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Mark Kissling

Should Service Wraps Include Phone or Web Info?

Two experts say “no” if the brand presentation is memorable.

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“We do want to note that some of the vehicles [we] do have contact information on the tailgate or back of the vehicle,” says Mallory Lynn from Signarama Brighton. “When our clients feel it’s necessary to include contact information, we recommend keeping it simple and placing it on the rear to balance effectiveness with aesthetic appeal as it is often the most visible spot when the vehicle is at a standstill.”

“SHOULD YOUR BRAND be recognizable enough to not need your phone number or website on the vehicle wrap? Can your logo and branding speak for itself?” I saw these questions leading a recent LinkedIn post by Dawn Homa of “Ask the Sign Lady” fame and owner of Signarama Brighton (Brighton, CO). What a great couple of questions!

“Interestingly…” Dawn wrote, “The last few vehicles we’ve wrapped this year don’t have the phone number or website.” Her post offered photos of vehicles with and without the phone number. “So now it’s got me thinking,” she continued. “Do people really take a picture of your vehicle driving 50 … ok 80 mph on the highway? I know I don’t. But then I ask myself… Do I remember the name of the business? Not usually… Unless I really need their product or service.”

I replied to the post, tagging Dan Antonelli to invite him into the conversation. Antonelli knows what he’s talking about. His award-winning service wrap design firm KickCharge Creative (Washington, NJ) cites the often astronomical growth of their clients’ annual sales after the firm’s wrap designs are installed.

Antonelli replied, “Ironic you posted this as I just had a lively discussion on my FB page about this topic after I posted [a graphic stating ‘Fun Fact: The bigger the phone number is on your truck the weaker your brand is’]. The whole point of well branded vehicles is to actually remember/recall them later on — instead of being thought of [as] point of purchase, which it’s not.”

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The author of Branded Not Blanded: KickCharge Your Home Service Brand continued that it’s highly unlikely people would remember 10 random digits, and more likely to recall the name if the truck is well branded, then use Google to contact the company. “We only use phones on maybe 50% of our wrap designs, and only when it won’t negatively impact the layout,” he wrote. “And when we do include it, it is given the least amount of space and priority.”

I looked into Antonelli’s Facebook post. “It’s bizarre to me how many owners still believe the phone number is so important on their truck wrap,” he wrote, wondering why so many owners say, ‘Phone number should always be equal in size of logo if not bigger and ideally a vanity number’ and ‘Need bigger phone numbers. That’s a thing that people will take a picture of’ — that last detail being something Homa had doubted as well.

Antonelli challenged readers to ask themselves when the last time was that they remembered such a phone number and decided to call it a week later — or the last time they actually dialed their phone when first contacting a business. “I heard about this thing called Google,” he joked, comparing this situation to when businesses were afraid to pull out of the Yellow Pages and build a website.

Back on LinkedIn, Homa replied to Antonelli, “I think this is a hot topic … The semis in our photos [were] done in 2017. They are so much cleaner today.” She also agreed that if included the phone number should be small.

“But yes, if your brand sucks — then by all means — make your phone number bigger,” Antonelli concluded in his original Facebook post. “Make it huge! Even bigger than your name. ”

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