So you wanna be a wrap star?

For your average Joe and Jane the word ‘signage’ does not elicit any images of the cool factor or sex appeal—tell that to the rally cross drivers who are throwing up mud at more than 100mph in custom wrapped super cars. There is no doubt about it, the humble roll of vinyl has now been elevated to a level that has everyone from celebrity and football royalty through to your local estate agent having their vehicles customised as a physical extension of their personalities or marketing message. There is no doubt this is a lush and vibrant market, with customers there for the taking for the proactive business. But, and it is a big one—the expectations of customers in terms of application and print quality, as well as turnaround speed, means that breaking into wrapping, or growing your current footprint is not without its hurdles.

“There are some must avoids. Create yourself the headroom and time to learn the craft,” advises Paul French Metamarks’ chief executive officer, who adds: “Your first wrap is going to be an iterative process and it’s going to take you longer than you perhaps imagine until you have a feel for it. Avoid time pressures therefore and try to get a bit of practice in.

“I’d also urge you to avoid taking too big a leap with design that requires ultra-critical panel matching. Start with something very simple, the effect will still be huge, and work your way towards more complex jobs. The final obstacle to avoid is thinking you can’t do it. It may feel difficult and you may log a few fails. Persist though and you’ll achieve what you set out to learn. It’s all about hands-on. You can’t learn wrapping without getting immersed in it.”

French makes a valid point, one affirmed by Scott Mackay from one of the UK’s biggest vehicle wrapping specialists, Raccoon: “We have got to our current position by embracing a ‘let’s do it’ attitude—‘we can make this happen’. Our approach is to plan strategically, consult with our supp-liers, and then pull out all the stops to make sure we deliver on time and to the exact specification.”

Starting out with a team of two and a vinyl cutter, Mackay explains that this strategy of meeting deadlines and customer expectations no matter what is what has taken Raccoon from wrapping start-up to national player: “A case in point of where we are now is the annual Gum Ball Rally. Our team travels out to the start point, which is in Miami this year, where we need to prepare and then wrap more than 50 cars in fully digitally-printed wraps. Our team works in shifts 24 hours a day just off the starting grid and we throw everything we have at it to make the client happy.”

Returning to Metamark, it is one of the largest suppliers of vinyl and accessories for colour-change and digitally-printed graphics applications in the UK. Indeed, the company has long been at the forefront of the campaign to market vehicle custom-isation as a service to the UK public, helping to stimulate a fashion trend that is now becoming a far more common sight on our roads and highways. French continues, proffering his advice to sign-makers considering a diver-sification move into vehicle wrapping: “My advice would be, ‘do it’. Wrapping is a commercially attractive area of the market to exploit and it elevates the status of the companies that do it. Wraps, well done, can attract premium pricing and actually help put a price on creative content. Wraps are likely to generate so called ‘collateral demand’ too. Someone sees a wrap and wants something like it for themselves. Practical matters have to be considered of course. It’s a hands-on skill to learn. Time invested will be well repaid though.”

Another key area that leaves many fledgling ‘wrap stars’ failing to get their careers off the ground is failing to do enough research on the vast range of materials on offer to this sector. Ten years ago there was a very small range of similar materials from a small number of suppliers. This meant you could be fairly confident your competition was not going to out-perform you. Today there is a staggering range of colours and special effects to choose from, and perhaps most importantly there is also the factor of application attributes that significantly influence how quickly you can apply, and remove, graphics. French highlights Metamark MD-X as a case in point, designed as a premium ‘high-performance’ product that aims to optimise print quality and minimise wrapping times.

Hardware considerations

Getting your wrapping bay right, being fully trained, and swatting up on the latest materials and their application scope is just one side of the coin; if you want to really get into vehicle graphics then choosing the right wide-format kit is vitally important. One supplier that specialises in helping sign-makers found a wrapping wing is Radecal, which has outlets in both Tyne and Wear, as well as Aylesbury. The company is a re-seller for Roland DG and also sources second hand machinery for customers with a tight budget.

“There are a number of key considerations to think about. If money is not a limiting factor then I would advise sign-makers to go as wide as possible, as early as possible,” says managing director Chris Economides, who adds: “There is no point starting out with a 30" machine and then trying to get into doing full panel wraps, as you will need to print it in more than one piece and fit it together, which will add a lot of difficulty and time to a job. If you can afford it, go straight for a 64" machine like the Roland SolJet Pro 4 range, then you can get the graphics done in one piece. I would also advise spending a lot of time getting your systems running smoothly and practicing on your own vehicle until you are perfect before attempting a project."

A special touch

A further consideration for any wrap business is the market they want to target. This is because with limited scale and equipment it might be worth  specialising in one key area before branching out to encompass a wider remit. One very high return area is special effects or full colour change wraps, something that sector supplier APA knows a lot about—it stocks one of the largest ranges in the world. The company’s sales manager, Scott Cowup, marks out a recent project that saw Oakley Design and Premier Signs of Colchester partner up to carry out a Black Chrome wrap on a LP760 Lamborghini Aventador for a Kuwait Royal. Taking five days to wrap this king of super cars, this type of project is certainly good work if you can get it, and an example of the type of work that is in touching distance with the right training and kit. Touching on the latter, APA provides full support and education to both well-established and new customers.

O Factoid: The vehicle wrapping sector took off in the late 1990s when a combination of advances in the conformability of vinyl technology and printing technology made the first full-colour digital wraps possibleO

“Companies starting up in this arena have to understand this is not some-thing you can just dabble in. You have to focus on wrapping and really gear up for it,” counsels Cowup, adding: “You have to start with your premises, as the temperature at which you apply vinyl is absolutely critical. It needs to be between 17 and 23 degrees in the room where you are wrapping, and it has to be completely clean and dust free. I would also suggest, in addition to good overhead illumination, investing in really good low-level lighting about a foot of the floor. If you don’t do that then mistakes will creep in and you won’t see them.”

Build for the future

Speaking to a number of wise industry heads, one piece of advice that seems to be universal is to call upon your material and machine suppliers and utilise them as a resource in your new wrapping business—they can supply you with targeted training, in-depth knowledge on material applications and limitation, and even the best production and business models to adopt. One final factor of consideration is to avoid some well documented pit-falls.

“You can source cheap imported films  but these may cause you a lot of pain in the long run. These low-end polymeric materials only stretch in one direction and are prone to bad shrinkage after application, which will ruin your reputation quite quickly,” warns Brett Gregory, general manager of specialist vinyl, wrapping films, and digital media specialist, Greenstik Materials.

He continues: “For full and partial wraps I would always recommend cast vinyl as it is far more conformable. Polymeric options are really only good for flat surfaces. That is not to just bump the price up; it’s because to run a business in this sector with a sustainable future each and every wrap needs to look as if it has just been finished years down the line—you just can’t cut corners.”

With all these guiding thoughts now under your belt, he concludes by echoing the thoughts of his supplier peers in explaining that vehicle wrapping is a market that is ripe for the picking—just do it.