The Total Package

No TV show better embodies how far popular culture has shifted from the days when Father Knows Best and The Dick Van Dyke Show ruled the airwaves than Hung, a show on the premium-cable network HBO. The show stars Thomas Jane as Ray Drecker, a financially strapped, desperate man who, because of his, ahem, endowment, resorts to male prostitution to pay off debts.

To promote the show’s syndication on TV One in New Zealand, Colenso BBDO (Ponsonby, NZ) hired Rocketsigns (North Shore, NZ) to fabricate a dimensional billboard to be installed on Victoria Street, a high-traffic Auckland thoroughfare. Ed Lyons, Rocketsigns’ new-business manager, said the shop has gained a reputation for outside-the-box environmental graphics.

“From a manufacturing and installation perspective, the most challenging aspect was transport,” he said. “Because of the oversized [19.5 x 10-ft.] sign, we had to fine a location closer to the site to assemble the board.

To fabricate the text and “briefs,” Rocketsigns used 3M™ Controltac™ media, which it decorated on its HP Designjet L65500 latex-ink printer. To create the bulge, fabricators carved medium-density polystyrene and sanded and formed it to shape. Installation required anchoring coach screws and heavy-duty, aluminum angle.

Given the production cost ($12,000), it’s a virtual certainty that TV One gained an excellent return on investment – further proof that signage frequently offers the best advertising bang for the buck.