~Amy Donahue
Signage Consultant
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Imagine strolling down a clear mountain stream, wondering how you’re going to spend this summer day. You follow the creek until you reach a stack of fishing rods, tackle boxes and bait. Perfect—only you’re not really in a fly fisherman’s paradise. You’re in your local sporting goods store, and that stream was really just a printed floor graphic that led you to your next purchase.
Between point-of-purchase displays, in-store banners and event promotions, sign and print shops fulfill much of the retail industry’s marketing needs, and floor graphics are complementary to these applications with their creative uses and strong branding capabilities.
WHY FLOOR GRAPHICS?
Floor graphics are particularly valuable because more branding messages can be created in an area where space is limited, says Michael Eyman, vice president of Permovable Technologies. Today’s planogram, a diagram of retail product placement, is often jumbled with too many consumables, making for a confusing shopping experience with little product identification.“We’re running out of space to get people’s messages across,” Eyman says. “But floor space allows the retailer as well as the brand owner to get their message out at the point of sale.”
DESIGNING FLOOR GRAPHICS |
“The floor is no place for text-heavy graphics,” Kucera says. “You really need to have something snappy that’s going to draw the eye in and get your message across.”
Using more creative applications also helps a message stand out while reinforcing the brand identity, which is the ultimate goal of floor graphics, Milazzo says. Take, for instance, a Heineken floor graphic in a grocery store. Instead of a square piece of vinyl filled with copy, create a Heineken bottle-shaped graphic in front of the beer cooler. Or maybe try a round pizza graphic for Red Baron in the frozen food section. These images are more interesting to the eye and leave a stronger product connection. With a powerful graphic, your retail client can increase sales, and you become a more valuable business partner and marketing solution.
