While the world is beginning to open up again, uncertainty still lingers over the prospect of international travel. The prospect of being stranded or quarantined has meant many people are looking closer to home this summer, and searching for the ideal staycation experience.
For Flip Out Croydon, a new attraction based in the Centrale shopping centre, this was a perfect opportunity to become a family destination of choice. By producing compelling escalator and lift graphics, PressOn has helped Flip Out and Centrale to build awareness around the launch, and capitalise on this new-found demand.
Who are Flip Out?
Flip Out is one of the world’s largest adventure park operators, with 23 locations around the UK. Starting with outdoor trampoline parks – as the name suggests – Flip Out has expanded to a range of indoor activities, including inflatables, slides and assault courses.
Flip Out is primarily aimed at young people and families, and offers three-hour passes for individuals and groups. It’s also an ideal destination for birthday parties, with numerous themed party rooms alongside a range of bars and restaurants.
Flip Out Croydon is among the most ambitious and multifaceted indoor adventure parks to date. As well as the usual play areas and party rooms, the new park includes an artificial ice rink, bumper cars, Laser Quest, a themed mini-golf course, and an old-school arcade.
The challenge
Flip Out Croydon has been constructed in 30,000 sq/ft of unoccupied retail space within the Centrale shopping centre. With the pressures of the pandemic causing many shops to move or relocate, the idea was to repurpose the empty space to create a new attraction, which both attracts families and benefits the other businesses in the shopping centre.
The main challenge was how to increase awareness of Flip Out within the shopping centre, and direct people to the new attraction. With people returning to shop at the Centrale in numbers, Flip Out were keen to let people know about the upcoming launch, and establish the park as a destination for the summer holidays.
The project
The numerous different activities within Flip Out Croydon presented an interesting challenge for PressOn. Graphics had to both draw attention from visitors to the shopping centre, and convey the fun and excitement that Flip Out delivers in one simple message.
The large amount of space inherent to a shopping centre also raised questions as to where advertising was best applied. Together with Flip Out, we decided to target the lifts and escalators around the Centrale car park. This ensured that anyone visiting the centre would see the messaging, and created a pathway from the entrance to the park itself.
With many people using the lifts to access the centre, these would be the primary source of information, while the escalators would use simpler messaging to reinforce this. As well as creating awareness, visitors may also be encouraged to go and see the facility for themselves, which could lead directly to bookings, or to enjoying the other facilities around the park.
The prints
In conjunction with Flip Out and Centrale, PressOn applied vinyls to nine lift doors close to the car park entrance, as well as both sides of a number of nearby escalators. This created a uniformity of branding across a large and high traffic area of the shopping centre, increasing awareness of the new Flip Out park.
Self-adhesive vinyls were printed on HP Latex machines, and applied while the shopping centre was closed, to eliminate disruption. The lift graphics were printed on a removable self-adhesive vinyl with a protective matt overlaminate while the escalator graphics were produced using multiple layers of self-adhesive vinyl to create a double sided graphic ensuring they could be seen by the people riding the elevator as well as those beside it.
The escalator graphics carried the bold Flip Out branding, with the slogan ‘Fun for everyone’ accompanied by a simple call to action. More detail was provided on the lift doors, which included a bullet point list of the attractions inside Flip Out on the left-hand door, and photos of the park in action on the right.
Flipping the switch
The graphics needed to be printed and installed quickly in order to capitalise on the increase in foot traffic to the shopping centre. The planned opening date for Flip Out was also looming, meaning that time was of the essence.
PressOn successfully completed the work on 25th June 2021, a week ahead of the launch of Flip Out Croydon. Flip Out and Centrale were both extremely happy with the results, with Flip Out’s distinctive neon branding now greeting an influx of shoppers.
The graphics are due to remain for at least two months in order to ensure full awareness among visitors, before moving to other aspects of Centrale – a growing destination for locals and tourists alike in bustling Croydon.
An adventure in advertising
With so many people wanting to leave the house and explore their local area, print advertising is in a privileged and powerful position. A temporary campaign like this one can harness this burst of activity, and be the perfect platform to launch a new business, or reestablish an old one.
Flip Out is a dynamic and exciting business that’s managed to weather the storm of 2020, despite being directly affected by coronavirus restrictions. By using impactful print advertising in key locations, Flip Out is set to maximise its impact on visitors to Centrale, and become Croydon’s biggest leisure destination.
