivered differently now, streaming across phones, tablets, and the internet giving you access to shows all the time. Video viewing has exploded to enormous numbers of views everywhere on the internet. What do all these things have in common? Simply put in one word “Entertainment”. People want to be entertained. So if you’re tired of doing the same old business advertising or are no longer getting the results you once did, think out of the box like Deloitte Consulting and consider entertaining your target audience while getting your message across and use comic style ads in your business advertising.