Loews Tells Its Story in Graphic Format

Loews, which owns hotels, financial services firms, energy companies, and other businesses, is adapting a "comic book" style to tell its value story to investors. This is an interesting and creative way to market itself, especially in light of the intense competition for investment dollars these days.

BusinessWeek reports that the idea is to grab attention and engage potential investors through a graphic novel format, starring private eye Lotta Value.

On behalf of a potential investor, Lotta checks out each of the Loews businesses. She explains what they're about and how they add value for customers and investors. The comic ends "To be continued..."

Loews is careful to remind investors that they should read the disclosures in its SEC filings, etc. for detailed information on financials, risks, etc.

Loews isn't the first US business to tell its value story in graphic format. United Therapeutics issued a comic book annual report in 2011. And when Marvel Entertainment went public in the early 1990s, its first annual report was, of course, a comic starring heroes like Spider-Man.

In today's multimedia global economy, it's a good idea to consider diverse ways of presenting messages to the various audiences a marketer wants to reach. That's the takeaway here.