by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Businesses utilize ‘rolling billboards’
Widely used on public transportation, vehicle wraps — the vinyl skin that turns buses into rolling billboards — are also helping private businesses advertise their products and services.
A vehicle wrap is a large vinyl graphic or decal that can be applied over the original paint of a vehicle to advertise a business or personalize the vehicle without changing or damaging the original paint. They can be seen on Jacksonville Transit Authority(JTA) buses advertising auto dealerships, restaurants and law offices. Buses offer advertisers high exposure through the routes they travel repeatedly during a given day.
“It’s a very important part of our revenue stream,” said Mike Miller, director of external affairs for JTA. “Every dollar we generate through the program is one less dollar we have to rely on from the public to keep mass transit running. There is not a mass transit agency in the country that isn’t government subsidized, and we do everything we can to defray that cost, including things like advertising, so we don’t have to ask for as much from the public sector.”
Miller estimated that JTA generates about $225,000 through advertising on buses.
The private sector is realizing the marketing power that their vehicles offer and are utilizing vehicle wraps to generate business.
“It’s one of the most cost effective forms of advertising,” said Mike Kirkwood, who is responsible for business development for Media Works. “You don’t have to pick it up and open it like a newspaper, you don’t have to turn it on like a television or tune into it like a radio...it’s always on.”
Media Works produces a wide range of advertising products, including vehicle wraps. The company started researching the industry about three years ago as it looked to expand its services.
“We studied companies across the country and one company locally,” said Fred Dietsch, vice president of Media Works. “We looked at the wraps that were being done in the area, from Orlando to Atlanta, and we noticed that the message of the advertising really wasn’t clear. We knew the success of our start up would depend on the quality of our designs.”
The company can control the level of quality because it can handle customer’s requests from conception to completion. It offers full design, printing and application services to its customers. The design phase of the project is normally the longest as the graphic is developed. Once the design is completed, most vehicles are completed in a day.
“The majority of vehicles that request a wrap are service vehicles,” said Kirkwood.
“So we pride ourselves on getting them back out on the road as quickly as possible,” said Dietsch. “We know if those vehicles aren’t on the road, they aren’t making money.”
The company recently assisted Renda Broadcasting in finding a new look for its FM-99.9 Gator Country Van.
“The vehicle wrap was much more convenient and less expensive than having the van painted,” said Gary Spurgeon, general manager of Renda Broadcasting. “We do a lot of live, remote broadcasts and the van gives us great exposure. The photo quality is great. We have some of the artists that we feature on the radio on our van now and you just couldn’t reproduce that with paint.”
Spurgeon doesn’t have to worry about featuring a one-hit wonder on the side of the van for the life of the vehicle. The wrap can last for 3-6 years depending on wear and tear, but the wrap can also be removed whenever another artist starts moving up the charts.
Prices vary depending on factors including the type of graphic, size and type of vehicle and installation time. A smaller vehicle like a VW Bug can be fully wrapped in the high $2,000s and a larger vehicle, like a van, could cost in the high $4,000s.
Vehicle wraps may offer a cost effective way for businesses to advertise their products, but being that the City’s sign laws were passed by the City Council in 1987, a definitive answer is difficult to find regarding the legality of a sign that was developed in the early part of the 2000s. But according to the City’s Web site, “These signs are exempted from the Sign and Outdoor Display Laws...Signs painted or securely attached to vehicles (cars, trucks, vans, busses etc.) used during/within the work environment for identification purposes.”
356-2466