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Advertising on the move
A few minutes spent on any motorway or suburban road now guarantees that you will see giant advertisements attached to trucks or trailers. Not the advertisements you might expect for cars and petrol, but eye catching raunchy adverts for underwear. Adverts for radio stations, train travel, holidays, fashion, health foods, films, record releases, video games and new technology to name just a few.
Owing to the latest technology, brands are routinely specifying truck sides and this new media has become a real choice for marketers.
Truck sides correspond closely in size to giant billboards on the roadside. This appeals to creative agencies that can use the same adverts for both fixed roadside sites, and trailers, with little alteration to artwork.
The flexibility of digital printing means this type of advertising has become much more accessible and because the graphics can be re-printed and changed regularly, it is growing in popularity as a way to get the message across.
Keep on trucking
Cumbrian based AstSigns has the contract to wrap the Eddie Stobart haulage company's fleet of lorries. It has benefited greatly from this rise in truckside advertising and now produces signage for around 2,000 vehicles a year.
The fact that its work is touring the country means there is no room for error and it has to ensure it is working with the right equipment. AstSigns owner and managing director, Mark Aston, chose two 64in wide SolJet Pro III XJ-640s, to add to the company's 74in wide Roland DG AdvancedJet AJ-740 printer.
Mark said: "This machine can print at a resolution of up to 1,440dpi which is perfect for this type of work. However our investment in Roland DG equipment was not simply down to the high quality of the wide format technology, but also the guaranteed level of service and support. The printers use Eco-Sol Max inks and produce fantastic graphics on a variety of substrates, but the clincher for us was that Roland DG would guarantee next day service levels."
Smart approach
It's not just trucks which are benefiting from the wrapping phenomenon - the theory works just as well with cars, as seen when Tunnicliffe Signs was commissioned to wrap a Smart Car for client J Davidson, a scrap metal processor.
The Macclesfield signmaker offers a range of services with vehicle wrapping having become one of the company's most recent specialities. Mark Tunnicliffe said: "There is an increasing demand for vehicle wraps and using Easy Apply vinyl from Avery has proved a real boon. It does what it says on the tin and helps make light work of a vehicle with curves and indentations such as a Smart Car."
Tunnicliffe Signs used Avery MPI1005 in conjunction with Avery DOL 1000 laminate for the main body of the car, complementing this with plain text in Avery 700PF, both of which were acquired from Robert Horne Sign and Display.
Where it all began
The ability of moving adverts to catch the attention of passers by is not a new thing. The first use of one-way advertising on bus windows was for Imperial Tobacco on Beeline Buses in Manchester, in 1989, using the patented Contra Vision XR exact registration printed, non-perforated material.
One of the main benefits of using Contra Vision on the windows of full wrap buses is that it turns them into mobile billboards. The higher advertising revenue justified by full wrap buses is substantial, ensuring that this technique will be used increasingly.
The Lynx bus company in Orlando, for example, has full wrap Lynx livery over every bus not carrying an advertisement, to promote the bus company and the potential of this outdoor advertising technique. Lynx offer long term advertising campaigns and use Contra Vision XR for its durability and longevity. Contra Vision XR is now typically imaged by inkjet digital printing.
Bubble-free vinyl
If you're new to this market then you may be struggling to find the right vinyl to suit the application. One option comes from Seal Graphics in the form of a new vinyl designed to make it easier to create bubble-free vehicle graphics.
Inkjet Solvent Premier Vinyl Airmount has an adhesive with an internal structure containing fine channels, which allow air to flow out when applied over flat or slightly contoured surfaces. This gloss white polymeric vinyl carries a permanent, dark grey adhesive and has been specifically designed for solvent inkjet printers which do not require coated media.
For demanding outdoor applications, such as vehicle graphics or rigid signs, the new vinyl can be used with AquaSeal liquid laminates to ensure longevity.
And finally
The market for vehicle graphics is growing because it provides a moving billboard and therefore has the capacity to attract far more potential customers.
This, together with the flexibility of digital technology, means that advertisers can get more for their promotional pound, changing the graphics on a regular basis to suit their marketing needs.
In the current financial climate everyone needs to make the most of their money and it is no secret that when the purse strings are tightened one of the first things to go is the marketing budget, which is why vehicle graphics make perfect sense.
Like everyone else, the digital print industry may suffer in the current credit crisis and it makes sense to offer a wide range of services to customers. That way, whatever money they have to spend will be going to you and not one of your competitors.
http://www.rolanddg.com/
http://www.roberthorne.co.uk/
http://www.tunnicliffesigns.com/
http://www.contravision.com/
http://www.sealgraphics.com/
