Chrysler Building Wrap Gets Ram Tough

Ever since Lee Iacocca revitalized Chrysler with its “K” car mid-sized sedans in the ’80s, Chrysler has forged a somewhat different path. Models such as the Dodge Neon, PT Cruiser and Pacifica have grown several unique vehicle models. Today, Italian carmaker Fiat is now the company’s primary stakeholder, and the company’s achieved a consistent growth trend.

Since then, the company’s apparent focus with its Chrysler, Ram and Dodge vehicles has been manufacturing fewer models, but with superior quality. In fierce competition for top market position with such well known truck models as the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado, the Ram 1500 earned a major victory when it was named Motor Trend’s 2013 Truck of the Year. Naturally, the company wanted a splashy message to trumpet the victory at its Auburn Hills, MI headquarters.

In October, prior to the Motor Trend announcement, Innovative Media (Madison Heights, MI) installed an approximately 15,000-sq.-ft. wrap that touted the Ram 1500; the shop has been dressing up Chrysler’s headquarters with building graphics since 2000. The company’s latest project entailed 155, 4 x 26-ft. panels. (Appropriate for Innovative’s location, most of its work focuses on the automotive industry; dealership window graphics and event signage for the Detroit Grand Prix represent other work in Innovative’s portfolio.)

Once the announcement was made, more than 40% of the graphics had to be altered to reflect a new message, which included 6,864 sq. ft. of the wrap – or 43%, a swath that covers four stories of the 15-story building. Richards Group, a Dallas-based, full-service advertising agency, designed the graphics.
The project required producing 66, 4 x 26-ft. panels, which were produced on Clear Focus Imaging’s ImageVue® 35%-perforated film. Innovative printed the job on the shop’s EFI-VUTEk 3360 solvent-ink machine, which required continuous output over 24 hours. Installers worked with harnesses on a 45-ft.-long swing stage to squeegee the wrap into place, with occasional blowtorch bursts of heat.