Vehicle branding can cost from £100 to £3,000 per vehicle, but poor or corrupt livery can prove to be a huge cost to business.
Mediafleet, the fast-growing fleet livery and branding specialist, says vehicle branding is becoming ever-more important in the business battle, which is why it is helping fleets adopt a creative brand agency-style approach to design.
The business, which counts major fleets including E.ON, Milk & More, OCS, SSE and Wessex Water among its customers as well as leading contract hire and leasing companies, Alphabet, Lex Autolease and Zenith, says a brand should conjure up positive impressions in the mind of viewers, conversely poor branding has the opposite effect.
Barnaby Smith, managing director of Mediafleet, which provides businesses with a comprehensive brand design to fitment solution, said: “Companies are becoming very brand centric and Mediafleet has the creative skillsets to provide a design to installation service and project manage the entire rebrand.
“Vehicle advertising is proven to be the most cost effective for a business in attracting customers, but there are ‘golden rules’ to observe in ensuring fleet graphics are a brand and marketing winner.
“By contrast, poor vehicle branding is a real cost to business and could be draining profit from organisations.
“A clearly liveried fleet of company vehicles raises an organisation’s identity, boosts their marketplace profile and is calculated to generate a significant number of inquiries with industry research suggesting that more than 3,000 people per hour see a liveried vehicle operating in a busy area.”
So what does good branding look like? The tangible element of a brand is a logo and other consumer facing articles such as packaging, stationery and messaging style. That must all support the brand message the business is trying to deliver.
Subliminal messaging also plays an important part within the brand logo. This is when a subconscious impression is made of a brand and hence the company. One example is the Amazon logo with the orange arrow connecting the ‘A’ and the ‘Z’. It says the obvious - that Amazon will supply and deliver everything from ‘A’ to ‘Z’; but the orange arrow is also shaped like a smile. That subconsciously informs people that they will enjoy the Amazon experience.
Mr Smith said: “Consequently, branding should generate a ‘warm feeling’ towards a company that will drive sales and revenue. Therefore, the opposite must be true - that non-existent, poor or corrupted branding will impact on business opportunities.
“Unfortunately, driving across the UK, I note that company vehicle livery is a ‘hotbed’ of brand corruption. Vinyl graphics are frequently damaged and require replacement - too often returning a vehicle to the road in the shortest possible time after service, maintenance or repair comes at the expense of specialist livery repair/replacement. Fleet managers, under pressure to get a vehicle back on the road, ‘release’ it with graphics missing.
“Furthermore, poor vehicle branding design - a design may work effectively in 2D, but not in 3D taking account of vehicle curves and door openings - is also an issue. Vehicles are mobile billboards for companies but, in many cases, organisations underestimate the design and management of this media.
“The culmination of these shortcomings means businesses are losing money through poor vehicle branding and management. Lost business opportunities through brand corruption are a threat to company success and may well be draining profits.”
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Published: 11-09-2018