If you run your own company or organisation, vehicle branding can offer you an extra form of advertising. As you drive up and down the streets, people looking for the very products or services you provide will see it. Others, who may not have Google for what you offer or have thought much about the matter, may get a light bulb moment when they see your vehicle.
All this can be achieved by having a wrap that shows off your company’s logo, colours and maybe some extra detail of what it does. One only needs to stand by a busy street and watch the traffic go by to see how many others are doing it.
This can be applied to vehicles of all sorts of sizes. In recent weeks, many will have seen it on some very distinctive buses, these being the ‘battle buses’ of the various political party leaders as the general election approaches.
These are not ‘brands’ that are new or unknown and many people will have long since made up their minds about what they think of each of them, but parties use marketing
techniques in their campaigning as much as anyone, from the ‘buyer persona’ concept that saw the Conservatives target ‘Workington Man’ last time, or Labour woo ‘Worcester Woman’ in 1997.
Battle bus branding uses party colours and the key slogans of the campaign as clear messaging tools, just as you can.
What may be interesting, however, is that these are not necessarily custom-built buses that have been made just for the campaign, but pre-owned vehicles that have been bought and adapted. That means they may have a completely different livery from their previous owners.
For instance, in its report on the battle buses, the Independent reported that prime minister Rishi Sunak’s battle bus was previously the team coach for Oxford United Football Club.
That means the old livery would have been very different, given the club’s predominant colour is yellow, more suited to the SNP or the Liberal Democrats.
Of course, some may jest that any association is inappropriate, given that Oxford United has just been promoted and is therefore having a successful year, unlike the new owners of the bus. But jokes aside, what is very clear is that the vehicle has been given a complete makeover to transform its appearance and the identity and messaging attached to it.
This is particularly relevant to a small firm with its own wrapped vehicle. If you are planning to buy a vehicle that already sports the colours, livery and logo of its previous owner, either in paint or wrapping, you may wonder how easy it is to change to suit your firm.
Happily, the answer is it is not hard at all; a new wrap will completely cover all traces of what is on the original paintwork. Moreover, if the vehicle you obtain has a wrap associated with its previous owner, this can be replaced easily enough.
This is the good news about wraps. You can replace them as often as needed. That is very handy if your vehicle has had multiple previous owners and different wraps in the past. It also means you can change your own wrap if you decide to update your company logo, colours or other details. This is one of the great advantages of wraps over a paint job.
Because you can re-wrap a vehicle time and again, you also have the benefit of being able to replace damaged livery whenever necessary.
Of course, you do need to look after your wrap well to make sure it lasts; a wrap that is looked after well may last for up to nine years. But if it does get damaged or you do want to change the logo, can easily do so more often.
Thankfully, changing a wrap is also very simple. With the right equipment, the process of removing it and then putting on a new wrap is not hard and the new one will look as good and neat as the first wrap the vehicle ever had.
All this takes very little time and does not require anything like the same level of prep work. This is a further advantage over a paint job, as the time taken alone can be a major problem.
Having a vehicle for personal use off the road can be an inconvenience; a commercial one in such a situation will cost you money.
In short, not only can you change wraps many times, but you will find it so much more convenient to do so than having a vehicle repainted.
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