Yard signs are a quick and easy solution for temporary graphics as well as election year signage, which will be gearing up soon. And that means more demand for signage, such as banners, yard signs and posters.
When it comes to yard signs, there are a few tips to keep in mind in terms of what content to include, color and design and the proper material to print to. Here’s what you need to know, and some tips you can pass along to your customers:
In a previous post we discussed how big, bold graphics on the exterior of a retail location set the stage for interior point-of-sale graphics that reinforce the message and drive consumers to the brands inside. In that particular case, rows of big windows provided the perfect branding palette.
If you don’t have any windows to work with, walls will work just as well, as this recent project by Atlas Distributing illustrates. It’s a 48-foot long and four-foot high super graphic promoting Coors Light that ties in with the local favorite and Stanley Cup contending Boston Bruins.
Located on the outside of a local bar-and-games establishment, graphic design manager for Atlas Distributing, Brent Lee, says, “The side of the building faces a high-traffic area and a parking lot, so customers and others driving by can’t help but see it. They see Coors Light outside and then we reinforce it inside. They might have gone there just to play a couple of games, but they see the sign and it plants the seed that maybe they’ll have a beer with their friends.”
Lee adds that Atlas Distributing’s solid point of sale work on the inside helped secure the space on the outside. Lee took graphic elements provided by MillerCoors corporate, rearranged and stretched them out for a pleasing and appropriate super graphic, and brought a proof of the design to the account.
Needless to say, the client loved the concept, approved it and Lee got to work printing out the graphics in panels on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene with a Canon iPF9400. Lee applied to polypropylene to six sheets of Coroplast. “I just line up the edge of the print with the edge of the Coroplast. There really is no trick other than making sure you’re slow and steady when you apply it,” says Lee.
Meanwhile Atlas Distributing merchandisers drilled anchors into the wall to which the decorated Coroplast panels would be applied. This method will allow Atlas Distributing to quickly replace the graphics when the time comes.
What’s the point of point-of-sale advertising? As the term “point-of-sale” implies, it’s to drive more sales. In the beer market, there are a number of ways to do that, whether it’s focusing on pricing, special promotions or branding.
For Tennyson Lacasio, print shop manager for Colonial Wholesale Beverage in North Dartmouth, Mass., it’s all about driving sales with displays that make potential customers stop, look, think and buy.
The project pictured here for Landry’s Liquors did exactly that as part of last year’s St. Patrick’s Day promotion for beers brewed by Diageo: Guinness Draught, Guinness Extra Stout and Smithwick’s Ale.
“Those three front windows face the main road, so you can’t help but notice the display. There were people stopping by just to look at the sign, which brought Landry’s more business for those brands,” says Lacasio. “They kept the display up through July 4 because it was getting so much attention and the owner said the sales of those brands went up. It was definitely an impact display and high-quality advertising for the store itself.”
The display was created in three panels for each of the front windows, printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene, applied to Coroplast and laminated with LexJet 3 Mil Matte UV Standard Low Melt laminate.
“We didn’t have to wrap the laminate around the edges of the Coroplast since the panels are placed inside the window and there’s no danger of moisture getting in between the laminate and the print. The matte is popular because it cuts down on the glare so you don’t lose the image from different perspectives,” explains Lacasio.
Lacasio adds that this is one of the most intricate designs he’s created, especially when it came to finding and working with all the different varieties of leprechauns from which to choose.
“I found that there were two basic types of leprechauns: cartoon and scary. We obviously went with the cartoon style. From there, I had to find those that matched from a compositional style and then properly crop and size them so they fit with the overall design,” explains Lacasio.
They say everyone loves a parade, but be that as it may, Nackard Companies used a recent Christmas light parade in Flagstaff, Ariz., to promote the city’s upcoming Dew Downtown Flagstaff.Dew Downtown Flagstaff is an annual freeride ski and snowboard competition that plows through San Francisco Street, Flagstaff’s main drag. The course is strewn with urban obstacles – cars, tires, rails and barrels – which competitors navigate to the finish line, winners awarded with medals made by Nackard Companies with LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene applied to metal.
Medals aren’t the only thing Nackard Companies and the beverage distributor’s P.O.P. shop manager Steve Lalio will make for Dew Downtown Flagstaff. Besides hundreds of signs for the event, Lalio also plans to wrap one of the 55-gallon barrels being used as an obstacle so it looks like a Mountain Dew can.
“They’ll put the barrel in the ground and put snow on top of it, so when the skier comes – they’re jumping over cars, tires, handrails and other urban obstacles along the way – this will be one of the obstacles they hit,” says Lalio, who adds that the event, which takes place Feb. 9-10, is open to skiers and snowboarders and practically all ages.
To make the event bigger and better each year, luring more sponsors and crowds to Flagstaff, the promotions are being ramped up. One of those promotional opportunities the Nackard Companies was involved with was the Christmas light parade. Nackard Companies decorated the Dew Downtown Flagstaff “float” with banners along the side, a Coroplast skier finishing a ramp ride and a large logo with the basic facts about the event.
Lalio printed everything on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene. The prints weren’t laminated, except for the big logo circle since that particular piece will circulate around town at street corners and businesses to continually promote the event in town. The extra time out in the weather and the repeated handling necessitated the addition of the LexJet 5 Mil Luster Standard Low Melt laminate.
For more information about Dew Downtown Flagstaff, go to www.dewdowntownflagstaff.com/, and to read about last year’s event and what Nackard produced for it, click here.
The cooler wrap is tried and true for selling beer at the point of sale. It becomes even truer when you can translate it to any room in the house, so to speak, and create a branding background that gives your brand the highest visibility.
Tennyson Lacasio, sign shop manager at Colonial Beverage in North Dartmouth, Mass., took the inkjet printed cooler wrap to the next level with two recent projects at local liquor stores. Both projects were printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene and laminated with LexJet 3 Mil Matte UV Standard Low Melt.
Lacasio says he laminated the prints first (each project had anywhere from three to 12 printed panels) then applied the laminated pieces to Coroplast. This method helped hide the ridges that normally show through when you apply the print material directly to Coroplast before laminating.
“When you run print material through the laminator directly to Coroplast it bonds so closely that it shows the creases in the Coroplast. When I laminated the material first, it gave it a nice, fine, seamless finish,” says Lacasio.
Also seamless was the paneling, particularly on the Blue Moon background display. Lacasio says this was mostly due to the fact that the wall he applied the panels to in the new building was perfectly square. Moreover, and most importantly, this 12′ x 19′ Blue Moon mural did its job rather effectively.
“You see it right off the bat when you walk into the store. The walls are light blue, which complements the graphic and draws your eye to the back of the store. The owner just wanted to do one brand, which allows you to focus on the strong points of the brand,” says Lacasio. “The image is not pixilated at all and it’s very impressive to stand right in front of it. After we installed it, people were walking out of the store with Blue Moon and they commented on the enticing feel of the image.”
As per usual Lacasio paid special attention to brand details in the designs, including such minutia as the types of glasses in which you serve the beers.
The other two wall murals – featuring Coors Light, Miller Lite and Leinenkugel’s – are on either side of a walk-in cooler door. The Coors Light mural, themed as an American fall, is 8′ x 13′. The Miller Lite/Leinenkugel’s mural, themed as a German Oktoberfest, is 8′ x 10′.
“Fortunately, they’re placing a minimal amount of cases at each display and replenishing them regularly so that you can see most of the display from just about anywhere in the store,” says Lacasio. “I had huge canvases to work from, which makes all the difference in wall branding graphics.”
Give the people what they want is an excellent phrase to keep in mind when you’re designing anything. In the case of Douglas Liquors in North Attleboro, Mass., the owner – who happens to be English – wanted to immerse his customers in a traditional London tavern.
Colonial Beverage’s sign shop manager, Tennyson Lacasio, was happy to oblige. Lacasio did some research and brought all the elements of a vintage pub to the fore: stone walls, barrels, candle and lantern lighting, and so forth.
The tricky part is combining a themed décor-like cooler wrap with the necessary branding. And, as you can see by the design and the accompanying photos, Lacasio expertly and seamlessly worked the beers Colonial Beverage sells into the picture.
“The only things I snuck in that were modern were the Blue Moon and Coors neon signs, but all the other brands were given a more vintage, aged look. Still, those neon signs worked well and did not distract from the theme, and that was most important to the owner,” says Lacasio.
The 44.5″ x 46′ cooler wrap was printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene, laminated with LexJet 3 Mil Matte UV Standard Low Melt, and applied to Coroplast.