For many marketers the mobile unit is a way to reach target audiences in a tightly controlled environment. With new materials and technologies mobile unit suppliers can use creative design to ensure that clients achieve their event objectives.
Understanding the client's requirements and objectives is an essential first step in the design process. Jim Copeland, sales director for David Wilson's Trailers (DWT), says: "We have to get inside their head and find out what they want to do. This will often mean challenging preconceptions and spending a long time at the initial briefing."
Critical operational questions about the number and types of venues, size and quantity of products, duration of promotion, and the target audience need to be answered as all can influence the design.
Event Marketing Solutions (EMS) managing director Keith Austin says: "If there is an invited audience the unit can be more enclosed; if the idea is to attract passers-by, the design needs to be open."
Interior inspiration
EMS has just completed a three-year project for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) that involved seven trailers touring schools for 27 weeks each year. The units were designed to appeal to children, resulting in a "cool", inspirational internal environment with sound and plasma technology, individual PCs and bean-bag seating.
Similarly, DWT designed a unit for a ten-week sampling campaign for Interbrew lager brand Stella Artois. The slick interior housed a bar and bar stools with cafe-style tables and chairs set up outside the unit. "The idea was to recreate a bar environment where people could come and sample the product," says Copeland. "We used glass panels to make the unit inviting as people don't like going into places they can't see."
Torton Bodies managing director Clive Andrews urges clients not to try to do too much. "A trailer can be multi-functional but if it's not designed carefully it can become a hotch-potch," he warns. Torton recently worked with The Russell Organisation (TRO) to design and build six trailers that reflected Vauxhall Motors' new showroom design. The units toured the UK visiting a series of events.
If trailers are to visit different types of events, the unit will need to be versatile. Marketing Vehicle Logistics (MVL) created a mobile unit for chocolate brand Cadbury that had a stage as the main structure and a side pod for children.
Pods are just one of many ways to add space that has permanent fixtures and fittings - and they just slide in and out of the unit. Professional Exhibitions (Pro-Ex) used gull wings, which provide a fold-away vehicle extension, and canopies to triple the width of its unit for management consultancy Accenture. Hydraulics can also be used to raise the inside of a vehicle to add an extra storey.
With plenty of scope for design, the biggest limiting factor is the budget.
MVL managing director Stephen Hammon says the firm has wasted time in the past because clients have had exotic ideas but little appreciation of the costs involved. "Clients must give a realistic idea of their budgets and timescales from the outset. This avoids disappointment on both sides," he advises.
Clients shouldn't underestimate the cost of trailers built to their own exact specifications. A fully bespoke unit can cost upwards of £500,000.
Hiring a unit and personalising it is one possible solution. The Learning Skills Council recently completed a three-month roadshow using a standard unit hired from Mobex that displayed the government agency's identity and matched its objectives - and all on a relatively low budget. Mobex director Paul Meaby says: "Internally the unit was fitted out with IT points, but externally it was just an exercise in graphics livery - the client got good value for money."
Pro-Ex offers a choice of financial packages including leasing, which it says not only helps clients to budget precisely but also increases the creative potential. "It gives clients the flexibility to have the best possible unit, so they don't have to skimp," says Pro-Ex new business development executive Simon Antrobus. "It is no good spending £150,000 on a vehicle and then finding that you are not able to maximise the interior."
It's not all about bespoke units. Suppliers such as DWT, Mobex and Pro-Ex can supply second-hand vehicles for clients with lower budgets.
Having nailed down the brief and budget, it is down to the designers to interpret the brief. Colour, lighting, graphics, textures, and furniture can all be used to translate corporate identity and brand values into a mobile environment.
Open plan
TRO senior designer Nick Glazier recommends opening up units to make them look bigger. "It makes a difference to have branding at different levels. Elements that can extend upwards, such as brand beacons, will give long-range impact," he says. The company designed an environment to attract consumers at outdoor exhibitions for telecomms outfit Orange.
The mobile unit was refitted earlier this year to include glazed panels, plasma screen and external handsets and is now mainly used for promotional activity targeting small businesses.
The development of computer-aided design means clients can 'virtually' experience a finished unit before any work has begun. Pro-Ex uses computer-generated 3D visuals that show the trailer from all angles. The virtual graphics can even include products, graphics, furniture and people. Pro-Ex also provides a breakdown of what each element costs.
MP Event Trailers uses mood boards to allow clients to "feel" their design. General manager Simon Pauffley says: "We get information on brand values from the client and pick up messages and graphics from their other marketing activities. The mood boards enable us to use colours, textures, fabrics, styles, lighting and photographs to get over the look and feel of the finished trailer."
For practical considerations such as health and safety requirements, payload, air-conditioning, storage and disabled access, clients should look to their designers for advice. EMS's Austin says: "Clients don't want to be involved in that detail, they just need to know that they have been designed in."
Health and safety was a big issue for EMS on a recent contract for Qantas airlines. The company provided a mobile unit for the press launch of an airplane seat at Heathrow Airport. The trailer then toured London taking in prime business locations. EMS took care of risk assessments, method statements and all the detailed requirements for the client.
Practical necessity
Although not a legal requirement, air-conditioning is sometimes a practical necessity. When DWT designed a trailer for a worldwide product launch for IT company Cisco Systems, it had to provide an air-conditioning system that would cope not only with a Finnish winter but also summer in the Yemen.
Vehicles and trailers are exempt from the Disability Discrimination Act, the final phase of which comes into force this October and will mean businesses must provide facilities and services for the disabled. Despite this many designers do include ramps and lifts as standard to avoid any claims of exclusion. Torton's Andrews always advises clients to include disabled access in their design.
A mobile marketing unit is a big investment and as such it is crucial to ensure that the unit matches people's expectations. Andrews believes that with good design and maintenance a mobile unit should last for up to ten years.
"Vehicles usually date before they wear out, but they can be easily brought bang up-to-date," he says. With this in mind, clients can continue to spend money on mobile units safe in the knowledge that they can expect a long-term return on their investment.
DESIGN DOS AND DONT'S
Dos
- Agree outline objectives and budget
- Appoint an agency that specialises in the design and management of mobile display vehicles
- Define the target audience and the locations to be visited - they will affect the design of the unit
- Use the agency's experience to develop a detailed brief
- View a range of vehicles
- Ensure the design is integrated with the product and brand communication
- Make sure the interior design lives up to expectations created from the exterior
- Introduce interactive elements and displays where possible
Don'ts
- Don't rush the planning process
- Don't overspend on the vehicle and skimp on the interior
- Don't make the design over-complicated - you don't have to fill every space
- Don't underestimate the cost of operating and maintaining the vehicle
DESIGN FACTORS
The design of the unit must take into account the following:
- Functionality (Ideally one-man operation with a maximum three-hour set-up)
- Durability
- Longevity
- Weight
- Storage
- Health and safety
- Relevant vehicle legislation.