Comics as Communication

As a comic artist, I know how powerful a communications tool comics can be. Sadly, the medium has been largely ghettoized to the role of pulp-fantasy. Few corporate communicators and marketing professionals know the potential comics have for delivering their message. Every once in a while, though, I run across a great example of comics as communication.

Take this 1989 brochure from Apple, 'Who Needs a Computer Anyway? A Students Guide', with comics by Matt Groening. By integrating comics into what is otherwise a fairly standard marketing brochure, Apple creates a work that has longevity. They create a marketing piece that is remarkable, and as such creates its own buzz.

Most brochures have a fairly straight distribution path. They travel from the printer to the sales staff to the potential consumer to the trash bin. Brochures are quickly skimmed and then disposed of. But because of the comics, this brochure was kept and saved by many a student. In fact, there's no doubt that it's still sitting on a hundreds of bookshelves across America, sixteen years later.

What's more, unlike other marketing materials, this one was probably passed from student to student to teacher to student to parent. Each passing it on so the other could get a laugh at the cartoons. Each being introduced to the Apple brand as a result. What fabulous return on investment when you can get your potential consumers to seek out and show your marketing materials to other potential consumers.