Striking, effective and affordable—vehicle wraps have become one of the sign industry’s most popular applications. But the wrap industry canⁱ do more than just cover vehicles and continues to move toward more creative applications. From musical instruments to buildings, wrap shops around the country are exploring the various options and sharing their stories about how they entered this growing market.

 

PARKING GARAGE WRAP AND BEYOND

Anyone who has spent winter in bitterly cold Chicago probably has longed for an escape to a balmy, sunny day by the beach, and South Carolina Tourism was ready to capitalize on those daydreams with its Time to Thaw campaign. The Bounce Agency, an advertising firm in Greenville, S.C., developed the campaign’s creative concept, including several unique wrap applications that were displayed in Chicago’s busy Millennium Park garage system, which were printed and installed by Frank O. Carlson and Co., a Chicago-based sign shop.

 

In the parking garage, large concrete pillars, measuring 18 feet in diameter, were transformed into golf tees, as four sections of vinylⁱ were separately printed and then seamless tiled together on the base and ceiling, says Jeb Breitzke, shop manager of Frank O. Carlson and Co.

 

Using floor graphics, several staircases also were wrapped, featuring stacked suitcase and a boardwalk scene. A wall wrap, displaying a wind surfboard, was positioned along another staircase, where those passing could pose for a picture that would be entered into a drawing for a free South Carolina vacation. Another wall wrap was applied to the bathroom hand-dryer wall to stimulate a warm beach breeze.

 

Two interior elevator wraps were installed, figuratively transporting the audience to temperate South Carolina landscapes, Breitzke says. One elevator wrap exhibits a famous golf course, complete with an ocean view and tee box floor graphics, while the other features a beach setting.

 

Of course, appealing to Chicagoans’ summery wishes, these wraps were installed by Breitzke and his team in the middle of the winter, providing its own set of problems. The outside streets were covered with salt because of the icy conditions, and with such high trafficⁱ, that debris was tracked into the building and required constant area cleaning.

 

Even though these various wraps did not have deep contours, like traditional vehicle applications, the 20-degree weather made installing the vinyl difficult.

 

“We had to really be careful. The vinyl was susceptible to ripping because of how brittle it might be in the weather, but printing the graphics fresh helped a lot because the ink is more flexible than a couple of days later,” Breitzke recalls.

 

Since completing the Time to Thaw campaign, David Carlson, vice president of Frank O. Carlson and Co., says new wrap opportunities continue to open, including a project for the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. This project, inspired by the Time to Thaw campaign, is a scaled-down version that is also appearing in Millennium Park Garage.

 

“In all cases, one project leads to another. Because you do one or two wraps, people get to know you for the unique applications, and that’s where you get more work and build your reputation,” Carlson says.

 

WRAPPING A TRAIN

DGI-Invisuals, Burlington, Ma., is no stranger to the wrap market. In fact, Bob Bekesha, vice president of sales and marketing for DGI Invisuals, estimates his team has installed over 2,000 wraps in the last 10 years, and the trend continues to grow. While traditional vehicle wraps remain popular, Bekesha finds his customer base is demanding more unique applications for a stronger marketing effect, which has led DGI-Invisuals to explore projects that are anything but typical.

 

“We work in a very creative environment with our clients, so they’re pushing us all the time to do things that are out of the ordinary. They’re looking for more of a ‘wow’ factor,” Bekesha says.

 

DGI-Invisuals recently partnered with Arnold Worldwide, an advertising firm, to wrap an Amtrak train to promote McDonald’s McCafe coffees during its Boston-to-Washington, DC route for six weeks, but this project wasn’t short of its own challenges. The templateⁱ, for example, had to be custom designed by measurements and photos taken by DGI-Invisuals because there was no prior patternⁱ.

 

The train’s exterior intricacies also created some problems. With a skip-corrugated surface, the train required exact measuring, including the spacing between the ripples to ensure the graphics would accurately fill the vertical space. Special attention to the bleeding and sizingⁱ also had to be taken into consideration.

 

“The ad agency was certain of where the images needed to fall. If we didn’t do this measuring and didn’t build the wrap on-site, it would not have come out correctly for our clients,” Bekesha notes.

 

Using over 2,000 square feet of media, the graphics were produced on 3M IJ180 adhesiveⁱ vinyl, 3M 8519 lamination, perforated window film and CADⁱ-cut vinyl for overlaid text and logos. Though a four-day installation was scheduled, DGI-Invisuals finished in just three days.

 

Bekesha adds that open communication between DGI-Invisuals, Arnold Worldwide and Amtrak was necessary to complete the train wrap on time. Safety, availability, train cleaning—all of these basic issues, which are often overlooked, needed to be addressed before installation.

 

“These are all little tasks that most people don’t think about beforehand, but when you get into the project, they’re really something that can kill your time frame and create all sorts of issues if you don’t approach the wrap in a very business-like manner,” Bekesha cautions.

 

Taking on these unique projects continues to pave the way for future business, says Sylvia Mauro, manager of sales support and customer service of DGI-Invisuals. With plenty of unique projects in DGI-Invisuals’ portfolio, potential customers naturally turn to the shop with such solid experience.

 

 “We already have that reputation, but these unique projects reinforce our capabilities, and our clients identify us with the large-scale projects we do,” Mauro says.

 

COOLER WRAP AND MORE

When it comes to wraps, no object is off limits for Rod Voegele, president of Gator Wraps, Ontario, Calif. From walls to desks—Voegele’s shop is covered in vinyl, so when his customers walk through the door, they realize wraps are so much more than just a vehicle application.

 

Particularly, wraps are an effective way to increase brand awareness, Voegele states. With such striking graphics and high impression hits, multiple wraps can be tied together, increasing brand recognition.

 

Whether Voegele and his team are designing a basic vehicle wrap or a more unique application, he says it’s important to be sure you are clearly and memorably displaying the company’s industry and contact information. Sure, catchy graphics may turn heads, but if the wrap doesn’t effectively communicate with the audience, it does not serve as a useful branding tactic.

 

“We’ve had a lot of customers find success when using a graphic that instantly says what their business is and how they can be contacted. And, obviously, when our customer succeeds, we succeed,” Voegele says.

 

Recently, Voegele and his team took on a multiple-wrap project for MonaVie, an acai berry-based juice manufacturer. They first wrapped an H2 Hummer for a MonaVie sales representative, but when some of the company executives saw the vehicle, they decided to use it as a display during a large eventⁱ in Anaheim, Calif. From there, what started as a simple vehicle wrap quickly turned into an expansive project that focused on promoting the MonaVie brand.

 

Cooler wraps have especially been popular with the MonaVie project. Each cooler wrap was designed slightly different to serve the various markets but still reinforced the MonaVie brand. For example, one cooler was modeled after the new energy drink while another cooler featured images of wakeboarding for the sports enthusiast.

 

To keep the branding consistent, the Monavie logo was included on all cooler wraps, and creative elements from the vehicle wraps were incorporated into the design. Voegele adds that MonaVie used these wrap applications to enhance the event feel, which strengthened the branding message.

 

“It becomes more of an event than just handing out cans,” Voegele comments. “When people see the wrapped truck and then a wrapped cooler, the brand recognition becomes larger than life.”

 

Voegele and his team applied the Monavie wraps using Avery 1005 EZ RS cast vinylⁱ with Avery DOL 1060 laminateⁱ, and they were printed on a Mutoh ValueJet.

 

GatorWraps certainly hasn’t shied away from unique wrap applications, and Voegele expects this trend to grow throughout the year.

 

“Within the last several months, customers have been coming to us with ideas for different types of wrap projects,” Voegele states. “We do expect unique wrap applications to be a large part of our business in 2010, and we believe it will experience huge growth.”

 

GUITAR WRAP

Before entering the vehicle wrap market, Luke Zoetmulder, president of Sticker Dude, Lake Zurich, Ill., joined the signage industry in 1990 and expanded his skills to include pinstriping and basic truck lettering. But only seven years ago, Zoetmulder and his team began offering vehicle wraps, which has grown to include unique applications.

 

In today’s economic climate, Zoetmulder especially believes it’s more important than ever to explore new applications.

 

“We’ve wrapped basketball backboards, guitars—you name it. If you can stick it, we’ll find a way to do it,” Zoetmulder says. “People are cutting costs, and as a business, you have to reinvent what you’re doing.”

 

Not only do unique wraps enhance your business model, Zoetmulder adds, but offering these applications also creates an awareness of what is possible. Business is all about networking, and when your customers show off their uniquely wrapped items, others see those applications and wonder how they can push the envelope even further, which creates more clients for you. And Jim Bean was one of those clients for Sticker Dudes.

 

Bean recently contacted Zoetmulder and his team to design a fleet of guitar displays that would be showcased at various bars and restaurants. Initially, Bean wanted to screenⁱ print the guitars; however, time and cost were prohibitive. Of course, with these constraints, especially the time consideration, wrapping was the perfect option, Zoetmulder says. In fact, between the shipments, spanning over 10 days, Sticker Dudes completed just fewer than 1,000 guitar wraps.

 

While the project was mostly smooth, Zoetmulder notes that the template did cause some trouble. The guitars were mass produced, but there were still small differences between each instrument. 

 

“We made the first template based on that first guitar we got and then realized that every guitar was a little different, so we had to ask ourselves, ‘How do we make it to where these are universal?’” Zoetmulder says.

 

Compensating for this, Zoetmulder created a template that could be printed oversized with minimal trimming, which could be used for each guitar. To create these wraps, the guitars were covered in Arlon 6000 XRP vinyl and printed on a Mimaki JV3 printer.

 

Certainly, unique wraps are great for business, Zoetmulder says, but unusual applications also add professional satisfaction.

 

“We really like doing unique projects like this. It makes work fun; it makes it different,” Zoetmulder says.

 

UNIQUE WRAPS GO HOLLYWOOD

For the past nine years, VSP Marketing and Graphic Group, Buffalo, N.Y., has been in the vehicle wraps industry and has become well experienced in traditional applications. But in recent years, VSP has been expanding into other uses, as architectural wraps are becoming increasingly popular.

 

Trace George, president and CEO of VSP, says architectural wraps had trouble gaining popularity in the past because people did not understand that the material would not damage the surface or fly off the building. However, this has changed, and advertising agencies are more inclined to use architectural wraps for marketing.

 

“Once marketing companies realized they now have more square footage to sell their branding, then all of a sudden, they’re the ones who have spear-headed exploring more applications,” George explains. “Stadiums, sidewalks—we’re wrapping all of that and getting creative by taking a basic, ugly concrete structureⁱ and completely transforming it.”

 

But architectural wraps are more than just advertising mediums. Concrete can be wrapped to display bushes, vines or other landscaping images to accentuate the ascetics of a building, George notes.

 

With such a solid understanding of architectural wraps, VSP was recently offered an experience of a lifetime. “Man Cave,” a television program that renovates spare rooms into the ultimate “guy” experience, invited George and his team to wrap the exterior and interior of the show’s motorcade. The exterior wrap was similar to your average trailer wrap, but the motorcade’s interior is a traveling studio that is used onsite at each project and was wrapped to reflect the theme of the show.

 

Backdrops, desks and even walls were all wrapped. Dan Patrick, an ESPN anchorⁱ and “Man Cave” host, is a fan of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issues, so the walls were wrapped showcasing the cover of every edition since the 1970s for the ultimate man’s interior design.

 

The “Man Cave” producer was so impressed with VSP’s work that they now fly George and his team to the featured destinations each week. One of George’s most memorable wraps transformed a firefighter’s cellar into the scene of a famous 1930s fire in Manhattan. The wrap, displaying a gray-scale image, was applied to an unfinished dry wall, which was first primed, and then installed in seven separate panels.

 

“There are old fire trucks and firefighters with these old helmets on. The images were gray with a foggy look to them. It was just a unique shot,” George recalls.

 

Sometimes the projects can be challenging, George says, because he doesn’t see the wrapped surface until he arrives at the site.

 

“If they say we have a cinderblock wall and maybe it’s in a cellar and damp, we just can’t do it, so we have to somehow seal that cinderblock wall with some type of moisture repellent or polyurethaneⁱ,” George states. “If you’re doing anything architecturally, you don’t know what you’re getting into until you install it.”

 

Depending on the application, George and his team typically uses vinyl designed for concrete by MACtac or 3M. George says these products “hit every nook and cranny,” but it’s important to make sure you first use a concrete primer. Otherwise, removing the vinyl is exceptionally difficult, George advises.

 

With the show on the way, George believes the wrap market will benefit, as it will bring a greater understanding the market as a whole.