Roping up Fabric Banners for Rodeos

Fabric Banners for a Rodeo

Special events are an increasingly important branding opportunity for the Nackard Companies and the beverage brands it represents in the Arizona market. As the beverage distributor’s experience with Dew Downtown, the annual snow-shredding competition through downtown Flagstaff, has illustrated, a successful and growing special event provides brand saturation beyond the point of sale.

This summer is rodeo season in Arizona, and Nackard is branding at four different rodeos. The first one of the summer started just three years ago and Nackard was there as a sponsor and a print provider from the beginning.

The Chuck Sheppard Memorial Roping event at the Prescott Frontier Days Rodeo Grounds brings calf and team ropers together to honor Chuck Sheppard, a famous horseman and roper, and to support various area scholarships.

Fabric Banners by the Nackard CompaniesWith an average of about 30 sponsors per year, Nackard’s job is to provide 3×8 banners to line the fences around the rodeo grounds. Steve Lalio, P.O.P. shop manager for the Nackard Companies, created a template that includes one of Nackard’s brands and one of the sponsoring companies.

The rodeo’s first request was for banners that wouldn’t make a lot of noise when they flapped in the breeze and struck the fencing. It seems the animals get a little spooked when that happens, and the last thing a roper needs is a spooked animal in the ring.

So, Lalio suggested LexJet Poly Select Heavy for the banners, and the solution worked. Though it’s a heavy, durable fabric, it doesn’t make a lot of noise against the fencing if it flaps around, or at least enough noise to get up the hackles of a bull.

“If every sponsor notices what we did with the banners, they’ll want the fabric material because they print well, look nice and are lighter than typical banner material,” says Lalio, who prints the banners on the shop’s Canon iPF8000S. “What’s also nice about the fabric is that we can run them without lamination, so all we do is print, put Banner Ups and grommets in the corner, roll them up and send them out.”

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.

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).

Holiday Spirit at the Point of Sale

Holiday Donation Train by Nackard CompaniesThe Nackard Companies recently partnered with a number of sponsors, northern Arizona police departments and area stores to help with a food, coat and toy drive this Holiday season.

This worthy cause is being set up around a Pepsi products display with 12-packs formed in the shape of a train. Shoppers can find out more from the informational flyers attached to the “train” and make their donations.

The Nackard Companies sales department, led by Daniel Josytewa, built the display and the P.O.P. sign crew printed the graphics that complete the “train” with printed wheels. All of the graphics, informational flyers and banners promoting the drive were printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polyproplylene.

Donation Train Display“For the indoor graphics we use a luster laminate to cut down on the glare from the lights, and outdoors we typically use a gloss laminate to give it a little more pop,” says Steve Lalio, shop manager. “We hand-cut each train wheel out and attached them to the display with double-sided tape. We’ve used adhesive-backed material before, and it looks great, but it ruins the packages.”

The “roof” of the “train” has a 1×1 frame with a sheet of 4×8 Coroplast and 6″-diameter PVC piping for the “smokestack.” The banners that point to the display are 3×10, the flyers are 11×17, the big wheel on the train is three feet in diameter, the smaller wheels are about 17″ x 17″ and the arms connecting the wheels are five feet and two-and-a-half feet long.

Toy Drive BannerThe display will be up and collecting donations, and thirsty patrons, through Christmas. “We’re trying to create displays that are simple and cost-effective, yet are effective in getting the information across,” adds Lalio.

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.

Printing for Dew Downtown Flagstaff: Year Two for Nackard Companies

Graphics and signs for special events
Dew Downtown Flagstaff was a huge success and Nackard Companies, a regional beverage distributor, pitched in with most of the signs and graphics for the event. Photo by Rick Eselgroth.

When you organize a big special event for the first time it’s a nail-biting white-knuckle ride from concept to completion. While the inaugural year may appear to be the most difficult, an event’s sophomore year may actually be the most difficult, particularly if that first event was successful.

In the case of Dew Downtown Flagstaff, success from its first year would breed a more ambitious approach to the second annual event, which took place earlier this month. One of the key players in both the inaugural and sophomore events was Nackard Companies, a regional beverage distributor, and its always-busy print shop.

Signs and graphics for a special event
Nackard Companies' print shop, led by Steve Lalio, also produced signs, table tents, flyers and banners for surrounding bars and businesses.

Nackard Companies P.O.P. shop manager Steve Lalio was knee deep in signage in the months leading up to Dew Downtown Flagstaff since his shop was in charge of most of the event graphics. As the event grew from last year, so too did Lalio’s responsibilities.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff brings terrain park skiing and snowboarding down from the mountains and into the city of Flagstaff, Ariz. The main event takes place on San Francisco Street in Flagstaff with a series of rails and jumps all the way down, including the centerpiece of the competitive ride, two super-sized Mountain Dew can course obstacles created by the Nackard Companies print shop.

While both “cans” were printed on and wrapped with LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene, one was laminated and the other given a polyurethane coating. It was a test of sorts for future events: which would take the abuse as competitors hucked, slashed and crashed into and onto the cans?

In the end, the polyurethane-coated graphics fared best, but were still sufficiently marred that the can can’t be used again at next year’s event. Ultimately, there is no way to make the graphics ski/snowboard-proof as competitors slice and dice their way through the obstacles. However, if you know of a better way to protect the graphics from the ravages of snowbound competitors, let us know about it.

Printing specialty graphics for an event
The Mountain Dew can that was part of the ski and snowboard course on San Francisco Street in Flagstaff printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene by Nackard Companies' print shop.

Nackard Companies produced a variety of banners, window signs and other event signage for the main venue as well as the various special event and promotion tents, such as the areas promoting Mountain Dew Kickstart and New Belgium beers, and surrounding bars.

For the bulk of the graphics surrounding the event, Lalio printed LexJet 8 Mil PolyGloss Banner, LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene and LexJet TOUGHcoat Self Adhesive Water-Resistant Polypropylene, laminated with either LexJet 3 Mil Gloss UV Premium Low Melt or LexJet 3 Mil Luster Standard Low Melt, depending on the application.