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But both agree that their company is on the forefront of a new concept in advertising: vehicle wrapping. With vehicle wrapping, a graphic or a message is printed with a large-format digital printer onto a special kind of vinyl. The design is then laminated and applied directly over the original paint of the vehicle. “You take this vehicle and it’s a huge canvas to create a message on there,” said Fellers. “Anything you can image can be printed and put on the vehicle.”
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Fellers is founder of Fellers Inc., which is the largest wrap supply company in the world and has about 50 locations across the country and more than 300 employees.
Fellers Inc. doesn’t make the vehicle wraps; it sells to the companies that do the wrapping. Fellers said his company has gone from him alone in his garage to making between $100 million and $150 million this year in revenue.
The biggest driver of the company’s growth is the use of vehicle wraps as a marketing tool.
DeSoto said in this day and age society is bombarded with marketing messages and vehicle wraps provide businesses an opportunity to stand above the crowd.
“If you are driving next to a car that is wrapped you inherently want to look at it, and if the message is right you will log that into memory,” he said. “It’s one of the strongest messages of getting notice as a small business.”
Unlike billboards and the Yellow Pages, Fellers said wrapping allows businesses to take their market message right to potential customers. He said it practically works for companies targeting residential areas because they can take their vehicles to specific demographic areas.
In this shaky economy, Fellers said many companies are pulling back with conventional advertising because of cost issues.
The average cost for vehicle wrapping can be $2,000 to $5,000, and Fellers emphasizes it’s a one-time cost compared to other types of advertising.
“It’s probably the most effective way to reach a target audience,” he said. “If you go straight to the streets with marketing, it’s a lot more effective then trying to reach the masses all at once.”
In the past if companies wanted to commission marketing on their cars, Fellers said they would have to use expensive permanent paint. Vehicle wrapping can last as long as the paint job, he said.
DeSoto said many industries are choosing to wrap their cars instead of paint. He said many taxicab companies are using vehicle wraps and almost all NASCAR cars are wrapped.
DeSoto said more vehicles are being wrapped nationwide, and they have seen an increase around the Tulsa area. He anticipates the bulk of all vehicles will be wrapped in 20 years. “If you have a business, why would you not want to utilize the asset you have to promote business,” he said. “It’s a very targeted way to get a message to a customer target audience.”
Since 1995, the company has seen constant growth and Feller credits a major portion to commercial-oriented customers.
Though they are touting vehicle wrapping, DeSoto said anything can be wrapped, from a printer to even a toilet.
The company offers classes at its 8,000-square-foot Wrap Training Center to certify customers.
Fellers said he sees his company as a Tulsa hidden success story, and he’s ready to continue certifying more customers and expanding their locations internationally.
“We have grown by expanding with the marketplace and as this company continues to explode we expanded with that,” he said. “You can’t just sell out of Tulsa, Okla. You have to be close in the cities with companies that are doing the graphic vehicle wrap for people in that local area.”
[Source The Journal Record by Heather Caliendo August 1, 2008]
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