BMW
Pushing materials and manufacturing to the limit to deliver state of the art vinyls and lightbox graphics
Principle Global brings major brands to life. As their preferred partner, we were asked to provide graphics for a 5-year contract to rebrand BMW and MINI showrooms as part of the global rollout of the Future Retail dealer showroom concept.
High-level window friezes had to achieve multiple goals: catch the eye of passing motorists; look great close-up inside the showroom; let light flood in; resist fading and peeling from northern Norway to southern Spain; and be applicable inside and outside.
Vinyls applied at eye level had to be totally transparent while remaining visually impactful when seen from outside. Internal lightboxes graphics had to push the limits of size, slimness and brilliance.
Our creative team’s initial specifications underwent exhaustive testing to meet the client’s exacting requirements for each product. This paid off across the board, delighting the client and making the global rollout possible.
We worked closely with global substrate suppliers to identify suitable materials which could be manufactured to the project’s requirements. For example, for the window vinyls we tested several levels of translucency of the base material, and created a dedicated colour profile for each, so that the colour density was balanced for internal and external viewing. Long lasting exterior inks printed through the latest Durst Rho presses delivered the extended longevity required.
For the internal lightboxes, the use of flexible inks on a premium woven polyester allowed the stretch needed when held under tension while delivering the highest image quality currently available in the field of rear-illuminated fabrics. Meanwhile, our artwork studio has calmly re-purposed English and German language artworks into many different European languages for this truly continent-wide project.
The project continues to roll out rapidly across Europe and is poised to move onto other continents.
“Our exhaustive testing meant we were able to meet the client’s exacting requirements for each product.”
