After Phoenix Children’s Hospital earned a coveted spot in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals rankings, its management team wisely decided to trumpet the accomplishment by having a wrap produced and erected for installation on a facility wall that’s highly visible to passing motorists.
Hospital leaders worked with Mike Greco, a bluemedia (Tempe, AZ) account executive to develop the concept for a 52 x 54-ft. building wrap that would be quite conspicuous to the thousands of drivers who traverse State Road 51 daily. Anderson Advertising & PR (Scottsdale, AZ), which submitted the graphics to bluemedia as an .EPS file, designed the super-sized graphic to replicate the U.S. News recognition, while creating a sharp contrast from the dull, brown brick beneath. In preparation for the installation, bluemedia worked with the city of Phoenix’s planning department to slightly amend the city’s sign criteria to greenlight the sign.
For the installation, bluemedia selected 3M’s Scotchcal IJ 8624 media, which is designed primarily for rough-textured, wall surfaces such as brick and stucco. Preparation simply entailed cleaning the windows with alcohol and wiping the building with dry rags.
The shop printed the material on its HP Scitex TurboJet 8300 latex-ink printer with help from Onyx Graphics’ Thrive RIP. To manage the film’s exposure to heat – news flash: Arizona gets hot during the daytime – bluemedia’s installation team applied the behemoth wrap during late-night and early-morning hours so it could more accurately apply warmth from portable propane torches – heat guns weren’t viable because of the wraps’ sheer size and the lack of electricity access – to securely apply the wrap to the surface below. For the wall’s window coverage, bluemedia used Arlon’s DPF 4560 GTX, a 3-mil, white calendered material. 3M’s Scotchcal 8524 luster-finish overlaminate helped the material withstand the climate.
Spring and summer bring crazy weather to the Valley of the Sun: searing heat juxtaposed with intermittent monsoons and high winds. However, bluemedia monitored the weather, kept the wrap covered whenever necessary, and scarcely encountered any delay. A 30-ft. swing stage was used, which required repositioning twice to traverse the building. To determine the spacing between windows, bluemedia staff impersonated stuntmen and rappelled down the building.
The wrap remained in place for six months, and hospital officials were very pleased with the public response. As always, signs inspire and inform.