With so many forms of outdoor advertising available, it can be hard for brands to know which channels will have the most impact. Particularly in places where ad space is limited or crowded – such as big cities – standing out from the crowd can be a real challenge, and investing in out-of-home advertising can be a daunting prospect. In this saturated adland, vehicle advertising, and taxi media in particular, offers something of a golden opportunity.
PressOn have been working with taxi media provider Sherbet for several years, providing unique, high-quality advertising on taxis to a wide variety of brands. Taxi campaigns are an outstanding way to ensure an advert stands out; they create a talking point, and lead to expansive and multi-faceted reach to massive audiences. We’re taking a look at what makes PressOn and Sherbet’s partnership so effective… (All images courtesy of Sherbet London)
What is taxi media, and why use it?
Taxi media essentially involves branding the side of a fleet of taxis with graphics, which advertise a campaign as they drive around busy urban areas. Many of us will have seen this in London and other major cities, at events, and more, and Sherbet are one of the most significant businesses providing this service to brands. There are few things that make taxi advertising stand out from other channels:
Firstly, taxis are always on the move – some of Sherbet’s long-term campaigns have even topped 1 million total miles (which is 40 times the Earth’s circumference!). They can access areas that other forms of large format can’t, including residential areas, and places including the square mile of the City of London, and Soho – essentially, where people go, taxis go, which means more visibility for a campaign over a static ad.
There’s also the added bonus of shareability – while static ads such as billboards aren’t much of a talking point in and of themselves, taxis are more of a ‘stand out’ feature in the London cityscape, and when they’re advertising a prestigious brand, they really get people talking – importantly, on social media. By using hashtags in their creative designs, brands working with Sherbet have generated impressions in the hundreds of millions.
The ads are placed directly in the sightline of pedestrians and vehicles, and a well-designed campaign is truly hard to miss. Taxis are an integral part of London’s transport network, and they’re an iconic emblem for the city across the world, and while traditional vehicle advertising often involves a blow to the environment, Sherbet operate fleets of fuel-efficient, electric vehicles. It wholly owns its taxis, and only work with the very best London taxi drivers, providing total flexibility and exceptional service to the client – they can operate on short timelines, and are always willing to go the extra mile.
PressOn & Sherbet
PressOn first started working with Sherbet in 2014, and have collaborated on a wide variety of different projects, for all kinds of campaigns. Using their unique expertise, PressOn and Sherbet form a partnership that can provide clients with exceptional taxi media campaigns on a very short time frame, to the very highest standards available.
Sherbet are one of London’s largest fleets of Electric, TX and Vito taxis and offer a premium elite fleet of London taxi drivers – their taxis are the perfect canvas for a unique outdoor advertising campaign, and their expertise and industry insight places them as one of the best options for taxi media in the UK.
But no outdoor advertising campaign would be effective without the highest quality printing – even the very best ad needs to be clear, easily visible, accurately reproduced, and durable enough to withstand the environment in which it will be placed – in this case, the busy roads of London. Using the latest cutting-edge machinery from providers such as HP, PressOn print flawless graphics onto durable and long-lasting substrates, to ensure Sherbet’s hard work in organising each and every campaign is maximised.
It’s this combination of expert production and planning that have enabled PressOn and Sherbet to produce multiple outstanding campaigns over the years.
Key projects
The imagery we’ve used in this case study is of a few standout projects PressOn have worked on with Sherbet over the years, including campaigns for Pretty Little Thing, 888 Casino and Stewart Weizman. They demonstrate the definition and quality of the graphics PressOn produce, and exemplify the impact of taxi advertising as a medium:
Stuart Weitzman
PressOn worked with Sherbet on two campaigns for shoe designer Stuart Weitzman. The project involved a simple, sleek design that needed to be reproduced every time flawlessly.
The client was extremely particular about accurate colour reproduction (as it’s integral to their brand – it’s the same deep blue as their shoe boxes…), so PressOn were a clear choice for Sherbet – their expertise and cutting edge machinery means they’re able to ensure precise and specific colouring.
888
888 Casino opted for an unusual and unique design for their taxi graphics, with roulette wheel trims around the wheels, and the clever slogan ‘fancy a spin?’ emblazoned on the side. These were refreshed in late 2018 and early 2019 with a new design with new roof artwork.
These liveries were ordered in batches over a period of several months, as Sherbet were confident PressOn would be able to turn the prints around quickly and with tight deadlines as they came in. The prints were exclusively for Sherbets fleet of TX5 electric vehicles..
Pretty Little Thing
Working with online clothes retailer Pretty Little Thing, PressOn have collaborated over several years to print and install their artwork for their taxi media campaigns. Vehicle media is a fantastic advertising avenue for online retailers, as it provides a physical presence and leaves a tangible physical impression on consumers – which can be hard to achieve in a digital realm.
When the first brief came in, PressOn put together colour proofs of the livery and seat tips to ensure both Sherbet and PLT were happy with the quality and accuracy, and a test livery was prepared to ensure the fitting was correct. The campaign began in April 2017, and is still running now, with new orders still coming in. This includes preparing panels as stock in the case of damage to any existing taxis.
The finest substrates and equipment
One of the key reasons why Sherbet turn to PressOn for printing time and time again is down to the equipment and materials we use, which are second to none. All the taxis featured here were printed to a polymeric, conformable vinyl complete with gloss laminate on top. The conformable style allows the vinyl to be heated and shaped to the contours of the taxi and not shrink back flat afterwards
Get in touch
Get in touch via our contact us page to find out more about how PressOn and Sherbet can help you transform your campaigns with a branded fleet of taxis. Our expert project managers are on hand to provide advice, quotes, and assistance – whenever you need it.
Contact PressOn to discuss a taxi graphics project.
