Tea Time

JMR Graphics (www.jmrgraphics.com) of Islip, New York, has been creating vehicle graphics for more than 30 years, says national account executive Chris D’Angelo. “We started by doing a lot of cut vinyl, because that’s what the business was. But as technology and digital printing evolved, we got into the vehicle-wrap business about 15 years ago, when wraps first were being developed.”

Among JMR’s recent jobs: a fleet of company cars for Honest Tea, the Maryland-based bottled tea and juice beverage manufacturer. Honest Tea first approached JMR about seven years ago after being referred by another customer, to discuss how vehicle graphics could help them nationally promote their brand.

“We gave them a presentation of what we do and how we could help grow their business through fleet branding,” recalls D’Angelo, “and that’s how the relationship started.”

Over the years, the company has wrapped beverage trucks, tractor-trailers, and distribution vans, as well as 15 to 20 of the company cars. They’re driven by Honest Tea’s salespeople on sales calls and by customer representatives to various promotion sites.

Honest Tea supplies all the artwork for the cars – product images, logos, and so on – and JMR sets up a 2D PDF template with the artwork in place. The template shows the sides, front, rear, and roof of the car, enabling JMR and the Honest Tea representatives to ensure important elements aren’t going to fall on the door handles, taillights, or other obstructing features.

“Once they approve it,” D’Angelo says, “we print a color proof on the actual material, so they can see what the vehicle’s going to look like and how the colors are going to pop.” For this job, JMR relied on its EFI Vutek 150 and 3M piezo inks, printing onto 3M Controltac adhesive film with 3M Scotchcal Luster overlaminate and UV Gloss clearcoat, as well as 3M Scotchcal perforated graphic film for the windows.

The template and proofing process makes installation easy, says D’Angelo: “When you have good mockups and good templates and know where everything falls, it makes it a lot easier job.” That’s part of his advice for anyone else considering getting into the vehicle-wraps business. “Do upfront work and get the correct measurements, so on the back end things line up and work properly,” he says.

JMR GRAPHICS
www.jmrgraphics.com