Slam Dunk for the Guinness Book

Being the host team for the 2010 NBA All-Star Game this past February, the Dallas Mavericks wanted to make the event the biggest and best it has ever been. Although having to work with less sponsorship funds for the game than in previous years, the Mavericks collaborated with the National Basketball Association (NBA) to arrange for four larger-than-life building wraps in Dallas to promote the event.

The project consisted of a Guinness Book of World Records record-breaking 105 x 505-foot graphic installed on the Bank of America plaza; graphics on two walls of the Hyatt Reunion hotel, measuring 100 x 112 and 250 x 56 feet; and a 250 x 150-foot wallscape on the Marriott Renaissance hotel.

The images were designed by New Jersey-based Hudson Yards, and the NBA contacted The National Print Group’s Las Vegas division (national
posters.com) to produce the graphics. The print provider had successfully turned out a similar project for the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, held in Las Vegas.

“This is one of our fortés,” says Doug Newson, president of The National Print Group Las Vegas. “We are big into window and wallscapes. These are a big piece of our business—we do several big wallscapes a month, and we do them for customers all over the country. The NBA felt comfortable using us because of our history with this kind of project and our ability to get this turned around quickly. We arrange installation, lighting, and even get city permits—everything for a project like this.”

Using its trio of HP Scitex XL 1500 printers, Onyx ProductionHouse RIP, proprietary inks developed in conjunction with HP, and Flexcon’s SeeThru-Sign window-film media, The National Print Group produced more than 120,000 square feet of graphics for the job, with all three presses running for three weeks straight.

“It’s difficult for print providers to get color consistency on window film,” says Newson, “and as a result they compensate for that with image saturation so that it doesn’t look 50-percent washed out. We worked with HP to develop a special ink that maximizes the quality of our presses and produces the right saturation of color for the window film we use.”

Once the graphics were through production, The National Print Group hired Los Angeles-based POP Global to do the install. “It took them three weeks for the installation. When you are installing something on a 70-story building, wind can cause you a lot of grief. They were at the mercy of the weather,” says Newson.

The end result, in no small part due to the graphics: The game broke attendance records, with 108,000 on site for the annual event.

THE NATIONAL PRINT GROUP
tnpg.com