The 2011 ST Vehicle Graphics Contest: The Drive for Five

The novelty of vehicle graphics, and vehicle wraps in particular, has worn off. To simply supply an end user with a graphic treatment of his shop truck, or a van or car intended for promotional use at special events, is no longer enough to gain attention. Given viewers’ limited attention spans and the wraps’ increasing market saturation, a successful campaign must be colorful, legible and succinct in its message.
 

Admittedly, the quantity of entries has slightly declined recently. Whereas entries once exceeded 300, we received 275 for this competition. Some of that can presumably be attributed to the economy, which has triaged many providers and left survivors working double-time to grow their businesses. But, we thank the 50 shops that submitted entries and hope other shops will also join the fray in the future.
 

Our recently published State of the Industry Report indicates a slight dip in the market. Vehicle graphics’ percentage of shop revenue declined from 21.1% in 2008 to 18.5% in 2010 (see ST, August 2011, page 72). It’s difficult to determine whether wrap orders dropped off, or if providers are simply charging less, which may mean free design and other, value-added services.
 

Regardless, the quality remains as strong as ever. Numerous worthwhile projects ended up without awards (you’ll see many of them in a gallery in the November issue’s Vinyl Apps column), and the judges often faced impasses determining what entries should receive top honors. Congratulations to Signs Now #98, of Baltimore, which produced the Best of Show winner, a Mini Cooper wrap for a Baltimore photography studio.

Although we don’t officially award a Best of Show runner-up, it’s worth noting that 360 Wraps’ (Dallas) retro-style racecar for EA Motorsports achieved that status because the judges spent approximately 15 minutes debating the two worthy candidates.
 

Although none claimed an award, the burgeoning food-truck trend generated 12 entries. As social media-friendly operation of such trucks increases, we anticipate one of them will soon earn an award. We may initiate a food-truck wrap competition through www.signweb.com.
 

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This year’s successful entries emphasized legibility. Whereas wild, vivid designs carried many past winners to victory, most of this competition’s champions provided crisp designs with straightforward messages.
The old adage states you can’t please everybody. Inevitably, we receive messages from readers who express their disapproval over a specific winner or the victors in general (of course, we appreciate that readers care enough about ST to express an opinion).
 

However, we’re quite pleased with this year’s winners and their paradigm shift to clean, effective design that reaches target audiences amidst the “white noise” of visual clutter.