There’s a reason that the description of Superman’s strength includes the ability to “leap tall buildings in a single bound.” The structures are just massive. Take a look at any city skyline and you’ll notice the magnitude of each skyscraper, towering over all that resides at ground-level. They never go unnoticed, making them an ideal place for promotional messaging. Quite literally, this is how building wraps have found their place in the signage industry.
As readers of this publication know, wrapping is not a new concept; but wrapping a building is a different kind of animal. With buildings so vast in size, the task of completing a project is equally as large. It takes a certain type of company—with the right amount of resources and passion—to tackle the enormity of the job. That in mind, we asked two companies to detail what steps they take to design and install a successful building wrap.
Elite Media
Elite Media Inc.—based in Las Vegas, Nevada—has no shortage of experience in the wraps game. The company is dubbed as an outdoor advertising company, lending its skill to all sorts of projects from vehicle graphics to billboards. Providing one of its specialties—building wraps—has allowed Elite Media to work with some of the largest and best-known hotel/casinos in the Vegas area. According to company president, Chad McCullough, “We service brands that are targeting specific markets, events, conventions or tourism, through out-of-home media. These brands buy from us because we consistently meet all four points of the ‘Elite Experience’—honesty, expertise, quality and satisfaction.”
In the following Q&A section, McCullough (designated as "CM") cites some challenges in dealing with these super-large projects, and also recalls a specific project that his company completed on the Vegas Strip.
The second firm, bluemedia, is out of Tempe, Arizona, which has been a hotbed recently for national events in the sports world, such as the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Says Hayes Holzhauer, executive vice president of production, “(We’ve had projects) like Super Bowl LI in Houston as well as branded/client work all over the country.”
Much of bluemedia’s wraps work is custom-made from the design to the installation. One recent project aims at rallying the Kansas City community by affixing a 40-foot logo of the Kansas City Royals baseball team on the side of a local building. The “Raised Royal” project will remain on the structure for the balance of the 2017 Major League Baseball season.
Below, Holzhauer (designated as “HH”) describes bluemedia’s involvement in creating graphics for Super Bowl 50, as well as his preferred materials to use in this line of work.
Now, let’s take a journey down the path of creating a building wrap, through the eyes of the professionals.
Readying The Project
Preparation is key during a building wrap. You don’t want to be wrong about your measurements, file sizes, printer output, colors, etc. If even one thing is off, then the entire project may suffer. This in mind, it’s important that building wrap providers set expectations and follow guidelines to ensure the success of the job. It also helps to use equipment and materials that are deemed reliable, especially when these wraps are so easily visible by masses of people.
WRAPS: During the design process, what is the right file size to use on these large-scale projects?
CM: We request a one-inch-equals-one-foot scale.
HH: We build design templates for our client to use when building the artwork. Being that these buildings are viewed from so far away we keep raster images at least 17dpi at full size.
WRAPS: What media do you prefer to use and why?
CM: 3M high resolution opaque PSV; the end-product always looks the very best. Lifespan depends on when and where, but I don’t prefer to have a big wrap up for more than six months.
HH: We usually use a 6-mil perforated vinyl (70/30) for windows (un-laminated). We use a wide variety of solid vinyl depending on the building surface and desired life. Most building wraps for an event are up for less than one month. We recommend they be removed within six months.
WRAPS: What printing equipment and ink is best suited for large-scale building wraps?
CM: I prefer VUTEk machines with solvent-based inks, most consistent on big jobs. (We print) 48-inch to 60-inch wide panels.
HH: We mostly use our HP Latex 3500 machines. For buildings, we print on 60-inch wide window perf.
Getting to Work
Now that the materials are in order and the creative work has been completed, it’s time to get your hands dirty. How on earth are you supposed to get all of those graphic panels aligned and placed corrected on the side of a several-story building? Well, it’s a process; one that requires much skill and patience. Even the very location of the job can play a part in the overall success.
WRAPS: What goes into the installation process?
CM: The installation process; first and foremost, you have to have guys who are not afraid of heights. A building wrap is adhered panel by panel, literally many small-sized stickers pieced together to make one big image.
HH: These graphics are basically just huge stickers. We provide our installers with a detailed Tiling Diagram as a map of how the graphics fit on the building.
WRAPS: Do you have to deal with permits when installing these wraps?
CM: You must have a strong legal, real estate, and land use team(s) in place to do wraps across the country.
HH: Yes, and this can be tricky. We have to deal with various city codes and variances. In addition to permits we frequently have to get road closures so our crews can safely work.
WRAPS: Is there a specific project you remember being unique or challenging that you can summarize?
CM: Installing a really big ad on the Luxor Pyramid in Las Vegas in the middle of the summer was very memorable, mainly because the glass surface was so hot it melted the installers shoes and the material as it was being installed.
HH: For Super Bowl 50 we wrapped two faces of the main Embarcadero tower in San Francisco. It was not a flat building so we had to “stretch” certain areas of the artwork in pre-press to fit the contours of the building. In total, it required over 8,000 unique pieces of vinyl to wrap two faces of the building.
Tips and Challenges
With wraps work, it seems there is always a wrinkle or two that arise. Dealing with challenges professionally will get the job done correctly and in a timely fashion. In many cases, what is learned on-the-job can serve as a good lesson for future endeavors. With building wraps, excellence can be a direct result of experience and comfort in performing these duties.
WRAPS: What tips do you have to ensure your installation team performs the job safely and successfully?
CM: Give the project as much time as possible; account for weather and the occasional snafu.
HH: All our installers are trained and have “competent operator” certification with swing stages and all types of lift equipment. We strictly adhere to all OSHA rules and guidelines.
WRAPS: What types of challenges do you encounter during these specific jobs?
CM: Several challenges. On a building face with windows you can have several different materials all on the same application, glass, metal and concrete which can play havoc with edges and seams in that the adhesive may stick to one of materials but not the others. In turn, you’ll have flagging and it’s possible the graphics could even come off the building. The biggest challenge above all else is weather. In New Orleans, we had a tornado and in Phoenix and Vegas we’ll see 120 degree days. Not all materials react the same to the changing of the hot and cold temperatures.
HH: Each building is unique and thus each presents its own challenges. Most of the time our greatest challenges are late client art approval, weather, and building access.
Spectacular Results
The photos associated with this article highlight the tremendous amount of work that goes into a building wrap. The conditions accompanying outdoor signage alone can create problems, affecting the overall performance of the graphics. Add to that the supersized nature of building wraps and the complications can certainly add up. However, with the technology and talent that is available in this industry today, it’s no surprise that companies like Elite Media and bluemedia can provide a significant facelift to even the most daunting of buildings.