bus wraps

Bus wraps really do work. You can use one for all sorts of marketing goals, such as building brand awareness, capturing leads and promoting a specific service or product. A bus wrap offers several marketing advantages.

Here are some figures to back that up:

• Out-of-home (OOH) advertising can generate about R35 in product sales for every dollar spent on marketing, according to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA).
• The OAAA also found that outdoor advertising can boost the reach of other marketing media. For mobile advertising, it can increase reach by up to 316%
• More than two-thirds (70%) of people say OOH advertising is very or somewhat likely to influence a purchase.
• Customers spend more than 70% of their time away from home, yet only 4% of media spending goes to OOH advertising.

Branded bus wraps are an excellent – and often overlooked – way to put your image in front of more people for a relatively modest cost.

A bus wrap is made up of several sections of durable vinyl decals that adhere to the side of the vehicle, covering it either fully or partly. They are fully customisable and offer far more options than a paint job. You simply can’t achieve the same results with a hand-painted finish as you can with a high-quality printed image. Bus wraps can even cover the windows with perforated decals.

You can find vinyl wraps on all kinds of vehicles, but bus wraps offer the most advertising space because of their size. They turn this large vehicle into your own moving billboard.

Think of all the occasions when people will see a bus wrap. Every time it stops, passers-by can look up at your eye-catching design, and so can drivers who get stuck behind it in traffic. Everyone eating at the cafés and outdoor seating along the bus route will see it, and even people rushing to work won’t be able to miss it.

A bus wrap is far less targeted than many other forms of advertising. When you buy ad space in a magazine, you only reach its readers, who might belong to a narrow demographic. With a bus wrap, you reach everyone in sight, regardless of who they are. You might reach people you would never have thought to target. Perhaps your product has wide appeal and you simply need to reach as many people as possible. Bus wrapping reaches all demographics.

Typically, you won’t do the installing yourself. We always recommend professional installation, and the process generally goes something like this:

1. The bus gets thoroughly cleaned. All dirt and grime must be completely removed so the decal has a smooth surface to stick to. This cleaning can include a chemical rinse to get rid of any waxy, oily or greasy residue. Any of these can make it difficult for the vinyl to adhere to the body properly.
2. An installer applies the panels individually. Panels come clearly marked for each section, and the installer or team of installers puts them on. They may use tools such as heat guns and squeegees to remove any air bubbles and ensure a tight fit.
3. The installer conducts a final inspection. This inspection should be thorough, so you know everything is covered and your wrap is up to standard before the bus leaves the workshop.

While we’ve compared a bus wrap to a mobile billboard, designing an ad for a vehicle is very different from designing one for a stationary display. There are new considerations, such as how the wrap looks when the doors are open and how readable it is at high speed.

We’ve written a whole blog post about bus wrap design, so do give it a read if you’re taking this approach. Here are a few of the biggest takeaways:

• Be bold. Large text, a bold design and bright colours can make your wrap stand out, especially when your competition is all those shiny, colourful cars on the road. Don’t be afraid to get creative with bus wraps, as those are the ads that get attention.
• Find exact measurements. Your designer will need the precise measurements of the vehicle. Damage and additions can make a bus’s actual dimensions differ from the manufacturer’s specifications. Always use the real, exact figures so you know what you’re working with.
• Think about context. A bus is more dynamic than most advertising mediums. It has windows and doors that open and close, components that must legally be left untouched, and a background that can change dramatically depending on its location. Your design must look good in every situation. Make sure it doesn’t create any unpleasant imagery, such as an exhaust pipe over a spokesperson’s face or an unfortunate word that appears when someone opens a window.