What is Car Wrap Advertising?

Car wrap advertising is a mass outdoor method that some advertisers use to get the attention of potential customers. A vehicle, which may be a car, bus, truck or van, is covered in a thin, synthetic adhesive sheet printed with ad copy advertising a company. The advertising wrap may cover the entire vehicle or just some areas of it. For safety reasons, the front windshield must be left clear so the driver's vision isn't compromised. The car wrap advertising method is a mobile one that allows other drivers, as well as pedestrians, to view a company's name, contact information and unique selling proposition (USP).

Getting the USP message into car wrap advertising isn't an easy task because a viewer usually only has a few seconds to take in the text and graphics. For instance, even if a vehicle is wrapped in eye catching colors and graphics, a “Larry's Flowers” car with just a website address and phone number isn't quite enough. Potential customers usually still need something to convince them of why they need to contact this company.

In this way, a clear USP sets each company apart. For example, all flower stores sell flowers, but some specialize in weddings or shipping across the country such as what the FTD® company is known for. A USP can be summed up in a tag line and this is especially helpful when creating effective ad copy for car wrap advertising; both space and the time to get the message across are limited. In the case of a small local company, such as in the Larry's Flowers example, the vehicle wrap ad could convey the USP simply with text like “Flowers for all your occasions from family celebrations to corporate events. Call us today at 555-6677 for a free estimate.”

A unique aspect of vehicle wrap advertising is that only one angle of the ad copy may be read at once. A potential customer may only see one side of the car and not the back or other side. For instance, if a car is behind the advertising wrapped vehicle in traffic, it's driver may only see the back. For this reason, the back window usually has the name, contact information and quick tag line. An example of this is: “Thompson's Stump Removal. Call now for your free estimate. 555-5555.” The text must be large and clear so it can be easily read.

Car wrap advertising is considered a low cost ad method since it typically costs only a few dollars for every thousand people to view it. The advertising message can be seen when the car is parked in public areas as well as when the wrapped vehicle is being driven. Large corporations often have an entire fleet of cars with the same ad wraps nationwide. This maintains a type of market presence and reminds people of the brand when they see the ad wrapped cars.