Bus Wrap Advertising
Bus Wrap advertising is a form of advertising that involves images, messages, or other information being displayed on the side of a moving vehicle. The result is a mobile advertisement that travels across distances, exposing a great number of people to the advertisement. Wrap advertisements are mobile billboards. Advertisers often place them on buses, trucks, trains, and, at times, cars.
There was a time when creating a wrap advertisement meant painting directly onto a bus, train, or truck. Now, advancements in digital printing and vinyl technologies have changed that. Advertisers prefer designing wraps digitally and printing them on vinyl. Vinyl offers a less permanent solution than paint, making it more appealing to bus companies.
There have been several advancements in vinyl technology that strongly benefit the vinyl wrap industry. The industry developed a type of vinyl with tiny beads on the adhesive surface that prevent it from bonding permanently until activated. This feature allows you to reposition the vinyl on a surface while creating the wrap. Once everything is in place and where the designer, advertiser, or bus company wants it, professionals apply heat to the vinyl, in turn melting the beads away and adhering the vinyl to the surface.
Developers have created different applications to enhance the usability of vinyl wraps on large vehicles like buses. For example, advertisers use perforated vinyl sheets on windows, displaying a message from a distance while allowing light to pass through up close. This innovation enables the application of stunning full-scale images across the entire side of a bus without needing to remove sections for windows. From a passenger standpoint, the effect is a sort of screen. The vinyl diffuses direct sunlight, yet passengers can still see out the window.
Marketers consider wrap advertising a highly effective form of outdoor advertising alongside billboards and mobile billboards. In a recent study, 97% of those who saw a mobile billboard via a vehicle wrap recalled it. Another study reported a 107% increase in sales due to a mobile billboard campaign.
There are some regulations and public concerns surrounding wrap advertising. First and foremost, there are several regulations regarding how you can use wraps on windows. Regulations strictly prohibit using any decal or advertising material on a bus windshield that could impede the driver’s visibility. Some locales have also moved to ban such advertisements, citing that mobile advertisements could contribute to traffic issues such as congestion, distraction, and moving violations. In New York City, where mobile advertisements are restricted, non-motorized vehicles can still display advertising messages. As a result, many advertising companies bypass the motorized vehicle wrap ban by placing ads on bicycles. These bicycles continue to circulate the message, though not as powerfully as a bus might.