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The cartoon's creators Peattie & Taylor will produce 10 bespoke cartoon-style ads that will appear in the business section of the paper between Tuesdays and Saturdays, in addition to the traditional Alex strip.

The drive, brokered by Telegraph Group strategic planner Nick Russell, Jon Gittings, director at Manning Gottlieb OMD, and Eurostar campaign manager Catherine Sharp, aims to emphasise the benefits of Eurostar compared with air travel.

Joanna Howard, UK marketing manager for Eurostar, said: "Eurostar is proud to be the first brand to work with the Telegraph and Alex in this way. Alex and his readers appreciate the finer things in life, so Eurostar is his natural first choice for journeys from London to Paris or Brussels. Our reduced journey times mean that, for the savvy business traveller, taking a flight to Paris or Brussels just doesn't add up."

In the ads, Alex and his City colleagues appear in business travel scenes, showing how much easier travelling from one city centre to another on Eurostar is compared to the stress of air travel.

The cartoon ads will also be shown online at and turned into a book.

According to Gittings at Manning Gottlieb: "Alex is a hugely popular business icon. He is the perfect conduit for us to communicate the 'Fly Eurostar' message and persuade the more hard-headed business audience that Eurostar should be their first choice for travelling to Paris and Brussels."

He added: "It is a credit to the Telegraph that they can deliver a well-travelled readership of Alex, which is perfect for Eurostar's target audience."

Eurostar's new fast rail link between the Channel Tunnel and North Kent was opened at the end of September. It cuts 20 minutes off the journey time to Paris and Brussels, reducing the fastest London-Paris journey time to two hours 35 minutes and the fastest journey time between London-Brussels to just 2 hours 20 minutes.

The Alex ads are part of a pan-European PR and outdoor campaign to raise awareness of the new journey times. The campaign focuses on striking outdoor sites in the catchment areas for London, Paris and Brussels.

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