Fleet wraps are a great way to promote your brand and make your vehicles stand out on the road. In fact, studies have shown that just one truck can accumulate 30 to 70 thousand impressions per day on the road. Those impressions can have a big impact on consumers’ perception of your brand and their buying decisions.  Unfortunately over time, fleet wraps can fade and lose their visual effectiveness. Faded fleet wraps can actually hurt your brand by making your brand look tired and outdated.

How Much of an Impact Can Fleet Graphics Really Have on Your Brand?

Faded fleet wraps can have a negative impact on your brand in 4 major ways:

1. Reduced Visibility
2. Negative Perception
3. Poor Brand Consistency
4. Decreased Marketing Effectiveness

Let’s take a closer look at the real world impact on your brand, and what you can do to prevent it.

Faded Fleet Wraps & Reduced Visibility

Brand visibility is defined as the rate at which your brand is seen by your audience. That’s why fleet graphics are considered an effective form of branding, because of its ability to place your brand in front of so many people. As mentioned at the top, the huge number of impressions a single truck can generate daily, creates visibility on a scale that’s hard to match with other marketing methods. You can imagine how quickly those impressions grow when you add ten, hundreds or even thousands of trucks. We are talking millions of potential customers being influenced by your brand every day.

As exciting as it sounds to have such massive reach, there can be a downside. Unfortunately, when your fleet wraps start to fade, it can reduce the visibility of your brand on the road. As the colors and images grow dull, your vehicles become less noticeable, and your brand less recognizable by potential consumers. With all the competition consumers have for their attention on a daily basis, your brand can quickly blend into the bustle of everyday life. 

Let’s face it, fleet graphics don’t fade overnight. Depending on geographic location and weather, it often takes several years for this deterioration to take place. Without even realizing it, consumers could be watching your brand slowly fade away, one day at a time. Knowing that consumers draw strong opinions based upon what they see, constant exposure to a fading brand can lead to a diminished opinion of your company. 

Negative Perception

One reason visibility is so important to your brand is that people equate visibility, with credibility. Meaning, consumers form strong opinions about your company, based upon what they see.

According to a 2019 report compiled by ServiceChannel:

95% of consumers consider a store’s exterior appearance an important factor when deciding where to shop, while more 50% stated they would avoid a store if the exterior is poorly maintained. 

At the same time, another poll discovered that 80% of consumers would be open to trying a new store if the exterior was clean and inviting. 

Clearly, first impressions have a major impact on your bottom line!

It’s not hard to see how the same principle applies to the condition of your fleet. Fading fleet wraps can give the impression that your brand is outdated and not well-maintained. This can lead to a negative perception of your brand and reduce customer confidence. In other words, if it appears that you can’t maintain the exterior appearance of your fleet, consumers may conclude that you can’t take care of their needs. 

If consumers form a negative impression of your brand because of fading fleet graphics, it can have a major impact on your marketing efforts. But, as the studies  show, a fresh, updated look to your fleet graphics may actually attract new consumers to consider your brand.

Poor Brand Consistency

Brand consistency is an important component of effective marketing because it provides the consumer with stability in branding across different platforms. Humans need repetition in order to commit information to memory. In marketing, we often refer to this principle as The Rule of 7’s.

“The marketing Rule of 7’s states that a potential customer must see a message at least 7 times before they’ll be provoked to take an action” – Illumination Marketing

Fleet graphics contribute to brand consistency and recall by providing visual communication similar to billboards. If that communication is not consistent with other marketing efforts, it will fail to support the necessary repetition needed in the Rule of 7. 

Fading graphics that distort logos, colors, and key messaging, can cause confusion among customers and weaken the brand’s identity. It can also undermine trust and credibility in the market, and work against the overall marketing strategy for the brand.

Vibrant and eye-catching graphics are crucial for capturing attention and creating a lasting impression. As the fleet moves through different locations, fleet graphics can have either a positive or negative impact on the consumer recall. As branding tends to fade, it will often lead to missed opportunities for brand exposure. Those missed opportunities will eventually decrease the effectiveness of your marketing as a whole.

Decreased Marketing Effectiveness

Marketing effectiveness measures how well a company’s marketing efforts drive more revenue while decreasing costs. How much of an impact one marketing channel has over another, is important to measuring effectiveness. But, the cost involved to reach your target customers, may play an even larger role.

Fleet graphics are considered so valuable as a marketing tool, because they offer the lowest cost per impression than almost any form of marketing. As you can see in the chart below, not even TV or Radio can match the CPM value of fleet graphics.

This tremendous value can only be leveraged when a company’s fleet branding is consistent with other marketing efforts. Fading fleet wraps can reduce the impact of your vehicle’s messaging and cause a significant rise in the cost of impressions. When your branding is no longer drawing the attention it once did, the cost involved in reaching the same number of consumers will no doubt rise. 

So, how can you combat the erosion of marketing effectiveness caused by fading fleet wraps? The answer is, there are several things a company can do to slow the process.

Preventing Fleet Wraps From Hurting Your Brand

As we discussed above, preventing fleet wraps from fading is essential to maintaining the impact of your brand. Here are some tips to help prevent fading fleet wraps:

1. Use High-Quality Materials: Using high-quality materials is essential to prevent fading. Ensure that the materials used for your fleet wraps are UV-resistant and made to last.
2. Regular Maintenance: Regular maintenance is crucial to prevent fading. Regularly clean your fleet wraps and avoid harsh chemicals that can damage the graphics.
3. Proper Installation: Proper installation is critical to prevent fading. Ensure that the installer has the necessary skills and experience to install the fleet wraps correctly.
4. Consider Changeable Fleet Graphics: Changeable fleet graphics are an excellent option to prevent fading. Changeable fleet graphics can be easily replaced, ensuring that your vehicles always look their best.

Fading fleet wraps can hurt your brand by reducing visibility, creating a negative perception, and decreasing marketing effectiveness. Preventing fading fleet wraps requires using high-quality materials, regular maintenance, proper installation, and considering changeable fleet graphics. By following these tips, you can maintain the impact of your brand and keep your fleet wraps looking their best.

For the best changeable fleet graphics on the market click on our Media Kit below