Yellowing a Classic

Restaurant Wine magazine listed Yellow Tail as one of the top five brands of wine in 2006, although the Yellow Tail brand has only been in the US market since 2000. The Australian-import-a business collaboration between Casella vineyards and wine importer W.J. Deutsch & Sons-quickly established a brand identity of Yellow Tail. Named after the yellow-footed rock wallaby that hops the Casella vineyards, Yellow Tail’s advertisements consistently alter real and imaginary tail-clad creatures to reveal, none other than, yellow tails.

The proliferation of the yellow-tailed creatures requires an audience see the ads, with the company hoping, of course, that consumers will then taste the wine. “Yellow Tail is a very visual brand and outdoor allows us to leverage that,” says Danielle Eddy, a Catalyst Public Relations representative for Yellow Tail. Outdoor reaches consumers on a localized level, Eddy adds, which is why this campaign’s billboards supplemented the print and television campaign: “Local market support is very important to Yellow Tail-we have outdoor in 19 markets, with 70 or more units,” she says.

In the New York City ad-one run in other outdoor markets as well-a replica of the famous 1930s Kit-Cat Clocks complete with roaming eyes but re-created to feature a giant swinging yellow tail adorns a street-side billboard with a tagline that reads, “Tails, you win.” The cat design, with a working-clock body, was engineered by ad agency Cramer Krasselt/Hampel Stefanides (CKHS), in collaboration with the Deutsch & Sons brand team. The agency’s creative directors created Quark files of the cat-clock designs and copied them on DVD.

The files were then transferred from CKHS, through installation company Global Outdoor Services, to print-provider MetroMedia Technologies, headquartered in New York City. MMT was tasked with not only the print production of the cat design, but also incorporating the working clock and moving eyes associated with the billboard.

Production ran on a combination of two devices: MMT’s own proprietary MMT Drum printer, onto standard outdoor front-light and mesh materials, using the company’s proprietary inks (which are actually paint); and a 3M Scotchprint 2000 onto 3M Controltac Plus Self-Adhesive Film with 3M Scotchprint toners.

CKHS production manager Barbara Levine proofed the ads from PDFs, Fuji proofs, and “mini-vinyls” before the full production run. Printing the four cat-clocks took two days; they were then finished with MMT’s GBC Orca and Talon laminators.

The clock then had to be completed for shipping with the print output. The working cat-body clocks were “created out of sculpted, industrial-strength EPS foam with a urethane plastic hardcoat,” says Travis Taylor, vice president of marketing with MMT. The structure was then mounted to an aluminum frame that housed the motor and clock system, operating the clock, eyes, and the ubiquitous yellow tail.

Since MMT frequently receives requests for complex props, spectaculars, and multi-dimensional add-ons for its outdoor billboards, the savvy firm knew to include step-by-step instructions to accompany the clock kits, simplifying installation for the outdoor firms that received them. The New York City ad measured 33-feet tall x 7-feet wide and 3-feet deep, and weighed in at a massive 1600 pounds. The MMT-produced installations occurred in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the New York locations from September through December of this year.

MMT’s production facilities operate from Los Angeles and Wooster, Ohio, with the company employing sales staff in 14 national locations and pre-production and marketing operations in six continents and 24 countries. The company has numerous acquisitions beneath its umbrella, the most recent being Rembrandt Graphics in 2006. In addition to the MMT Drum and 3M Scotchprint 2000 printers, the company operates EFI Vutek, Inca, and HP devices as well as a variety of finishing equipment.

METRO MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES
www.mmt.com