The wrap on this courtesy car hides the failing paint and a few body panels that were replaced with panels of different colors.
“This customer wanted the complete opposite of what we typically do,” says Doug. “The purpose wasn’t to advertise a business but rather this new Chevrolet pickup for the dealers. They said they wanted it really bright, and something really wild. We did a design that we thought was pretty wild, but they came back and said they wanted a little more. We kept the message bold but ramped up the color and graphics. It’s been on the road three weeks and they have already called to tell me it’s working even better than they hoped. So sometimes going over the top works, but you still have to be able to read the message.”
Doug did a partial wrap on his shop truck, but cut the gears from red vinyl and applied them over the wrap. He did that so he could show customers that effect when he planned to use it on their vehicle. Doug uses a Roland TrueVIS VG-640 printer cutter, a Roland SolJET XC-540 printer/cutter and a Royal Sovereign laminator.
This taxi was burgundy when it arrived at the shop. It was wrapped with yellow 3M film on top and black below, then the reflective checkers and black text was applied.
“This was the first wrap I ever did,” says Doug,”a partial wrap on a racecar back in 2006. I had no idea what I was doing, and the materials we use today for wraps hadn’t even been developed yet.”

Seven steps to succeeding at vehicle wraps

Success means bottom-line profits—not just no wrinkles

By signcraft

Posted on Tuesday, August 30th, 2016

There’s no doubt about it. Well-executed vehicle wraps pack a lot of potential for high-impact advertising. They are also potentially quite profitable for the sign business that makes them—provided you don’t make any of the common mistakes that can siphon off those profits.

It’s been said that experience is the best teacher, and most shop owners have learned a lot about selling, designing and installing vehicle wraps that way. It’s still a relatively new endeavor for most shops, so the learning process goes on for most of us.

Doug Downey did his first vehicle wrap in 2006 and has been doing them ever since. Doug’s shop, The Image Factory, is in Stratford, Ontario. SignCraft talked with Doug to get his opinion on what seems to be the most common challenges to being successful at vehicle wraps. “Successful”, of course, means not simply getting them installed without wrinkles, but doing them profitably and efficiently.


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