Securing Valuable Advertising Space with Removable Wall Graphics

Inkjet Printed Wall Mural

The name of the game in the beverage distribution business is branding and securing as much space as possible to advertise the brands at the point of sale, whether it’s in a beverage center, a bar or any other place that sells beer.

Inkjet Printed GraphicsOne of the hurdles to overcome when it comes to plastering an establishment’s walls with branding is the potential damage adhesive-backed graphics can do to it. One solution is Photo Tex from LexJet, a repositionable and removable printable fabric.

In the case pictured here, that’s what sold the job promoting Brown’s Brewing Company and Angry Orchard. The owner of the beverage center expanded his office, creating new walls that screamed out for branding.

Seeing an opportunity, DeCrescente Distributing proposed wall graphics. The owner hesitated, concerned about the potential damage to the wall.

“We proposed using Photo Tex, and explained that it would come off the wall easily without damaging it or leaving residue behind. That’s a big selling point for us,” says James Lane, DeCrescente graphic designer. “It also applies a lot easier than a typical adhesive-backed vinyl. It’s been up for a few weeks and we expect it will be up for a long time.”

Wall Graphics for Angry OrchardAs you can see from the photos, the design the DeCrescente graphics team came up with printed flawlessly on the print shop’s Epson GS6000 low-solvent printer, and provides an almost three-dimensional illusion of walking toward an actual brewery as you saunter down the aisle.

The new wall mural also promotes the growler taps that protrude from the office wall. Lane says that was an important element the customer wanted to highlight.

“One of the reasons he extended his office was so he could have keg coolers in there with the taps coming out of the outside wall. People can come in and fill up their growlers with the beer specials of the day listed on the white board, which is what he has on tap,” adds Lane.

Wall Wraps Before and After at the Boom Boom Room

Wall Graphics and Murals
The Boom Boom Room received a makeover courtesy of Heineken and DeCrescente Distributing with wall, elevator and door graphics printed on LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl.

Heineken wanted to make a big splash at a popular four-story tavern while making it easy to clean up all the splash-back from spilled drinks and such in the Boom Boom Room, a DJ-powered disco located on the fourth floor of the tavern.

Local beverage distributor DeCrescente Distributing, Mechanicville, N.Y., and its crack graphics design and installation staff took on the project, which required wraps on doors, elevators and walls of the Boom Boom Room.

Bar Makeover with Wall MuralsGraphic designer James Lane chose LexJet Simple WallCal (6 Mil) for most of the project, printing an entire roll to fill the space required, and scrim banner applied with LexJet Heavy Duty Banner Tape on one brick wall area. “That’s the other reason we went with those materials, because they spill drinks and throw stuff on the wall, so we wanted something that would take the abuse,” explains Lane.

“Heineken wanted that floor since they’re promoting their music series and did this as part of the sponsorship. The City Tavern wasn’t too keen on it at first since it had always been Budweiser, but when I was installing the project they changed their minds because they thought it looked great,” says Lane. “It took about 11 hours to apply it. This is not something you rush through; you have to take your time to get it right.”

Elevator GraphicsLane has been designing and installing graphics for years and has the process down to a science (his graphics department comrade Monty Pyle says Lane’s been doing this for “a reeeaaally long time”). While experience helps a lot, Lane says: “We all take pride in our work. We want to do a good job and we don’t stop until it’s done right. It’s better to take your time. I look at the room and get ideas so I know what I’m doing before I leave that room. It’s a matter of pre-planning the project ahead of time and taking exact measurements.”

The project was printed on DeCrescente’s Epson GS6000 low-solvent printer, and Lane says it took a couple of days to print and cut the graphics into the various panel sizes.

“Before I printed everything out I printed a section on the HP to see what the background would look like. It looked good on-screen, but when I printed it out it didn’t look so good, so I had to redo the background as far as tracing the lines and getting the colors right. We always make sure our images aren’t pixilated and are razor sharp before we go into production,” adds Lane.