Wrapped cars spread businesses' advertising messages

Betty Beard
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 7, 2006 09:15 PM


One of the hottest trends in marketing today is turning cars and trucks into roving billboards.

Companies are getting fleet vehicles wrapped in a vinyl material printed with photos and words and graphics that can take their messages to places billboards can't and can be more elaborate and less permanent than paint.

Vehicle wraps have been around for about six years but have been getting more popular as more companies learn they are temporary, don't hurt a vehicle's paint, leave no glue or residue and can handle the desert heat.

Wraps are showing up on cars, vans, semis, Hummers, RVs, and even Zambonis and buildings. Photos can be enlarged and wrapped onto a wall. There are mesh wraps that can cover windows.

"It has really taken off. It gives businesses a way to explain what they do. A masonry contractor can put a picture of a brick wall on a vehicle with the logo so people really know what they do," said Jerry Hoyler, owner and general manager of a Fast Signs franchise in Glendale that does wraps.

With digital technology and computers, wraps are fairly easy to do. The most time-consuming parts are the design and the installation. They are similar to contact paper and are applied the same way.

Unlike other ads and commercials that can be page-turned, channel-surfed or clicked away, vehicle wraps often have a captive audience.

Motorists stuck in traffic can't help but notice the graphics and signs on the vehicle ahead or beside them as they sit there staring at them mile after mile.

"As traffic congestion gets heavier, it's good that they can have a Desert Schools (Federal Credit Union) message right on their bumper," said Jason Meyers, public relations manager for the credit union, which has its fleet of Toyota Scions wrapped.

The credit union and Jobing.com, a Phoenix employment firm, are among those companies that encourage or pay employees to take their wrapped vehicles home, to give them even more exposure.


Bringing them in-house
In the beginning, companies paid non-employees to get their vehicles wrapped. But Jared Smith, an owner and founder of bluemedia, a Tempe large-format graphics company, said they got away from that because the vehicles could end up in inappropriate places, such as outside strip clubs.

Companies are parking their wrapped vehicles in front of trade shows, sporting events and other places where a lot of people show up, a practice known as guerrilla marketing.

Dustin Spareman, marketing director for Bliss Beverages, a Scottsdale company that makes Socko energy drinks, said the company has been using wrapped vehicles as a major marketing strategy since Bliss was founded three years ago.

"It helps to have a branded vehicle park in front of 25,000 people at a concert venue," he said.

Wraps generally cost at least $3,000 a vehicle and are easier to install on more boxy vehicles, such as Hummers, Scions, vans, RVs and semis.

Josh Cizmadia, production manager of a Sign-A-Rama franchise in Tempe that also does wraps, said they are still new enough that people have concerns. "In Arizona, everyone is worried about the sun and the heat and whether it will peel," he said.

He said the 3M Co., which makes the most common wrap materials, guarantees them for three years in Arizona, assuming they are installed correctly. Companies can then change out the design.

Smith said customers also have worried that they wouldn't know ahead of time how the wrap would look. But the designs are created digitally, and a picture of the vehicle with the wrap can be e-mailed ahead of time to a client.

"You get to see what it looks like before it gets done," he said.

In short, he said, there aren't many reasons not to get fleet vehicles wrapped.

"A vehicle is a new employee. You hire them, and they have a job to do," Smith said.

 

yeah i see those desert schools boxes all the time. They're everywhere!

 

I'll take a large condum and call it a wrap for Trojan!

 

 

Who in the hell would be crazy enough to wrap their entire car in vinyl?

 

It's not a TOYOTA SCION! It's just a SCION!

 

It's just like a Toyota Lexus.

 

People who are starving for attention...Thats who!

 

Nope, the people who are starving for attention buy a big ___ truck, put flashy chrome wheels on it and make it fast and loud as hell. Then when you are driving up Arizona Avenue just minding your own business in your xB they drive up next to you and gun the engine and scare the ____ out of you.

 

GONNA GIT ME A BIG TRUCK!
GONNA GIT ME SUM BIG TIREZ!
GONNA JACK UP MAH TRUCK!
GONNA GO ME HUNTIN!
GONNA GO ME FISHIN!
GONNA GO ME BEAR-TRAPPIN!
GONNA GO ME SKEET-SHOOTIN!

...and other redneckisms. (I lived in Michigan for 4 years, where the truck is king.)