Mobile advertising has taken to the roads from Australia to Great Britain, New York to California. Now it has reached the streets in the Rio Grande Valley. Splashing color, design and information over the entire body of a vehicle is referred to as being fully wrapped. This latest trend in a long and creative history of advertising is quite possibly superseding billboards as the most effective way to promote business. Personalized designs, iconic cartoon figures and information partially covering a vehicle is – a wrap.
One expert Valley wrapper is Julian Rios, a graphic designer at his uncle’s printing store, Chuy’s Custom Sports in San Benito. “I didn’t even know about car wraps until my uncle was interested in printing bumper stickers a few years ago,” Rios said. “A salesman came to show us equipment. I’m always interested in whatever new stuff comes out.”
Rios, who had taken auto body classes and auto collision repair at high school, was so enthusiastic about car wrap technology that the salesman offered him a free, $1,200, three-day seminar in San Antonio. “The salesman said the class would be good for me because it would tie in with my desires of working on cars and graphic design.” When Rios came back from training, he used the wrap vinyl and laminate samples from class to wrap his brother’s motorcycle. Since then, he has wrapped cars, big rig cabs, motorcycles and even a coffin.
The technology involves printing on thin, conformable vinyl that was designed specifically for wrap advertising. Rios charges $25 an hour for the design and $14 per square foot to install a wrap. “I ask the client to come in with a design idea and colors they want to use to keep the design cost lower,” he said. The computer-generated design is converted to machine-compatible software so the printer can read it onto thin-ply, 54-inch-wide vinyl using eco-solvent ink.
“After printing, we run it through the laminator and trim it up,” Rios said. “It’s pretty failsafe.” The vinyl is applied to a vehicle much like lining up wallpaper. Separate pieces are used at movable car parts like doors, trunk openings and fuel tank covers, which require matching the design with adjacent panels. The wrap material can be lifted and reapplied multiple times during the installation.
The process also is suitable for store front window advertisement and rear windows of vehicles. That vinyl is perforated, which allows viewing from inside a vehicle or building. Unlike paint, a wrap can be removed. The time involved in creating a mobile advertisement or personalized auto design depends on the complexity of the design and the surface being covered. Rios noted that his KIA advertising Chuy’s Custom Sports took 18 hours to print, laminate and install, not including the roof. “We left the roof for the next day,” he said.
To continue reading this story by Anita Westervelt, visit the “Current & Past Issues” link on this website or pick up a copy of the April 2014 edition of Valley Business Report.