The Arches Ride the Rails

As the premium-coffee market becomes saturated with more competitors, and consumers weigh whether their newly tightened budgets can sustain even such small indulgences, purveyors must take new tactics to enhance brand recognition. McDonald’s® enlisted its advertising agency, Arnold Worldwide’s Boston office, to find unique methods to promote its McCafé coffee drinks. In turn, Arnold hired DGI-Invisuals LLC (Burlington, MA) to produce a 50-panel wrap, which spans more than 2,000 sq. ft., for a six-week campaign aboard an Amtrak train that runs from Boston to Washington, D.C. According to Bob Bekesha, DGI’s sales and marketing VP, his shop won the job over a competing vendor in large part of its very detailed explanation of its approach and design template that accounted for the train’s complex surface.

The company’s designers had to break Arnold original graphics, which were contained in an 8GB file, into multiple pieces to enable digital-print production. He said, “Arnold’s design incorporated visual elements that worked in tandem with the train’s components, so placement was critical because the pieces had to be situated in very specific locations to convey the design concept. We had to lay out an entire side of the train to ensure accurate placement. Applying a two-dimensional design over a 3-D surface with so many ridges and ripples meant we had to pay special attention image bleed and sizing.”

The train’s corrugated, rippled surface proved challenging. Bekesha said more than a foot of material was lost from top to bottom, and DGI had to take custom measurements to make sure the vinyl conformed to the train’s vertical orientation.

The shop output the project on its EFI-VUTEk UltraVu 150 360-dpi, 60-in. printer with a ColorBurst RIP with 3M’s IJ-180C Controltac film. Perforated film that covers the windows and CAD-cut vinyl used to fabricate overlaid text and photos rounded out the wrap’s production. 3M’s 8519 luster-finish laminate protects the film. Although Arnold allotted a four-day window to install the graphics, DGI finished in three.