Advertising has had quite a tumultuous trajectory—especially since the advent of the internet and the ease with which people access information. The car wrap for small businesses is making a resurgence—in fact, it was never dead. Look around, famous campaigns—from encouraging people to have their butts checked (more on that later) to promoting shark week, to advertising an energy drink— have expressed their unique message on the sides of busses and company vehicles.
Here’s why it works.
The Car Wrap for Small Businesses
The need to find and reach out to new customers continues to be central to the success and growth of any small business. If you’re a brick-and-mortar shop, you rely on the local population to know and trust your brand when they require your services. So these are the people you want to target. And as the digital realm becomes overpopulated, small businesses are turning to what might seem like more traditional forms of advertising.
There is wisdom in tradition. A car wrap makes a difference because it operates under the central principles of advertising. It injects your brand into the world while following the proven fundamentals of an effective advertising campaign.
Advertising is a form of communication. So let’s take it back a notch.
The Fundamentals of Advertising To Employ On Your Vehicle Wrap
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when advertising became a necessary part of running a business, but with today’s saturated market, business owners know that they need to stand out from the clutter.
Several key names come up when discussing important advertising’s ascendancy, but here are some of the recurring principles that seem to work regardless of the advertising medium.
#1 Visual Consistency
So much of branding is about creating a consistent image that people associate with your brand. Take Apple, for example, the plain white background and the minimalist products have become synonymous with Apple’s refined approach.
#2 Creativity and taglines
Make a splash. Take a risk. Go bold! Creativity goes without saying, but sometimes the best advertisements use an element of surprise that really takes people’s expectations and shifts them into a new direction. Taglines work the same way, they provide a ‘hook’ that people latch onto and associate with your brand. Take Nike’s “Just do it” tagline. It’s simple, to the point, and it encapsulates an idea that works for Nike’s ethos.
#3 Simplicity
Sometimes less is more. Trying to target too many ideas or selling points at once will confuse people. Similarly, trying to put too many elements in your advertisements will lose the visual focus. The ads need to be narrow-focused and straightforward so that the central idea punches people in the gut (figuratively speaking).
All of these three principles (and more) can be applied by implementing a beautifully created car wrap for your small business. You get incredible visibility while seamlessly injecting your brand into people’s lives, their commute, their community, their stuck-in-traffic-hour, and their daily lives.
A Couple of Car Wrap Campaigns that Have Made the Books
The efficacy of vehicle wraps and bus wraps for advertising is evident by some of the most famous campaigns that have gotten people talking. When someone is driving down the road and your vehicle makes an impression, it is likely to be a far more profound impression than a quick ad they see on Facebook.
- The Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada
This famous Canadian bus wrap took creativity to a new level by showcasing passenger behinds through the window. Pedestrians and drivers would turn to see a bus with a bunch of passengers with their pants pulled down and mooning them through the window. How is that for eye-catching!? This campaign certainly accomplished its goal of getting people to think about getting their behinds checked for cancer—or at the very least talking and thinking about their colon health. It was a winning campaign for the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada.
- National Geographic’s Shark Week Bus
One of the early inventors of ‘binge-watching,’ (whether they know it or not) was National Geographic with their beloved shark week. The channel dedicates an entire week to educating people about sharks and retelling the magnificent story of these sea creatures and their mischievous behavior. In 2006, the channel sponsored a campaign where bus commuters had to walk into the open jaws of a shark to board the bus. It was a great way to promote the show Built for the Kill.
- The Red Bull Car
If there is one vehicle wrap that set the stage for brand-building, it was the Red Bull vehicles. The company is known for its creative guerilla marketing tactics that target their key demographics—namely young-ish people that need to stay up late or those looking for an energy boost. These cleverly wrapped cars promote the caffeinated drink by drawing attention on the streets and associating the drink with a high-energy fun time that gives you wings. You can’t advertise an energy drink with a low-energy ad, now can you? You gotta go big! And it seems to have worked quite well for Red Bull.
Have Your Small Business Stand Out with a Genius Car Wrap
The creative possibilities are endless. And not only do you get your unique message out, but you also get thousands of impressions every single day. Wrap Genius helps you with the details.
Car wraps are made out of specialized vinyl materials with strong adhesives. They are built to last and withstand weather, heat, rain, time, bird poop—you name it.
Have questions about car wraps? Need to have your business stand out from the competition? There’s no better way than going back to basics and showing people why you’re business rocks. Call Wrap Genius today.