Bart and The Simpsons Go Big in San Diego

In 1987, when Matt Groening initially pitched cartoon sketches (according to rumors, he hastily sketched the characters in the Fox lobby while awaiting the pitch meeting) for a series of short, animated clips to be aired on the then-fledgling Fox Network’s Tracy Ullman Show, he probably couldn’t have imagined that Bart, Homer and the other characters from The Simpsons would launch a colossal media empire. According to a January 1, 2014 statisticbrain.com report, the show has earned 27 Emmy awards, and generated more than $12 billion in revenue, with more than $4 billion deriving from merchandise sales.
When Fox Studios launched its FXX Network, whose intended demographic is 18-34-year-old males, in fall 2013, its executives wisely leaned on one of its legendary properties to launch the new channel. Setting a TV-broadcast record, FXX began its on-air life by broadcasting every Simpsons episode that had been aired to that point. And, the show remains an FXX programming anchor.
To emphasize the Simpsons/FXX connection (and its companion, online-streaming network, FXNOW), Fox Studios ordered a wrap to be installed on a sidewall of an upscale Marriott Marquis at San Diego’s Coronado Bay during ComicCon, an annual, multi-genre cartoon and animation convention that attracts more than 130,000 attendees every summer.
Fox Studios hired Las Vegas-based Off the Wall Signs to construct and install the wrap, which measures 210 x 62 ft., for a 10-day installation during ComicCon. Fox Studios submitted the artwork – an amalgamation that looks as if the Simpsons characters were melded together in a blender and rendered on a vertical wall – using Adobe Illustrator. Because the wrap only required a short-term installation, Off the Wall’s crew simply wiped down the hotel’s façade with glass cleaner.
To construct the wrap, Off the Wall joined 60 panels of Arlon’s DPF 47WF, a one-way-vision, 30%-perforated material with a removable adhesive that’s conducive to short-term graphics. The shop printed the job with its recently acquired HP 3000 latex-ink printer at 50 dpi. Installers fabricated a cohesive wrap by creating a ¼-in., overlapping seam with the material’s adhesive layer. Off the Wall partnered with Above All Media (Irvine, CA), whose crew installed the wrap on a swing stage with heavy-duty squeegees.
“The most challenging part of the job was the tight timeframe,” Mariela Faith, who operates the company with her husband, Rocky, said. “We had 16 hours, including the swing-stage time, to complete the installation. But, the camaraderie that develops when you work together under pressure on the side of building creates a bond that improves our performance with every large project.”
Producing and installing ComicCon graphics has proven to be a lucrative niche for Off the Wall. For the 2013 ComicCon, they installed a wrap on the exterior walls of Petco Park, the MLB San Diego Padres’ stadium, and this year’s graphic package also included promotional wraps for various, fantasy- and animation-related shows.