Harford County Signs and Banners Blog

Vehicle Wraps are at the top of the vehicle graphics offerings. These are digitally printed designs that are adhered to the vehicle that can be used to advertise your company's products or to express your individual artistic resolve.

From a business standpoint, car wraps can provide some of the best advertising that you can purchase for your company. Take a look at the statistics below and think about how that can impact your bottom line.

Data from The Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB) says that:

• 92% of people notice AND READ graphics on wrapped vehicles
• 75% of consumers develop impressions about a company based on a vehicle wrap
• 30% of consumers will make a buying decision based upon impressions gained from a wrapped vehicle.

Take a close look at your budget and let Blue Water Signs help with your advertising program.

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Car and truck wraps are one of the best ways to spend your advertising dollars. When compared to other forms of advertising, the cost per impression for vehicle wraps is far lower than other forms of advertising. The list below shows you how wrapping or lettering or vehicle stacks up against the other advertising. Comparing the CPM (Cost per Thousand) of different forms of advertising reveals the value of a vehicle wrap. The following statistics are from the Outdoor Advertising Association of America:

1. In the top 100 Television Markets, a 30 second Prime time spot cost $17.78 per CPM
2. In the top 100 Newspaper Markets, a one third page b/w ad cost $22.95 per CPM
3. In 23 Magazine Publications, a 4 color one page ad cost $9.35 per CPM.
4. In the top 100 Radio Markets, a 60 second drive time ad cost $8.61 per CPM.
5. The average for all forms of Billboard ads cost $2.18 per CPM.
6. Vehicle Wraps - $.77 per CPM!

Partial Wraps

Partial wraps are the next step up from vehicle lettering we discussed in an earlier blog. This is the combination of vehicle lettering and the use of digital print material (high performance wrap material with protective overlaminate) that is used to highlight logos or to set apart and pull the eye to a specific region on the vehicle. The big advantage of these types of applications is that they can have a large impact on the visibility of your advertising, but because you are combining that with vinyl lettering it can often be done at a lower cost. Depending on the the use of specialty vinyls and the amount of wrap material used, it can be 30 to 60% of what a full wrap would be on a vehicle. So if you are a new company on a limited budget, Partial Wraps may be one of the top methods to get your name in front of the public.

Let us help you determine how to letter that vehicle and help you be seen on the streets.

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The verdict is in: vehicle graphics provide some of the best advertising for the dollars a company spends.

• According to the American Trucking Association (ATA), 91% of people surveyed notice vehicle graphics.
• The Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Measurement demonstrated that a vehicle can generate between 30K – 70K impressions daily.
• Studies effectively show vehicle graphics make name recognition more than 15 times greater.

These are just some of the statistics that have been generated that show the power of vehicle graphics and the impact they can have on your business. Vehicle lettering is the basics when it comes to what can be done with your car, truck, van or fleet vehicle. But, the basics can have a number of added twists that can really make an impression on the general public when they see your vehicle. Here are a few of the options that can make a lasting impression:

1. Use multiple colors when working with your logo design and lettering. Just for one manufacturer and one quality level of vinyl there are over 60 standard colors, and when you look at their top of the line vinyl, there are over 100 colors.
2. To make good use of those colors, you can add shadows and highlights to the lettering.
3. You can add metallic colors to the design. On one black truck we lettered the vehicle with Chrome Vinyl.
4. You can use reflective material for the letters or the highlights. Reflective material in the logo can be very effective.
5. You can use one of the following specialty vinyls for greater impact:
   • Fluorescent colors
   • Wood Patterns
   • Camo in many patterns like: Advantage Max 4, Mossy Oak Break Up, Realtree All Purpose, Realtree Hardwoods, Mossy Oak Duck Blind
   • Carbon Fiber
   • Gold and Silver Leaf
   • Diamond Plate

Even though you may not have the budget to do a full wrap early on in the life of your company, you cannot afford to let the advertising advantage of vehicle go to waste. At a minimum, get your name in front of the public by lettering your company vehicle and then adding some pop by using some of the specialty vinyls and techniques to make it memorable to the public.

Let us help you determine how to letter that vehicle and help you be seen on the streets.

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How many times have you seen a company truck pulling a blank white trailer down the street? You are looking at large blank billboard that could be used both as a moving sign for your company or a stationary that works 24-7, 365 days a year. Cargo trailers are great canvases to advertise your company for very little cost. Trailers can be wrapped just like a car or truck, or lettered, or a combination of both. We call these partial wraps because some portion of the design will be designed to use high performance wrap material. This material is printed using a digital printer and then laminated to protect the material and the inks from Ultraviolet light. The lettering can be done with a large array of colors and specialty vinyls such as metallics, reflective or even fluorescent colors. These specialty vinyls can be used to highlight phone numbers, web addresses or other items you want to highlight about your business.

One of the true benefits of using your trailer to advertise is that when you are on a job, the trailer can be parked in a location that provides maximum visibility. When you are back at the office, the trailer is parked outside, working for you even when you are not on the job. You may need to check with local restrictions for your development and neighborhoods as there may be restrictions on the parking of commercial vehicles.

Let us help turn that rolling canvas into a 24-7 advertising machine.

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The sign industry is ever changing with new materials coming out every month. Improvements in standard vinyls as well as the changes that we have seen in the print vinyl are astronomical at times. But when you look at a blend of old technology and new age materials, the best place to see these blend together is when you see carved and hand painted signs used with new style monument signs.

Hand carved wood signs have been around since the beginning of signs. As they progressed, they were not just carved, but they were carved and painted. Later, these signs were masked and then sand blasted to remove material, and later even the use of routers and CNC routers were used to make the signs. But, after all the ways to produce the sign, it is still hand painted by a sign maker that is truly an artist. These signs are first painted with three or more primer coats and then the finished coats are applied.

In the past, if you wanted to mount these to a monument sign, the monument was created by either a stone or brick mason and they worked with the sign makers to assure there were ways to mount the sign to the stone. Now, enter the new technology. The Peachtree Monument sign is manufactured in a factory using proprietary foam and coatings that are designed to give the monument sign years of durability. These signs are designed and manufactured to easily allow your hand carved and painted sign to be attached so it looks like they were manufactured together. The photos show a true stone monument sign and a Peachtree monument sign, but both have carved signs attached.

Progress in the sign industry has been able to produce items faster and with less expense than in the past, but there is always a place where the old and the new can meet.

Let us help you determine the sign that helps you meet your needs, be it old or new.

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