Plumbing is a trade that has been around since the Romans invented the sewerage system. While it was a fairly narrow field back in those days it has become a broad industry today with many different areas of work. One thing all plumbing businesses have in common today is that they have vehicles, vans or pick-ups, that are used to move both plumber and equipment from job to job.

Company vehicles have proven to be a great way for a business, small or large, to advertise and promote their services to the general public or a specific market that they serve.

With many plumbing businesses specialising in a particular section of the industry, or in many sections at once, it is important to brand your vehicles accordingly if you want to attract quality leads or company recognition from your vehicle wrap.

 The type of customer you serve will largely determine the type, size, and amount of branding you will put on your vehicles.

 If you are serving the corporate sector, maybe a government agency, or large developer, it may not be necessary to have a lot of information on your vehicle. The purpose of your branding may simply be to provide logo recognition to potential clients. That is, you are not trying to draw enquiries from the general public, but have your brand recognised at sites you work, in front of the decision makers that will be handing out future contracts you have tendered for. Much of this type of branding is a simple logo on the front doors and rear of the vehicle, with no other information needed.

 If you are serving a particular narrow area of the plumbing industry it is important to make that very clear in your vehicle branding to avoid unwanted enquiries about areas that you don’t serve.

 It would be important to include your specialty in either the name of the business or as a major tagline to the business name. For example, The Drain Man, Pro Finish Roof Plumbing, Fred’s Plumbing - Storm Water Specialist.

 If you are providing a broad range of services it would be important to list these on your vehicle - it is all about attracting the desired customer and not attracting the ones you can’t service. Likewise you should indicate if you serve commercial, industrial, or domestic customers.

 When it comes to design and coverage of your vehicle branding there are a few things to take into consideration regarding the layout and what impact you are looking for. Desired impact should be placed above the cost of the wrap in every case as attracting the correct customer will negate any cost.

Door logos will suffice for a large scale corporate plumber or one that only needs to be identified on arrival at site. This is lowest cost branding and should only be used in the specific situations just mentioned as it will have minimal ‘attraction’ value out on the road.

For the bulk of plumbing businesses they will benefit from some large scale branding on their vehicles, this may be a half wrap, where a background design is used in conjunction with leaving some of the vehicle paint colour exposed to keep the cost of the wrap down while still having a strong impact. A full wrap may be desired to cover all external paint which will work for consistency regardless of the differing paint colours of company vehicles.

 Vehicle branding is either a first point of contact with your potential customer or a first visual contact with a newly secured customer so it is important that the look and feel of your wrap represents who you are and what sort of service the customer can expect. A well designed and looked after vehicle wrap, along with personal presentation, will set the scene for your client and add perceived value to your work.

 When designing vehicle branding it is important to understand that a vehicle is not a magnified business card, potential customers may only have a few seconds to take in the information without the opportunity to study it in fine detail as with a business card.

 The first goal is to attract attention and then to give information which all has to happen in a few seconds! For this reason a clean bold design is important - less is more in this case. Large wording and logos on the side of the vehicle is important with minimal extra information, maybe just a phone number and web address. The rear of the vehicle is different as many potential customers will be sitting behind in traffic, which gives opportunity to read more information, so it is ok to list all your services and contact information on the rear of the vehicle.

 When you are designing vehicle branding it is ok to stray from the company style guide if it has no examples of vehicle branding. Style guides are generally designed for design of print or web applications where it is important to have a certain amount of white space or text in particular proximity to logos. This is not always possible on the abstract shape of a vehicle and special allowances should be made. Specialist vehicle designers will be able to adapt branding to a vehicle and keep it in the spirit of the style guide although not necessarily conforming to it.

 Vehicle wraps in general are removable up to the 5 year mark, after which they can be more difficult to remove without leaving glue behind. It is a good idea to consider refreshing your design and wrap within that time period, not just for ease of removal, but to keep your vehicles looking fresh and your design relevant to the customers you serve - a lot can change in 5 years.

 Vehicle branding and wraps are one of the most cost effective ways to advertise a business. They are promoting your business where you are at any particular time on the road, which in most cases is in the areas you serve, and a one-off cost will work for your business for many years.

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