Intelligent Access Ssytems
Best Vehicle Graphics Design
Sponsored by LeadTracker
For Ron Oetjen, president of Raleigh, N.C.-based Intelligent Access Systems (IAS), the unveiling of his new vehicle wrap in December 2010 had a singular mission: Drive new sales calls.
That’s a different goal than Oetjen previously envisioned for his original vehicle graphics design, which was all about building brand recognition. Launched in 2004, IAS operates offices in Atlanta, Tampa, Fla., Richmond, Va., and Pittsburgh, in addition to its home base. In use for less than three years before being summarily dumped, the original IAS vehicle wrap comprised an uncluttered, eye-catching design: a two-toned dark blue and white color scheme anchored by a large wireframe globe. The company’s security systems specialties were also stripped across the bottom of each van, as follows: Access Control • CCTV • Intrusion Detection • Call Systems • Systems Integration.
The wrap proved successful in garnering attention for the IAS brand, yet a fatal flaw became all too obvious.
“Lots of people would comment how cool our van looked, but we didn’t have people calling in wanting to buy a system as a result,” Oetjen says. “I knew we missed the target. We regrouped and started over.”
Internal brainstorm sessions ensued and shortly Oetjen and his team decided to take dead aim on words. Specifically, eliminate all industry terminology. The thought being the average consumer or potential end-user customer does not immediately relate to intrusion detection and the like.
Instead, simple images would be incorporated to convey IAS’ portfolio of system offerings: a dome camera, an alarm system keypad, a biometrics theme, and a card reader. Oetjen brought the idea to his graphic artist who devised five mock versions to select from. The winning design maintains the same color scheme and a similar wireframe globe. Each of IAS’ 25 vans eventually received the new wrap at a cost of $2,200 per vehicle.
“It’s about communicating with those four visual elements. When a hospital manager or whoever sees the van while driving down the highway or sitting in traffic, now it becomes, ‘Let me write down that Web site,’” Oetjen says.
Along with garnering a SAMMY Award, the new design is beginning to pay dividends. IAS tracks sales leads by asking each caller how they were referred to or heard about the company.
“Now we’re receiving a few calls a month in each of our offices, so we know the new design concept is proving to be a success for us,” Oetjen says.
Print | posted on Monday, June 13, 2011 12:54 PM