Trains, Planes and Busses: The New Travelling Salesforce

According to the American Trucking Association, a single trailer covered with graphics makes ten million impressions annually. That's a lot of people looking at a product.

It used to be travelling salesmen. Now, it's travelling billboards. True, the billboards aren't all leaping down and walking around the city but there is a new kind of billboard - on wheels.

Busses, trucks, trains, airplanes and vans can all now be part of the advertising world. You have likely already noticed trucks rolling by with the company logo virtually covering the side of the truck or perhaps it was a bus with a rather appetizing submarine sandwich on the side. The ads are everywhere - transforming dull looking trucks and busses into colourful, eye-catching works of art. And why not? According to the American Trucking Association, a single trailer covered with graphics makes ten million impressions annually. That's a lot of people looking at a product.

The technology to decorate these vehicles (and buildings also, by the way), is thanks to 3M Commercial Graphics and Scotchprint® technology. A giant image is created, and then that image is broken down into separate tiles. Each of those tiles is reproduced in order, using electrostatic technology on a roll of adhesive-backed film. The vinyl tiles are then cut apart and reassembled on the side of the vehicle -- in the same way a jigsaw puzzle is put together.

If the images cover the windows of the truck, bus or building, the people inside can still see out. Holes in the material allow them to see out but from the outside the image appears seamless - and stunning.