An online cartoon is changing the way employees think about voluntary benefits.

Trustnode, an online interactive benefits education and enrollment platform, says its cartoon, "The Potters and Friends," has increased employee participation rates at a large employee union in California by five times.

Last year, the union had 600 people enroll in its voluntary benefits with tradtional enrollment tools used by the carrier. This year, there were over 3,000.

"The science behind the cartoon modality is the closest mapping to our mind-science than anything," says Kevin Dunn, CEO and co-founder of Trustnode. "There is now a wealth of information unleashed which has created an information overload."

Dunn says this is linked to a proliferation of cartoons for adults; the mind wants simplicity.

"As we start talking about the science behind it, it's not just a cartoon; it's helping people more quickly assimilate information," Dunn says. "The products we sell are anxiety-producing ... Enter the cartoon, [and] it absolutely relieves the anxiety."

A multi-line insurance carrier required an efficient means of adequately communicating with the union's diverse and widely distributed membership.

Using Trustnode's online, interactive platform - which enables 24/7 access from any location - union members were able to review voluntary life insurance benefits (for themselves, their spouse and dependents) and long-term disability insurance benefits (for union members only).

"They'd tried one-on-one enrollment, but they didn't get the participation they expected and were alienating a lot of their members because of a sort of hard approach that the enrollers would use," Dunn says. "Cartoon data visualization helps people leverage their perceptional abilities, to quickly analyze complex things. All of the science floating around has been brought to the employee benefits, insurance and health care realm in order to provide broad access to this information."