Published October 2002

Turn your vehicle into
a mobile marketer

Snohomish County Business Journal/ KIMBERLY HILDEN Jim Grant’s PT Cruiser is an automotive advertisement for his business, Northway Aviation, a Cessna Pilot Center at Paine Field. Along with the center’s logo and phone number, the car sports the image of a Cessna in flight on the rear side.

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Jim Grant’s PT Cruiser attracts a lot of stares as it makes its way through Snohomish County and into a parking space in front of Northway Aviation, a Cessna Pilot Center at Paine Field.

Maybe it’s the “UCANFLY” license plates that the shiny, white Cruiser sports. Maybe it’s the red-and-white “Cessna” logo and phone number printed on both sides of the car. Or maybe it’s the vinyl image of a Cessna in flight on the vehicle’s rear.

Whatever it is, the car has been on the receiving end of a lot of looks — and second looks, said Grant, co-owner of Northway.

“It’s a nice billboard,” he said of the Cruiser, which he has had for a little more than a year.

On construction sites across the county, Don Stoltz’s company, Brooks Welding Inc. of Everett, also has its own moving “billboards”: four Ford trucks with the company’s logo imprinted in vinyl on the side doors.

“It’s just to get our name out there,” said Stoltz. “Most of the work we do is bid work — structural steel — so ... when we pull on the job site, people know who we are.”

Whether it’s a company’s intent to attract attention with eye-popping graphics — or customers with a slogan and phone number, signage on company vehicles can be an effective marketing tool if it’s done right, said Marc Bergsman, owner of Letter Perfect Signs of Snohomish.

“The biggest thing to keep in mind is it’s a form of communication, trying to tell people you exist. You want it to look professional,” Bergsman said.

And you want to be sensible about what works and what doesn’t, he said.

“If you put too much information on it, people won’t read any of it,” said Bergsman, who has 30 years of experience in the sign business.

“Like a guy who does home remodeling and wants to list all the things that he does. That’s not a good idea. The idea is to get the customer to call you,” he said. So instead of that list of services, the remodeling contractor could opt for “Complete home remodeling,” along with contact information.

David Pullum, owner of Boydz sign company of Monroe, agrees.

The thing to remember about vehicle signage is that it’s a moving message, so you want to keep it basic, he said.

“Usually, there’s a logo and maybe a couple lines, or one line, of what they do; a phone number; most people don’t put the address, just the city (they’re located in),” Pullum said.

Color is another factor to signage success — and one of the biggest mistakes people make, Bergsman said.

“Colors have to be contrasting,” he said. So dark-color vehicles need a light color or colors in their sign’s lettering — and vice versa.

“If they do go with something that matches the car, we can always outline the letters with a contrasting color or put it in a box of contrasting color,” Pullum added.

Cost of vehicle signage varies with the amount of signage and the materials used.

Vinyl signage runs about $150 for basic cab-door lettering, Bergsman said, while applying numerous graphics to a van can cost as much as $5,000.

Paint costs more than vinyl, Pullum said, at least $200 to start — and higher if airbrushing is required.

“The life of vinyl’s now seven to eight years, so there’s really no need for paint,” he said.

Yet another option is magnetic signage, Pullum said. With magnetic signage, vinyl or paint is applied to a sheet of magnetic material, which then can be stuck onto the surface of a vehicle. The background color of the sign can be made to closely match the color of the vehicle.

Along with being less expensive — about $40 for basic door lettering — magnetic signage offers flexibility, as the sign can be put on or taken off to suit the user, Pullum said. But he cautioned that the user needs to make sure it’s well secured.

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