Box Truck Wraps are a Single Cost Investment.

Unlike other forms of advertising, box truck graphics are a one time purchase. Traditional advertising like radio, television, and billboards are all recurring costs to your advertising budget. Over time, those dollars add up, draining your ad spend. The beauty of wraps is that you don’t have to pay the wrap company for the privilege of showing your brand identity on your own vehicle on a contract basis. In short: you spend one time, and then you reap the rewards of added exposure. If you own or lease your truck - you more than likely will drive it for 3-5 years. Your brand message will be visible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Try and get that type of visibility with traditional advertising.

Drive New Leads and Sales

A blank delivery box truck or service box truck driving around the streets is a colossal wasted opportunity. Leads and prospects are all around you, all the time, as you drive the roads of metropolitan areas.

• According to OAAA “58% of all consumers have gone online as a direct result of seeing an OOH ad.”
• One vehicle wrap can generate between 30,000 – 80,000 impressions daily.
• Cost Per Impression (See chart below)

You can track the leads driven by box truck wraps by using a dedicated phone line and web URL to track contacts and then formulate your real world ROI (return on investment). Most studies on the impression rate of vehicle wraps will set the cost at about .17-.35 per impression.

Brand Recognition

A funny thing happens when you wrap your company box truck: all of a sudden people know who you are. We’ve had plenty of customers with only one or two wrapped vehicles report back that their customers think their fleet is larger than it is. Recognition happens for two reasons.

First, you’re no longer blending in with the masses of unmarked company vehicles driving on the roads. By taking the easy step of wrapping your box truck, you’ve erased the all-white blank canvas and filled it with your brand. Assuming your brand identity is clear and easy to remember - you’re immediately on your way to standing out from the crowd.

Second, your box truck more than likely travels in a similar service area or on the same roads on a day-to-day basis. The people and businesses on that route will start to see your box truck wrap with increased frequency and your brand will become familiar to them. Smaller companies can make massive improvements and gain visibility by wrapping their box trucks with their brand identity. The perception of a larger fleet, even if you only have one truck is priceless.

Customer Reassurance and Professionalism

Not only are box truck wraps a cost-effective way to drive new sales opportunities and reach potential prospects, But they’re an effective way to reassure customers you’ve already acquired. Delivery trucks without any box truck graphics are unprofessional. Even worse, some companies have trucks with old and peeling or even crooked box truck graphics. You know what they say about first impressions - you only have one shot, so you better make it count. Customers want to feel reassured that the company they hired is professional.

Think of box truck graphics as an extension of the company appearance policy or the use of uniforms: customers feel reassured when a professionally wrapped box truck arrives with their delivery or service purchase. You wouldn’t want your employees showing up to an appointment with an unkempt appearance or a stained white t-shirt. Why should your company vehicle be any different? A wrapped box truck tells your prospects and customers that you’re reputable and official.

Circumvent Sign Code Ordinances

An overlooked advantage of box truck wraps is the ability to hack sign code ordinances. In many municipalities, traditional signage is becoming harder and harder to permit. Many sign codes are overreaching, and it can be difficult to erect large signs on the premise of a building. Even if you don’t live in an area with draconian sign ordinances, you can add another massive billboard to your property anytime you're not driving by parking your wrapped box truck in the front of your business. A box truck is the size of a billboard and thus, can be used as such when it is not driving around on a service route or a delivery route.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, as most any vehicle fleet with a need for box trucks can find value in wraps. However, some of the most common vertical markets we service are:

• Last Mile
• Big Box Retailers
• Appliance Leasing and Delivery
• Plumbing
• Moving and Storage Companies
• Rental Fleets
• Governments
• Landscape and Lawncare
• Construction
• Remodeling
• Roofing
• Catering
• Vending and Snack Companies
• Education Operation Departments
• Nonprofits

A box truck wrap needs to establish direction and intent. Before you ever consult with a company for box truck wrap designs, you will need to decide what the function of the wrap is. More often than not box wrap design will be categorized into one of the three following areas:

Now that we’ve established a clear direction and intent, it’s time to discuss some common wrap design pitfalls. The golden rule of wrap design is: less is more. Try and think about some of the box truck wraps you might have seen recently. Chances are if you can remember a specific truck, the messaging and design were concise. We’ve all seen wraps driving by and have struggled to make out any information at all because the design is full of flames, gradients, and way too many words, by the time your eyes focus the truck is already off down the road. Always keep in mind the function of the box truck wrap is to convey information to onlookers from over 100 feet away while travelling at 70 miles per hour. Designs should be simple, clear, and organized.

Common Box Truck Design Errors

In a nutshell, less is more when it comes to box truck wraps!

After you’ve approved your box truck wrap design during the proofing process, the wrap will be sent to print. There are a ton of types of printers running varying ink sets, but what you need to know is that your wrap will most likely be printed with UV or Latex inks. The difference between those two ink sets is not germane to this post though.

There are two overarching categories of vinyl film. Cast and Calendered. Cast vinyl film is more expensive, longer lasting, thinner, more stable, and easier to remove and install. Calendered vinyl film is cheaper, more difficult to apply, is often harder to remove, and has a shorter lifespan. Cast film is the best choice for long term permanent graphics on a box truck. If you are planning on a short term box truck wrap, then there are some instances where the cheaper calendered film could be useful. Nine times out of ten we recommend a cast film for a box truck wrap. The positives far outweigh the slightly lower cost of calendered film. There are many vinyl manufacturers, but we choose to work almost exclusively with 3M. However, other reputable vinyl film manufacturers include Avery, Orafol, Arlon, and General Formulations.

After printing the graphics onto the vinyl film an overlaminate is adhered to the top of the graphic imprint. An overlaminate is used to protect the graphic film and ink from UV light rays and minor abrasions. UV light will degrade digitally printed inks overtime and wash out the imagery, the lamination helps to slow this process down. Laminate will protect against minor superficial scratches, but is not intended to act as an armor for the graphic. If you run into tree limbs with your box truck sides, the laminate will not protect from punctures.

There are 3 common finishes:

1. Gloss - Provides a shiny wet paint look
2. Matte - Will give a dull appearance
3. Luster - Shiny, but not as shiny as gloss

The laminate finish selection is entirely up to the end user’s discretion or brand preference, but over 90% of our customers select gloss.

Alright, so we’ve listed the most important reasons to wrap a company box truck. We’ve addressed the best design principles, and the common pitfalls of box truck wrap design. The wrap has been digitally printed on premium materials. The next step is the most important: Installation. This is the step where you’re most likely to encounter issues if you’re dealing with a fly by night company or a company that doesn’t have experience in the box truck wrap industry.

If you don’t follow any other rules, follow this golden rule of wraps: use a 3M Certified Installation Company to install your box truck wraps. If you’re in the Kansas City area we are a 3M Certified Company. If you’re not in our area this database will help you locate certified installers in your area. This is important because 3M Certified Installation Companies provide the following benefits:

1. 3M Certified Installers are insured. If something goes wrong, they have the liability insurance needed to make you whole again.
2. 3M Certified Installers employ skilled installers who have passed rigorous hands on and written training at 3M’s St. Paul campus. A 3M Certified Installer does not receive that designation for simply showing up, they must pass a multi-day, multi-stage hands on test and score in the top 10 percentile.
3. 3M Certified Installers participate in an annual check for compliance of procedures and policies as well as a code of conduct.
4. In the event that there is a graphic failure on your wrap you will be covered by a warranty.
5. 3M Certified Installers follow a proven system for preparing and installation vinyl graphic wraps. That system is detailed below.

The day prior to the installation you should thoroughly clean your box truck. Use the scrubbing brush to knock off any hard to remove grime or grease and rinse clean. It is important to wash the box truck an entire day before the installation and not the same day of the installation because the water will leak out of seams and seals for many hours. If this water leaks out behind the vinyl film during application it can cause the installation to take longer, or even cause the installation to eventually/prematurely fail. Washing the box truck 24 hours prior to the installation is the best practice as it allows ample time for the water to dry. If you’re unable to wash prior to the wrap installation appointment you should arrange to leave the truck at the installers location one day earlier and have them clean it for you — keep in mind this might result in additional fees.

On the day of the install, the installation company will then remove any adhesive, dirt, or grease by hand that was left over after the initial wash. The entire box truck will then be wiped clean with an Isopropyl Alcohol wash. Extra care and attention is used to go over any rivets and all of the outer perimeter edges of the panels to be wrapped. Thorough cleaning the edges of all surfaces is imperative as wraps rarely fail from the center, they always peel from the edges.

At long last - the vinyl graphic application. The wrap panels are normally printed and trimmed at a 50” width plus overlap. The installers start at the rear of the box truck and move forward toward the cab installing each 50” wide panel. The panels are the height of the box truck plus some additional bleed to account for mismeasurements to slight skewing.

The overlap is ½” and ensures that the graphic stays stuck together after installation. Vinyl wrap film and laminate are very thin and will contract slightly after installation. Because of this contraction, the wrap must be overlapped from panel to panel to avoid showing gaps of the box truck. Wraps cannot have butt-joints, because they would show the vehicle surface. The overlaps are installed from the rear of the box truck toward the cab to ensure the overlapped edges are facing toward the rear of the vehicle. Overlapping the seams in this direction eliminates road debris and moisture from working their way underneath the seams while driving into the wind.

The installers will work from the top of the box down about 12” at a time until the reach the bottom. It doesn’t matter what the material construction of the sidewalls on the box truck. The exterior side walls of box trucks are most commonly built from one of four materials, and all of them accept vinyl wrap graphics:

1. Aluminum with Low Crown Rivets
2. Smooth Wall Aluminum
3. FRP or Fiberglass Reinforced Plywood
4. Duraplate, which is a composite made of HDPE and steel sheets

The installer will use a squeegee to apply the film working laterally back and forth across the 50” wide graphic panel. Using care to keep the panels perfectly aligned, they work the air and bubbles out as they go and force the adhesive to bond to the box truck surface with medium pressure from their application squeegee. Vinyl is installed over the rows of rivets and is applied efficiently with specialized rivet tools and a torch or heat gun. The excess film is then trimmed with a sharp knife, the edges are squeegeed again, and then entire graphic is post-heated. Post heating is used to expose any bubbles and further activate the adhesive to the vehicle surface.

The box truck wrap installation is completed and is now ready to create awareness of your brand, entice new prospects, and increase your revenue. AND THAT’S A WRAP!

Still fuzzy or confused on some of the details? A list of the most common frequently asked box truck wrap questions we get is in the FAQ section below. Still didn’t find what you need and want to ask a specific question that is not covered? No problem: send us an email or give us a call.