Out-of-home advertising in India is no longer a simple affair. Today, digital billboards are enabling companies to connect to the elusive consumers in captive environments, including retail, transit, cinema and office locations.
More recently, the country?s superfast, fully airconditioned Rajdhani Express got international. Well, at least in terms of advertising. The ministry of railways, under a project extended to Peacock Media, went in for wrapping 20 Rajdhani trains? exterior with advertising commercials of Airtel. Gatwick Express of London and Acela Express of the US boast of similar signs and graphics.
The Indian feat was made possible with graphics and print solutions from Hewlett-Packard (HP) playing a key role in giving our trains a new look.
With technology giving the wrap concept a major push, it could do wonders for companies into travel, entertainment, fashion, financial and food products, say trend watchers. The Gatwick Express is a non-stop rail air link between Gatwick Airport to central London, offering the same out-of-home (OOH) advertising opportunity?where the advertisement is plastered across the train?s exterior. Somewhat similar is Amtrak?the US? financially struggling railroad?that found great financial sense in turning its Acela Express, the railroad?s premium Boston-Washington service into a moving billboard.
But these are case studies from the mature markets, where one has already decoded the process of managing and maintaining a train wrap?a problem Paresh Shetty and his team faced when Peacock Media approached them for the country?s maiden train wrap project. The assignment was to develop a vinyl print of 700 metre by 10 feet and cover 18 compartments. The task was made simple with HP Scitex TJ 8,500 printers.
?In this era of digital printing, fleet graphics and wrap around have given a new dimension in harnessing opportunities in media. Our biggest job was to have vinyl prints that could stay for long and withstand all kinds of weather conditions, vandalism, etc,? recalls Shetty, country manager, graphics imaging business, HP-IPG.
In a vinyl wrap, the surface preparation involves substrates of higher intensity along with an antistatic coating, to brave different weather conditions. The company had an in-house team of professionals, who were trained by leading substrate manufacturers for the application.
?It took us around 5-6 hours to print the complete vinyl for the train on our two HPScitex Turbojets UV machines. It took another 10 days to prepare the surface and apply the vinyl. We printed around 30,000 square feet of vinyl for the entire train,? says Sandeep Chawla, chairman and MD, Peacock Media.
?We have the necessary equipment to apply and further maintain this application. This application has been globally popular and sourcing of the appropriate media was not a challenge. The only challenge was to identify and test the appropriate media (substrate), which would be suitable for the Indian weather conditions,? says Chawla.
He adds, ?We insisted on eco-friendly inks. Besides, it had to suit our exterior coach conditions, as they are very different and uneven when compared to those abroad.?
Chawla was more confident on HP as a partner because of the technology the latter had, along with its desire to try out the concept on Indian trains. The mandate was to make fully-coloured, vinyl graphics wrap around the individual train coaches with the copy explaining the commercial, company logo and making for an attractive visual. The HP Scitex TJ8500 delivered the requirements optimally.
?The printer delivers a powerful combination of high throughput, cost-effective production and high output quality. This made it easy for us to fill capacity and add high-margin applications to the offerings. Printing up to 4,300 square feet in one hour with sharp small text (down to 8-point), on a wide choice of supported substrates?all was possible with it,? says Chawla.
The media versatility of the HP Scitex TJ series gives one a real competitive advantage over traditional printing processes, says Shetty. ?The printer gives flexibility to print anything from just a few copies to high-volume jobs. For close-viewing applications, one can print sharp text even on uncoated and inexpensive materials. Support for a wide range of media, including low-cost materials such as uncoated paper, banner and self-adhesive vinyl, helps one reduce printing costs and improve margins on many printed products,? he explains.
Largely, the image in a wrap must be kept graphically interesting. This was what Peacock Media was looking for. And, the train is just a vehicle.
Sometime back, Yahoo! began an ad campaign with wrapped taxis in New York City. These cabs featured wireless web access inside. Head & Shoulders and Sony have video monitors inside their wrapped cars to enhance the interactive display.
Various reports show that vehicle wraps or fleet graphics deliver the most effective cost per impression compared to other forms of advertising. In the western countries, it was estimated at about $70 every impression. This is high, compared to a four-colour, full-page ad in a magazine (at about $21.45), one-third page ad in the newspaper at about ($19.70) and a 30-second TV commercial ($18.15). Though a typical ad campaign could be there for a month to a year, wraps can last up to five years. The process of vehicle wrap could cost anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000, with production and installation costs separate.
Vijay Singh, MD and co-promoter, 141 Sercon thinks with the wrap concept catching up in India, the costs could decline in the future.
?At present, the cost to execute a train wrap in India is higher than other markets. These are projected to hit a downward spiral over the next few quarters, as more operators would step up the printing infrastructure. The city-based options are likely to be in high demand as they address a larger captive audience. Here, one will see city buses and taxis score over the trains, since this is an alternative to city hoardings. The recent addition of modern fleet of buses and taxis will fuel this growth,? he states.
The wrap concept could lead to innovative machines and materials too. For now on, digital printing is enabling companies to launch advertising platforms that generate higher revenues.