Wide Tech Skills

Freedom of expression is more mobile than ever, traveling on four (and sometimes 18) wheels. Ad agencies have given the outdoor medium another chance, wrapping vehicles to help client messages move and rise above the clutter of fixed billboards that tend to blend. Ever evolving print technologies have allowed more commercial printers to get into large-format graphics and vehicle wraps.

Wrap advertising on cars, trucks, vans and trailers is a booming medium. Statistics show that eight of 10 Americans walk in a town, city or downtown area an average of some six miles per week. Pedestrian and automotive traffic represents a significant reach opportunity for advertisers. The Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Measurement (www.tabonline.com) reports that vehicle advertising can generate from 30,000 to 70,000 sightings per day.

TAB also reports that the cost of mobile advertising is lower than a billboard in a high-traffic area: An ad client might pay as much as $45,000 for a billboard on say, California’s Santa Monica (405) Freeway, but a truck with a wrap costs maybe $10,000 for the same time span. More than nine of 10 people notice words and pictures when displayed on 40×12´ trucks, according to the American Trucking Assn. The Las Vegas strip has become a hotspot for message-bearing trucks that pace back and forth all day. Some advertisers even are paying regular consumers hundreds of dollars per month to wrap their cars and simply drive—to work, to the store, to the kids’ soccer practice.

As custom-decked-out cars, trucks and buses increase, the number of billboards is decreasing as cities clamp down on new billboard approvals. This past July, city commissioners deferred a vote on big advertising mural legislation in downtown Miami.

Nearby, large-format printer Giant Imaging is a branch of one of the largest sign manufacturers in South Florida. Founded in 1981, the firm has mastered the technical skills necessary in substrates and inks for wide-format print applications. Today, the company has 40,000 sq.ft. of manufacturing space capable of generating 1,960 sq.ft. of graphics per hour with resolutions up to 1440 dpi. It specializes in grand-format printing for indoor and outdoor applications, such as vehicle wraps/graphics, lobby murals, posters, floor graphics, banners, building wraps, wallscapes, billboards, stage backdrops, job-site billboards, light boxes, dimensional signage, exhibit displays, banner stands and trade show graphics.

Utilizing a super-wide EFI/VUTEk UltraVu 3360, Giant’s 35 employees produce seamless images with large, 10´ output widths. For grander graphics, such as outdoor banners, they seam together the 125´´ sections.

Along with indoor and outdoor signage, POP displays and large posters, most of Giant’s vehicle graphics are printed on the super-wide UltraVu printer, installed five years ago, and some are now printed on a 60´´ Mimaki JV3-160/CG-160 FX solvent-based inkjet plotter installed this past summer.

The new machine from Mimaki USA uses four heads to print on inexpensive untreated media at twice the speed of its predecessor model: up to 422 sq.ft. per hour at 360×360 dpi (4×2) and photo quality print modes up to 1440×1440 dpi. It includes an option for 4-color (two sets of CMYK) or 6-color printing (CMYKLcLm) for greater color versatility. The manufacturer’s solvent cleaning solution lets printers switch between solvent ink and Mimaki’s mild solvent 2 ink.

The versatile VUTEk super-wide, piezo (drop-on-demand) inkjet printer also is available in 6- and 8-color modes, enabling printers to change from solvent and dye-sublimation solvent inks at the flip of a switch—eliminating the need for multiple dedicated systems, additional manpower and increased floor space. Giant’s 4-color version features 360×360 dpi resolution and can produce up to 1,600 sq.ft. per hour at 300 dpi on roll-to-roll and textile substrates. Up to 720-dpi resolution—critical for more up-close viewing—is an available option.

Giant also has a third large-format device for indoor application—a 60´´ HP DesignJet 5500 thermal inkjet printer, added in 2003, that uses dye-pigmented and UV inks—as well as a 62´´ Titan film laminator, a 60´´ Seal liquid laminator, a Gerber Odyssey vinyl plotter and a Gerber Edge 2 thermal transfer printer.

The company obtains its templates from Pro Vehicle Outlines, which offers more than 7,300 for just about every car sold in North America for $600.

The printer runs 3M inks and materials to produce a variety of graphics. The 3M Matched Component System Warranty—one of the strongest in the graphics industry—is available for electrostatic, piezo inkjet and thermal inkjet printing devices, including HP and VUTEk’s. 3M graphics can withstand harsh outdoor conditions while maintaining excellent image quality. For fleet applications, the 3M promise (in the unlikely event of a graphics failure) covers the cost of removing the failed graphic and the remanufacture and reapplication of the replacement graphic. For all other applications, 3M covers up to twice the material value plus up to an additional 20% to help cover additional costs.

ONLINE: www.efi.com/vutek, hp.com/go/graphicarts, mimakiusa.com, solutions.3m.com/en_US and digitalauto.on.ca