What is Vehicle Wrapping?

Vehicle wrapping was first established in 1993 when a California based company SuperGraphics wrapped an entire bus in a revolutionary new vinyl adhesive that had been created by 3M. The bus then was fully covered in an advertisement for Pepsi and caused a great stir amongst the public. Since then vehicle wrapping has escalated greatly in terms of popularity and is now a appreciated method of outdoor advertising. Livery wrapping has proven itself to be an effective method of advertising and carries with it some impressive and persuasive benefits.

What are Vehicle Wraps

Livery wrapping is a form of print advertising wherein a vehicle of any size is completely covered in digitally printed full-colour images. In days gone by vehicle wrapping was mainly used with large vehicles like lorries or buses, nowadays it is available to any business with vehicle access. Before the SuperGraphics use of vinyl adhesive in the early nineties, vehicle advertising used to be painted on by hand. At the present time it is done using large sheets of pre-printed material that can be applied and removed easily.

A company can have their vehicles wrapped in either a single block colour or full digital printed colour images or for example the company's logo. You can expect your vehicle wraps to last for up to ten years for a solid colour and up to five years for digital printing; making vehicle wrapping one of the most cost effective forms of advertising. Companies can decide to have their vehicle either partly or fully wrapped and can expect to pay upwards of £800 depending on the scale of the individual project.

What are the potential benefits of wrapping?

Research shows that over 3000 people per hour will see branded vehicles on the road, with inner city potential pointing at between 500 and 600 advertising impressions per mile (ad-wrap.cp.uk). vehicle wrapping is one of the most effective results and cost wise methods of outdoor advertisement. It can't be switched off, thrown in the bin or ignored; in effect it provides you with a mobile billboard that functions 24/7. in more practical terms vehicle wrapping can protect your fleet's paintwork and can deter thieves as wrapping makes the vehicles extremely hard to make inconspicuous. Vehicle wrapping can actually improve your vehicles residual value by protecting the paintwork and improving aging.

Vehicle wrapping has also proven to be 800% more effective than a half page spread in your local newspaper (ad-wrap.co.uk). One of the biggest benefits of vehicle wrapping is the resultant word of mouth interest it can induce; the word of mouth phenomenon is one of the most interesting in the field of marketing. Word of mouth can in effect start off a viral marketing campaign on behalf of your company. If a vehicle has been expertly wrapped it will reassure potential customers and turn every vehicle into a marketing opportunity.

Lisa is writing for a vehicle livery company.