Striving for making the right first impression? The right way to do it for any company is through vehicle graphics. Custom vehicle graphics never go out of fashion. It reaches people 24/7, no matter if a branded car is moving on the road or standing in a parking lot.
Vehicle graphics/wraps bring benefit to businesses
The vehicle graphics bring the following preponderance points:
- Grabbing the attention of people around. When on the road or sitting in a car, drivers and their passengers are unlikely to pay attention to regularly colored vans, trucks & passenger cars. But they involuntarily pay attention to anything that’s colored differently. Vehicle graphics is branding for a car and for a van that works simply because it is different from what people usually see every day.
- Advertising in the company’s local area. A car/van with vinyl graphics is usually driving around some small area (if we consider small and mid-sized companies, who are now pondering about the printing services). Large companies that operate across the country and internationally have already decided on the issue of vehicle graphics and decals for themselves long ago — they do it. So, when driving such a branded car, one informs their potential clientele in the area about their business.
- Effectively creating & maintaining the recognizability of the company’s brand. People simply look at the vehicle branding and even if they don’t pay attention to reading or perceiving it, their subconscious already snaps the image of the advertised company. The more they see a branded car near me, day by day, the more they become informed about the advertised services/products. So when they need it, they know whom to address. We’ve seen people on the streets and in their cars taking pictures of branded vehicles to save the information for the future, so it definitely works.
- Cost-effectiveness. Vehicle graphics are a much more cost-effective ad than most other ad channels: website banners, city lights, big boards, roadside boards, etc. Also, one doesn’t have to spend money for recurring advertising over time — after it is glued on a car, it stays there until one decides to remove or replace it, unlike banners & other ads, which require monthly installments to keep running.
- Additional protection of the car/van. Vehicle graphics are an extra layer of vinyl, decals/stickers, fabric, film, or paint. They protect the vehicle from occasional scratches left by road debris, dust, dirt, etc. After the removal of the custom graphics, one sees that the car paint layer is preserved as well as new. A good paint state also increases the cost of the car if it is sold in the future.
- Non-aggressive ad. Vehicle graphics do attract attention but they do not scream to the people who see them, unlike, for instance, radio commercials, which are impossible to get rid of if only switching the wave, or website ad banners, which take sometimes up to 75% of the page space and irritate a lot. Most viewers of vehicle graphics find them pleasing, entangling & unobtrusive.
- Low threshold of installing the vehicle branding. Huge banners require thousands of pounds each to be manufactured & put on. They also require monthly installments in order not to cease working. While wrapping even an entire car is the same several thousand pounds of initial cost but then one pays nothing. The car is good to go in 2-5 days if a full wrap is needed and only hours after decals/stickers application. The latter would cost hundreds of pounds in the UK, not thousands.
How to create a powerful vehicle design
Vehicle graphics starts with a clever design. We recommend ordering it from a renowned vehicle ad design and printing company. There are such wise approaches to creating vehicle branding:
- It must be performed in the colors of the advertised company (according to the brand book) — if there are any
- Focus on visuals, not texts. It is a bad idea to list all company’s services/products. Just keep it general, like a motto/slogan of the company or a catchy phrase for 4-10 words. The most of textual information above this shall be the phone/website/address/email. And, please, stick to the following two points below
- Make all fonts readable in a glance, without ornate squiggles that only distract and confuse
- Make all texts readable & graphical elements visible from a large distance: a person standing 7-10 meters from the vehicle graphics shall not have trouble reading everything without eye squinting or approaching
- Every car is 3-dimensional. So make vehicle graphics for both sides, back & bonnet. Some companies also decide to brand wheels, mirrors & roof. That’s up to the decision of the client of the branding service
- If one doesn’t have the design ideas yet, he or she definitely has to come to a professional company that brands cars to work it out with them. A good company would offer the full cycle: branding idea, design, manufacturing of the material, applying it on the surface of the car & maintaining it in the future (which would also include changes and safe deletion of the branded elements from the surface).
Types of vehicle graphics
There are 3 most widespread options for vehicle branding:
- Vinyl graphics. It may be applied to parts of the vehicle surface but may also cover it completely. Vinyl is a soft material, which is water- & weather-resistant, saves colors for a long time, is soft enough to prevent paint scratches & is durable enough to last for years on the surface.
- Full wraps. They can be made of vinyl, regular film, fabric, or metalized film. They can cover metallic and plastic elements of the car exterior and even the interior.
- Stickers & decals. These are small elements that have a sticky basis, which grabs hold of the car surface. They can be in size from a few square centimeters to a couple of square meters (but usually are smaller than 1 sq.m.). They can be glued on one’s own, not resorting to a professional company (but their manufacturing would, probably, require contacting it).
Although vinyl graphics are a great means of attracting people’s gazes to the vehicle, one shall remember that this is the face of their business driving. So, keep it always well-washed, clean & without the signs of bumps, scratches, or other surface integrity-harming deviations.
If a company offers cleaning, needless to say, it would look highly comical if the branded vehicle is dirty. If plumbing services are offered, the car shan’t have leaky oil, right? And if repairs are offered but the car is not in perfect condition, who’ll address such a company?
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