Pedal Pushers

A visit to a lifestyle center, strip mall or most retail entities virtually guarantees an encounter with banners. In a densely populated environment with seemingly infinite competing messages, messages get lost in a graphic deluge. However, when the message comes to you – literally – the probability of viewer recall explodes.
 

To that end, Media Nation USA, a Tustin, CA-based multimedia-marketing company that focuses on visual merchandising, POP and POS displays and other promotional items, develops mobile-banner campaigns for events, store openings and similar events. According to Brandon Nelson, approximately 500 such campaigns appear annually in seven mostly Sun Belt states from California to Georgia, with NYC and Washington, D.C. as potential future markets.
 

“The main industries we’ve served have been retail, homebuilding and rental-property management,” he said. “But, we’ve certainly adapted to meet the promotional needs of other markets as economic conditions have motivated us.”
 

Nelson said campaign lengths vary from one day to – in places where restrictive sign codes make them the only viable, visual-graphic option – two years.
 

According to Nelson, the company’s traffic-count software determines the best routes for maximizing impressions. Often, savvy clients know their neighborhoods and assist in developing traffic patterns.
Media Nation USA fabricates all of its banners and other digital graphics in-house via a network of overseas printers (according to the company, its ISO-certified plants undergo frequent, random inspections to prevent sweatshop labor or poor environmental practices).
 

Daron Stitt, the company’s production manager, said the company produces its mobile banners with, depending upon the application, fabric, 14-oz., blockout-banner material; or low-tack vinyl. For jobs that require digital printing, they use one of two Roland SolJet Pro III XC-540, eco-solvent-ink printers, or an Epson 11880, 64-in.-wide, eight-color printer equipped with variable-droplet ink technology and AccuPhoto™ screening.

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“Bike-banner advertising enters malls, shopping centers and other places where masses congregate,” Bob Kronenfeld, senior director of marketing for KB Home Southern California, said. “This allowed us to advertise in jurisdictions with strict sign ordinances.”