You can sign up and show off your installation skills in the 3M Bumper Wrap Contest at ISA! Contestants will apply a 2′ x 2′ graphic to an HHR bumper, and will be judged on time and quality of the installation. The graphics will be printed on Controltac Wrap Film with Comply v3 Adhesive IJ380Cv3, protected by Scotchcal Gloss Overlaminate 8580, both from 3M.

Every installer who participates will receive a prize, so join in!

All contestants receive a minimum $50 discount off training or testing/application.

Those who successfully complete the bumper wrap will receive a cool contest T-shirt and a $100 discount off tools, training or testing/application.
One Grand Prize winner will receive a cool contest T-shirt and an $800 discount off  Scotchprint Wrap Film Series 1080 from 3M, 3M installation tools, training or testing/application.

Avery Dennison, in conjunction with Mutoh America, will offer ten car wrap training sessions around North America in 2011 as part of its Car Wrap Training Program.  Master installer Justin Pate will teach the classes using Avery Dennison’s vehicle wrap materials, MPI 1005 Supercast Easy Apply RS, with Avery DOL overlaminates.

“We had an exceptional response to our joint vehicle wrap training program with Mutoh in 2010,” said Paul Roba. “We’re building on that success and tailoring this year’s program to serve the needs of the growing wrap business.”

Justin Pate, a globally recognized graphic installer, will teach all of the wrap classes utilizing Avery MPI 1005 Easy Apply RS, a popular choice with installers because it is easy to use and quick to install with excellent printability.

“Over my 15-year career, I have wrapped more than 2,500 vehicles,” said Pate.  “I developed my Universal Graphics Installation System (UGIS) as a result of that experience. UGIS is a fluid, easy-to-learn installation system that reduces mistakes and ensures quality, resulting in significantly lower install times.”

The Avery / Mutoh Car Wrap Training Program is designed to provide wrap installers with an in-depth understanding of graphic installation techniques to gain a competitive advantage in the vehicle wrap industry.

As a sponsor of the 2011 Car Wrap Training Program, Mutoh will provide printed graphics with their Mutoh ValueJet 1614-64. This printer is the “Wrapper’s Choice” for speed, size and quality. It includes the i2: Intelligent Interweaving Print Technique, a dot control system that virtually eliminates banding and increases quality of output.

The workshop consists of two days of training and an optional third day for a wrap certification test.  Training sessions will focus on all of the critical steps needed to improve the quality and speed of car wrap installations.  Class sizes will be maintained at a maximum of 15 students to allow for more one on one teaching.  The subjects that will be covered include:

·         Tools
·         Properties of the film
·         Removals
·         Cleaning
·         UGIS: Universal Graphic Installation System
·         Layout/Key Panel
·         Registration
·         Problem Solving
·         Hardware Removals
·         Post Install Tips

Participants of the class will receive an NT Cutter A-551P knife, Avery Toolkit including print media and laminate, and a Martor safety box.

Check out this video of sign maker Robert Lambie wrapping a truck using sign vinyl DRY! many people prefer wet applications, but a lot of the most experienced pros do dry wraps. Lambie says each 90″ x 48″ panel takes only two minutes to apply. Wow!

Digital Designware and the International Sign Association (ISA) are hosting the American Wrap Star contest for the first time at ISA Expo in Orlando, Florida from April 8 – April 10.

The contest will award $250,000 worth of prizes. 3M announced that it is the platinum sponsor of the event, providing 3M product as prizes, on-site support and demonstration, along with 3M Controltac Wrap Film with Comply v3 Adhesive IJ180Cv3 and 3M Scotchcal Ultra-Matte Overlaminate 8915 which will be used in the competition.

Dirk Moebes, CEO of Digital Designware and event director, explained, “Last October we held a similar event during the Viscom show in Duesseldorf, Germany with huge success and immense response. We are more than happy to co-cost the event at ISA. And we’ve garnered strong support from key sponsors, such as 3M. Without 3M as the platinum Sponsor, an event like this would not take place.”

The competition will consist of five rounds during the three show days. Wrappers will compete on speed and quality and will be judged by a panel of international wrap experts. Participants who survive the first round will be promoted to the next until only two remain.

A maximum of 128 wrappers can participate in the contest and all participants, regardless of ranking, will receive a prize. The prizes awarded to the top winners will include a flatbed applicator, vinyl cutter with camera system and software, digital printer, 3M materials and laminator. Those who are eliminated after the first round will still be awarded a package of vouchers for vinyl, overlaminate and other supplies, software and wrap tools worth nearly $1,800.

The current list of event sponsors includes 3M, Summa, Rollsroller, HP, Mutoh, Royal Sovereign, Corel, Pro Vehicle Outline, Cadlink, Digital Art Solutions, Yellotools, Image1Impact, Wrap Expterts and many others.

First Display is giving us an example of how to promote your vehicle wrapping business. Check out this excerpt for some tips.

Catchy graphics attract the attention of all passers by. The conventional methods of advertising such as putting fliers in newspapers, audio advertisements, and pamphlet distribution have become obsolete now. People do not have time to go through them and here is when graphics advertisement comes to the seen Car windows graphics is the catchy new way to attract people’s attention for the maximum time as visual memory is known to be longer than others.

There are a lot of business owners who put vinyl self adhesive large window graphics on their store windows and see the increase in the number of footfalls each day. People come in just out of curiosity when they are attracted to something and boost up your sales within a short time span.

Advertisers are increasingly using new innovative ideas of putting graphics on vehicle windows. Vinyl graphics are safe to be used on glass. Although, the calendared vinyl goes well on vehicle body but does not gel with glass. This is because the car windows are silicon polished and normal vinyl adhesives do not last for a long time on such surfaces due to intense heat and sunlight.

Be sure to check out our vehicle wrapping e-books.

I read an interesting article about how to vehicle wrapping as mobile advertising. It was written by a vehicle wrapping company. I want to offer an excerpt to it so that all of you vinyl installers out there can see how to position your service with potential customers:

Mobile advertising you say? Yes, take a strong look at vehicle wraps as a marketing tool for your business. A well designed marketing wrap on your vehicle or fleet will do a great deal for expanding your marketing dollars. One person can only make so much money through work. Leveraging assets in your business to create and maintain revenue is one key to success. One of the biggest assets we have in life is a vehicle, as a business owner using this asset can most likely help you tap into a resource which you have never before utilized.

Vehicle wraps are a form of mobile advertising and can be used to advertise your service or product. SS Graphics knows first- hand, this type of mobile advertising is growing quickly in popularity. This is because of the flexibility and mobility this form of marketing affords. Vehicle wrap ads, allow you to use your car, truck or your fleet. This gives you the excellent opportunity to get your sales message across to the public. While you are drive there are potential clients who happen to be driving right alongside you. We know you will get noticed with a full color, inviting vehicle wrap. If the vehicle is parked – your marketing message is still hard at work. Imagine if you are parked a clients’ place of business or their home, how many eyes are on the vehicle. Your number one sales person may be sitting in your parking lot.

Vehicle wraps can be compared to a standard billboard; however, this billboard travels with you, probably ever where you go. Vehicle wrapping is a fantastic tool in your marketing as it has high impressions on a daily basis. Your vehicle wrap has the potential to make sales for your company simply by being on the road with thousands of drivers viewing your ad.

Be sure to check out our e-books on vinyl installation and vehicle wrapping.

There’s an article over in India Business magazine about the benefits of commercial vehicle wrapping in business promotion. Are advertisers in this Asian nation beginning to catch on to what Western marketers have already figured out?

If you haven’t taken the time to develop your own marketing messages through press releases and web sites that feature the benefits of vehicle wrapping to advertisers, now is the time. VinylInsider can help you promote your vehicle wrapping business. Just give us a call.