Van Turned Into A School Bus

• Quantities:  Make sure the supplier knows how many vehicles you are interested in wrapping.  Many vehicle wrap companies will offer a quantity discount for agreeing to wrap multiple vehicles.
• Design Requirements:  There is some design time involved in every wrap, as the art must be formatted for production.  The vehicle wrap company needs to know if they are designing the wrap or if they are just prepping it to be printed.
• Locations:  Where is your wrap(s) being installed?  Are you bringing them to the vehicle wrap company?  Is the supplier coming to your location?  This information is imperative to the wrap company so they can determine any additional man hours that are to be accounted for in travel.
• Coverage:  The type of vehicle is a major factor in determining the amount of vinyl that is to be printed.  This is especially important with irregular vehicles like enclosed trailers, box trucks, and 18 wheelers!  These types of vehicles typically will require someone putting a tape measure to the side of the vehicle.
• Surface Conditions:  This is one of those unspoken variables that are often included when quoting a vehicle wrap.  Vehicles that have rivets, screws, and/or corrugation will require additional man hours to successfully complete the installation.
• Geometrics:  The contours of your vehicle are another unspoken variable.  Straight/Flat surfaces are much easier to install than a vehicle like a Chevy HHR which has extreme contours throughout its body!
• Roof, Bumpers, Cabs:  Some wrap companies include these in their pricing, however, most do not.  Make sure to clarify with your supplier exactly what your expectations are so that they can provide you with accurate pricing and deliver a final product that will make you smile.
• Perforated Vinyl:  This vinyl is used to continue the design onto the windows of your vehicle, but is somewhat transparent allowing the driver/passengers to see out still.  Clarifying whether or not you want this may save you a handful of change!
• Special Requests:  Most vehicle wrap suppliers will work with either 3M or Avery vinyl.  These wraps are intended to be a branded message and left on your vehicle for 3-5 years.  However, both of these companies offer a multitude of different vinyl types.  When talking with your supplier, be sure to indicate how long you intend to have your wrap on your vehicle.  These suppliers also offer products like a Matte Black vinyl, which is priced differently than your traditional vehicle wrap vinyl.

Once the vehicle wrap supplier has all of the necessary information, it is very simple to provide a quote.  Make sure to take the time to meet with your potential suppliers and provide them with the necessary information to accurately evaluate and quote your projects!  This time spent with the supplier is also a great time to view their portfolio, ask questions, and determine if this is the type of company you want to work with…

If you have any questions about the vehicle wrap process or would like to learn more, I can be reached at BCastetter@advertisingvehicles.com or 513-588-5719

Yuengling worked with an advertising agency out of Pennsylvania who helped them coordinate their plan of attack.  They broke Ohio down into 12 markets and decided to make sure they had a strong presence in each market.   The backbone of their marketing plan was their Out of Home campaign.  All 12 markets had a traditional billboard presence while 4 markets (those where transit advertising was offered) added a strong transit advertising presence.  “The capabilities of mobile outdoor I find interesting.  Much outdoor is stationary while transit finds the people” said the spokesperson, Frank G. from their agency.

Transit advertising is a very popular medium when used to introduce a new product.  Its ability to reach the entire market place can’t be matched!  “When in metro markets I believe that any OOH campaign that doesn’t include transit is dismissing a major portion of the available consumers. Cities are normally +/- 50% commuters and 50% residents. Why anyone only caters to 50% of them or finds them important is bewildering to me” said Frank.  The biggest strength of transit advertising lies with the fact that it follows the crowd, to the most popular destinations in town!

WinTheDiamondRing.com’s marketing backbone is their campaign on Cincinnati Metro buses.  They have 25 Super Tail Billboards that put the promotion in different parts of the city, everyday.  Other promotional efforts can be found on an interstate 75 billboard heading north, on Kiss 107 FM, and strategically placed in venues throughout the suburbs of Cincinnati.

(Now the plug for the contest)  Anyone can enter this contest.  Single, looking to be engaged, engaged, or married!  First place is the $10,000 diamond ring from SES Creations and Richter and Phillips.  There will be nine (9) runner-ups who will each receive a $100 gift card to Richter and Phillips!  I know a $10,000 diamond ring is a present that doesn’t need a gift receipt!!  Even if you don’t win, a $100 is a great start to a holiday present from Richter and Phillips that will be loved!!!

Cincy Tennis is also the most recent client to take advantage of ad extensions.  As you can see in the picture, extensions enable advertisers to increase the size of their ads and potentially use the windows to get a little creative!  Regardless of why they are used, one thing is for sure, they are definitely going to grab your attention, may even start a conversation!!

We are seeing a few trends among businesses.  More are leveraging ad extensions and the creativity they allow.  Businesses of all sizes are putting their message on multiple out of home advertising media!  And mostly, advertisers are beginning to see just how easy it is to not only reach affluent consumers & business executives, but have a high frequency with them as well…

Over the past few weeks, an esteemed panel of experts went through our thousands of vehicle wrap pictures and was able to get them down to 12 finalists.  Is your wrap one of them?  Go to our Facebook page to see our 12 finalists, located in the “Vehicle Wrap Hall of Fame” picture folder.  If your vehicle wrap isn’t a finalist, please vote for your favorite by “Liking” the picture of your favorite wrap.  However, if you were chosen, you should probably vote for your picture… heck, tell your family, friends, and colleagues to vote for your picture!  There is a pizza party and some other things in it for the winner!  Voting ends July 31^st!

Regina Russo and the Cincinnati Art Museum's Full Bus Wrap

Traditionally, the funding for non-profits’ advertising efforts are very limited, yet they need to get their message out in a big way.  It was Regina Russo’s job to see to it that Greater Cincinnati was aware of their new exhibit, and do so in a cost-effective manner.  She leveraged previously established relationships in the media world to help spread the word about the Cincinnati Art Museum’s “Circus Posters” exhibit.  However, it is a new method that is taking her message to the streets!

Enter Advertising Vehicles.  Regina worked closely with Advertising Vehicles and Cincinnati Metro to create a mass reach campaign that would achieve the Cincinnati Art Museum’s desired goals while staying within her budget.  It was clear she didn’t want to take a traditional, cookie-cutter approach to this campaign; she wanted it to be big!  When the dust finally cleared, her transit advertising campaign consisted of a plethora of displays (sides and backs) and the Cincinnati Art Museum’s first Full Bus Wrap.

One major piece of the campaign that wasn’t mentioned above were their two “Bus Blips.” Advertising Vehicles worked out a deal with Cincinnati Metro to take the Cincinnati Art Museum’s full bus wrap off of the street and park it near US Bank Arena, which was hosting the Ringling Brothers Circus the past two weekends.  As you can see, the bus was strategically parked in front of the main parking garage, making it a sight to see as people patiently waited in line!  Talk about a powerful addition to a marketing campaign!!

Why make such a move?  Who are we kidding, they are cool!  But for the past 7.5 years we’ve been helping businesses differentiate themselves from their competition through vehicle wraps.  We figured it was about time we started doing something different to help us stand out from the other companies who claim to do vehicle wraps like we do!  And since we began selling transit advertising in 2006, the main reasons companies continue to advertise on the buses are increased perception (appearing much bigger than you are) and their ads are fragmentation-free (avoiding the clutter: DVRs, iPods, Smart Phones, and satellite radio… oh, and iPads!).  We see this as a great way to show potential advertisers the fragmentation that’s affecting the advertising industry, just how many people have devices that keep them from spending time with the “big 3” (TV, Radio, and Newspaper), and just how much time is actually spent on these electronic devices!

Terry showing off just how good our staff looks with our new iPads!

As you can see here, I skipped out of work a bit early (don’t tell the bosses) and waited in line for the iPad2.

Did you think it was already tough to reach consumers?  It just got a whole lot tougher!  The original iPad sold roughly 300,000 in the opening weekend.  Apple, according to a survey released by Piper Jaffray, sold an estimated 400,000-500,000 iPad 2 units during its opening weekend.  That’s not the number to focus on!  Roughly 70% of those sales went to new, first-time users!  America now has between 280,000-350,000 new iPad users who will be spending even less time in front of the TV.

Where is one place where consumers can’t ignore your ads?  On the streets while driving! Outdoor advertising should continue to benefit greatly from all of the technology advancements in our world!  Got a fleet of vehicles?  Check out some of our vehicle wrap examples here.  See what’s going on in the world of advertising and want to talk?  Contact your local Advertising Vehicles representative (preferably me… I’ll even bring out my iPad!)!