LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive PolypropyleneTag:

Posted on by Shellie Terry Posted in Tips & Tricks
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Easy Yard Sign Application, Even Without a Laminator

It’s that time of year when we start seeing yard signs popping up around town, thanks to the upcoming election season. Yard signs are a great money maker that you can add to your line of offerings to customers, whether they are for aspiring politicians or businesses that want to advertise their services.

Creating yard signs can be a snap, if you know some quick and easy tips, provided by LexJet Experience Center pro Michael Clementi. Check out the video above for a quick demonstration on how to print with either aqueous, latex or solvent ink, and how to apply the graphics to boards, even if you don’t own a laminator.

Products used in this video:

For more tips on printing election signage, see our blog: It’s Election Sign Season. Are You Ready?

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Dew the Graphics

 

Dew Downtown Flagstaff Signs
One of hundreds of signs and banners produced by the P.O.P. shop at Nackard Companies for Dew Downtown Flagstaff hangs in front of the main event.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff is gaining momentum, thanks in no small part to the work of Nackard Companies, a regional beverage distributor based in Flagstaff. Nackard Companies and its P.O.P. shop crank out hundreds of banners, signs and displays to brand the event while it’s in full swing and to promote it beforehand.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff BannersNow in its third year, the annual ski and snowboard festival is based around a slopestyle course on San Francisco Street in downtown Flagstaff.

As the event has grown, so has the number of tents and activities that surround the course. So, of course, the number of graphics required for the event has grown. Steve Lalio, P.O.P. shop manager for Nackard Companies estimates that they printed about three times more banners and signs for this year’s event than they did for the event’s inaugural in 2012.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff Fabric Banners
These banners leading into the slopestyle course at Dew Downtown Flagstaff were printed on LexJet Poly Select Heavy fabric.

“We printed about 40 banners just in one day. The event has really gotten a lot bigger in three years. There were about 20,000 people at the even this year; even my cousins came up from Albuquerque to see it,” says Lalio.

Dew Downtown took place the weekend of Feb. 8-9. Mild weather leading up to the event meant that most of the snow was man-made, though it snowed a few inches during setup the day before.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff Medals
Nackard Companies even provided the medals, which were printed on LexJet Extreme AquaVinyl. The backdrop was printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene and applied to Coroplast.

Most of the signage was printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene, laminated with LexJet 3 Mil Luster UV Standard Low Melt. Graphics applied to metal and Coroplast were printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene. A smattering of other banners and flags were printed on LexJet Poly Select Heavy Fabric, and all the graphics were printed with a Canon iPF8000S inkjet printer.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Technology & Products
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Pre-Event Promotion with Big Graphics at the Point of Sale

Large Inkjet Printed Store Banner

Dew Downtown Flagstaff is rolling like the proverbial snowball. Now in its third year, the event turns downtown Flagstaff into one long terrain park where boarders and skiers compete for prizes.

As the event gains traction and grows each year, the P.O.P. print shop at Nackard Companies pumps out increasingly more graphics year over year. This year, Nackard has also been printing pre-event promotions, the largest of which is currently hanging in a local Sam’s Club over a 400-plus case display of Mountain Dew beverages.

The graphic is 16 feet wide by 8 feet tall, double-side, divided into four sections to make transportation of the graphic easier. Printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene, the four sections are actually made up of six print panels, paneled together with double-sided tape.

“I used my ONYX RIP software to panel it properly before I printed it. Each panel is 35” x 8’: it was about six pieces total with a 1/2” overlap. I designed it at the final size and told ONYX to give me a 1/2” overlap,” explains Steve Lalio, P.O.P. shop manager. “I took the printed pieces, laminated it, trimmed off the excess and used double-sided tape to put it all together as one big banner. I also placed gray lines in the RIP to tell me where the four-foot sections were, and then cut it at each line for transportation.”

Lalio adds that they were trying to bridge the gap between a graphic that was too heavy and one that was too light. Originally, the customer wanted the graphic applied to Coroplast, but Lalio explained that it would make it too heavy. Fabric would have been too light, and Lalio wanted a material substantial enough to attach the 3D snowboarder to on the right side of the graphic.

Inkjet Printed Truck BacksLalio also reinforced the top and bottom with strips of 2’x 4′ Coroplast, which also acted as anchor when Lalio drilled the snowboarder into the banner. The snowboarder was printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene, laminated with LexJet 3 Mil Luster UV Standard Low Melt laminate, applied to a piece of Coroplast, and die cut.

Among other pre-event promotional graphics, Nackard also applied graphics the company’s Pepsi truck backs with LexJet Extreme AquaVinyl w/ PSA, laminated with LexJet 3 Mil Luster UV Standard Low Melt. Meanwhile, the shop is printing virtually non-stop for Dew Downtown Flagstaff, which runs Feb. 8-9.

Check back here for a recap of the graphics production for Dew Downtown Flagstaff sometime after the event. And, pray for snow (they could use more of the natural stuff for it).

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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No Windows? No Problem with Big Wall Graphics

Atlas Distributing Wall Graphics

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.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Promotions & Rebates
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LexJet Outdoor Aqueous Inkjet Media: Buy 3 Rolls, Get Another Free

Buy 3 rolls of LexJet outdoor aqueous inkjet media and get another freeFrom now until May 31, order four rolls of any of the LexJet outdoor aqueous inkjet media listed below and get the lowest-cost roll free. Or, put another way, buy three rolls and you’ll get another one free (the lowest-cost of the four).

All of these solutions feature a bright-white base that provides higher ink saturation for vibrant colors with additional scratch and weather resistance for producing photo-quality outdoor and indoor graphics…

For more information about this limited Buy 3 Get 1 Free promotion, as well as help finding the right product for the project, contact a LexJet customer specialist at 800-453-9538. This offer is not available online and is only good when you call in. Some restrictions apply.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Setting the Scene with Special Event Point of Sale Signage

Point of Sale Inkjet Printed Display for Corona

The Nackard Companies and its P.O.P. sign crew are well known for creating enticing displays for all kinds of special events, whether it’s the astronomical anomaly called a blue moon (tied into Blue Moon beer, of course), the annual Dew Downtown in Flagstaff, Ariz., or anything in between.

The Nackard Companies team always seems to come up with something different to help drive beer sales around these events. The most recent example was a collaborative project between shop manager Steve Lalio and account representative Anthony Copetillo for Cinco de Mayo.

The pair came up with a basic concept that would be translated for various Mexican beer brands and placed in a number of different locations. The two projects pictured here were created for Corona and Dos Equis.

Inkjet Printed Point of Sale Display for Dos EquisEach display included a number of elements, highlighted by a faux water tower and an airplane toting a banner with buckets of beer.

Copetillo built the water tower structure with a combination of plywood circles for the top and bottom, held in place with plywood slats, Coroplast and furring strips. The “roof” of the water tower was cut-out cardboard painted black and brown. Copetillo created a palm tree using cut-out and painted cardboard as well.

Lalio printed a banner on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene that was about 42 inches tall by 115 inches long, which Copetillo wrapped around the structure. For the Corona display, Lalio designed the piece with a wood-grain background and added the Corona logo. It looks strikingly real, which is a testament to what great design and printing can do for a display.

The airplane, which is about six feet long and has a 38-inch wingspan, was printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene, applied to Coroplast and cut out in the airplane shape. The banner the plane flies behind it, as well as the other hanging banners, were printed on LexJet 8 Mil PolyGloss Banner and laminated with LexJet 3 Mil Gloss UV Premium Low Melt. Lalio laminated these banners because the customer wanted to re-use them.