The sky’s the limit
There is a massive, largely tapped, global market for wide-format technology: airplane graphics. Traditionally, airlines have painted their jets but a few years ago, New Zealand Air carried graphics on its plane promoting the Lord Of The Rings movies. Now, more airlines are using their planes to make a statement. The US airline Southwest has decorated one of its Boeing 737s so that it looks as if passengers are flying in Shamu, the killer whale at Sea World. Other Southwest’s Boeing 737s has been styled so they look like flying flags for the states of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. The graphics for Air New Zealand weren’t printed directly onto the plane but onto a special material developed by 3M and approved by the Federal Aviation Authority.
There has been much excitement in the US about the pioneering use of a 3-D billboard in Columbus, Ohio, to promote a chiidren’s hospital (http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/02/14/the-childrens-connection.html?sid=101) created by Engage and Orange Barrel Media but as intriguing as that project is, airline graphics looks as if it could, potentially, be a more lucrative market with companies such as Southwest realising their own aircraft could be one of their most effective promotional tools.