Remember when you were a kid and you painstakingly put together your first model car? All of those tiny individual pieces that had to be snapped out of their plastic grid, making a mountain of parts on the newspaper covered dinning room table. My favorite part was always the page of shiny decals. You had to rub them on the finished model with the precision of a surgeon and they never gave you extra in case you messed up.

The speed machines that roar around the NASCAR track still bare those same decals today, albeit a substantially larger version. The car decals are of course an integral part of the racing team as they denote sponsorship. The larger the decal, the larger the sponsorship. Anyone involved in NASCAR or any other form of racing will tell you how important those decals are. No car decals mean no financial backers which in turn means no money to maintain a team, and believe me, racing isn’t cheap. The lucky ones are peppered so heavily in decal advertising that you can often have difficulty determining the original color of the car, but as decals equal dollars, teams are more than happy to have as many logos as will fit on the body of their road rockets.

What many people don’t realize is that not all of the decals on a race car are what they seem. Some of the most seemingly mundane parts of the car are in fact, not even real. Those shiny headlights? They’re decals. Tail and brake lights? Yup, you guessed it, they’re decals too.Think about it for a second. NASCAR races don’t take place in the dead of night, so who needs lights? The only real purpose that they would serve would be to shatter dangerously at the slightest impact, which as we all know, is pretty common in racing. If you are wondering why they would even bother with the decals, consider for a moment how odd and out of place a car with no headlights would look. That’s right racing fans, it’s all for show. You can squint as much as you like next time you’re watching a race and you probably still won’t be able to tell. Car decals have evolved to a product that appears to have such depth and texture that separating it from the real deal is next to impossible. So if you’re looking to upgrade your ride visually, you have countless decal choices available. Just don’t try to get away with the fake headlights.

In terms of advertising, there are not a lot of other ways that get as much attention (and as many eyes) as a car wrap. These car wraps can act as your advertising message all hours of the day and night, whether it is during rush hour or sitting in a parking lot. Just think about it. The average delivery truck makes 16 million visual impressions in a single year, according to the American Trucking Association (ATA).

Check out these company wraps to get an idea of how car graphics and decals actually look on the vehicle. At the impression rate given by the ATA, wraps such as these can be a great investment.

Arizona-Sonora Desrt Museum Car Wrap

Arizona Army National Guard

Comfort Keepers

Red Bull

Now, if you have a keen sense of humor you may enjoy this car wrap. However, I can’t imagine they would benefit anyone in any way.

Bound

Digital signage has been around for quite some time, if you recall seeing scrolling message boards, plasma displays, electronic billboards, and projection screens. Digital signage is evolving, however, to include devices that can be electronically controlled via a computer, phone, or other device. “Narrowcasting” allows for constantly updated content over a variety of mediums. Think of the options that are available when you have a device that can be updated with the touch of a button to include all the latest and greatest information consumers need to know about.

Take, for instance, Top of Waikiki. This revolving restaurant sits high above the streets of Waikiki. People cannot easily walk up to the host or hostess and ask to see a menu or find out what the catch of the day is. To combat this problem, Top of Waikiki had a digital menu placed on the street below. The bottom part of the kiosk offers the night’s menu complete with photos and a touch-screen option to make reservations on the spot.

Pretty convenient for you, right? Imagine how management feels. If the unthinkable happens and the restaurant runs out of a side item, management can simply log on to their network and substitute a dish on the menu for new guests. Instead of having different inserts for the menu that showcases the catch of the day, the screen is simply updated with the touch of a few buttons. Running a special? Then simply update the screen while the special is going on and within minutes the special can be taken down.

Can you think of other great ways restaurants can use digital signs?

Is Fido the next barking billboard?

The world of advertising has come leaps and bounds since writing on Egyptian stonewalls, printing in newspapers, and tugging airplane flags past ballparks. Advertising has gone beyond the once fantastical new trend of large format printing, and started to show up in places you’d never imagine. With the advancement of digital printing, the question begs to be asked: how far can it go? In California, you can purchase beachside trashcans with your company’s logo, and of course we’ve seen cars wrapped in colorful decals. It is the beauty of removable adhesive decals that make temporary advertising the way of the future. If there is a flat surface, you bet you can advertise on it. This includes durable street decals that withstand heavy traffic, and vinyl decals to cover the meal tray in airplanes and the bin you put your shoes in at the security line.

And it’s not just temporary adhesive that’s becoming a trend! Because digital printing is cost efficient, not quantity driven, and you can leave your mark on just about any material, we’re seeing ads on items as takeout boxes and woven material; Just recently Salvation Army printed ads on fleece blankets which wer e passed out to the homeless, and NY pizza boxes with a Cingular logo began showing up at doors.

One wonder if someday you can screen print your dog urging others to lower their insurance, cover your front door with the newest anti-diarrhea medicine, or spray paint your lawn with the golden arches in order to cash in on the valuable real estate that is our everyday life.