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GREAT HUMAN RACE

By Elizabeth Templin : The Herald-Sun
news@heraldsun.com
Feb 16, 2008

DURHAM -- Organizers of Durham's 13th annual Great Human Race, a 5K run and walk organized by the Volunteer Center of Durham to raise money for local nonprofit organizations are hoping that new wrap advertisements will draw more attention to the race and increase participation.

The first of a series of wrap advertisements for the Great Human Race went up Friday morning in Peabody Square on South Duke Street. It's a temporary 25-foot wall mural made of 3M Scotchcal vinyl that adheres to the brick wall and looks like paint and features a runner breaking through a wall of bricks.

The installer used heat to seal the adhesive of three large strips of vinyl to the brick wall. It will be removed after the end of March race.

The Peabody Square mural is only one piece of a larger advertising campaign for this year's race. Cranky Creative Group of Durham donated about 3,000 square feet of wrap advertisements in various formats for several locations, said Keoni Denison, vice president of sales for Cranky Creative.

The campaign will include wall murals, and wall, car, floor, stairway, table and elevator graphics and will appear in such locations here as Credit Suisse, AICPA, First South Bank, Measurement Inc., Downtown Durham YMCA and Easley Elementary School.

Barbra Denison, Cranky Creative president and CEO, said the company works with the form and function of the object they are wrapping in order to create a 3-dimensional advertising experience.

The people featured in the race wrap ads are local community members -- among them Mayor Bill Bell -- who volunteered to have their pictures taken at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

"We used cutouts of local people in the ads to make the Great Human Race reflect the community, which is what the race is all about," said Tammy Dorfman, Great Race coordinator at the Volunteer Center.

Barbra Denison said, "I loved the Volunteer Center's concept of gathering people together. I wanted to help promote the race and promote wrap advertising."

"We're hoping people will see the sign, recognize it and want to be a part of the race," said Dorfman. "In the past we've done ads in newspapers, distributed brochures and posters around town and advertised on Web sites and Web calendars as well as independent print calendars."

Dorfman said the Volunteer Center wants to raise awareness of the race and make it easier for race participants to raise money. The race is a fund-raiser for local nonprofit groups and allows participants to raise money for the nonprofit of their choice.

Stephen Raburn, Volunteer Center executive director, said, "The race boosts morale and builds camaraderie among nonprofits and their supporters. It is overwhelming to see so many people come out in support of the community. The race represents every aspect of the community and every social issue."

Last year's race included some 1,200 participants who raised about $100,000 for 54 Durham and area nonprofits. This year, Dorfman expects between 1,500 and 1,800 participants.

Nonprofit participation has increased from 54 nonprofits last year to 85 this year.

"The race is our gift to the community. We plan it all year long," Raburn said. "Nonprofits might not have the resources to do an event like this on their own. We also raise awareness of volunteerism through the race."

The Great Human Race begins at 9:30 a.m., March 29, at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Race participants can compete in the competitive 5K run or the more relaxed 5K walk. Registration forms are available at http://www.thevolunteercenter.org/ghr/register.html online.

© 2008 by The Durham Herald Company. All rights reserved.

Vehicle Wraps are an Effective Advertising Medium

We are featured in February's issue of WideFormat Imaging magazine!

Contact Cranky Creative Group for Fleet and Vehicle Wraps Nationwide

Check it out -

Unwrapping the Keys to Success

Jeffrey Steele

Durham, NC-based Cranky Creative offers their clients an entire wrap campaign.

When is it a good thing to be stuck in traffic or have to feed the meter of a city parking slot? When the vehicle you're driving is wrapped in advertisements for your very own business. More and more advertisers are recognizing that vehicle wraps are among the most cost-effective ways to promote a good or service. And that's translating into opportunity for wide-format imaging pros specializing in vehicle wraps.

An entirely different approach to building profitability is the one being employed by Cranky Creative. Its CEO Keoni Denison and president Barb Denison are employing a strategy they feel has not been used before. Cranky Creative is "America's first wrap advertising agency," concentrating not just on the execution and installation, but on the entire wrap campaign, Barb Denison says.

The company began as a sign shop that expanded into the vehicle graphics market, she says. When the Denisons saw they were being undercut on price by shops going cheaper and cheaper, they realized their value was in being idea people.

"We're standing apart because customers are demanding better quality designs," she says. "Back in the day, wraps were pretty novel, and the designs and aesthetics could be bad but still eye catching because [the medium] itself was new. More recently, it's become more sophisticated as an art medium. We're actually recruiting artists from the advertising agency world, who have more sophisticated design backgrounds."

As a result, the entire communication with customers changes, the Denisons say. That conversation begins by discussing customers' marketing/advertising strategies, and goes on to address how the vehicle will fit in that strategy, what the target market is and whether this is the most effective way to promote the brand. "That helps us have the vehicle wrap be an extension of the marketing campaign they're doing," Keoni says.

Both Denisons believe that gaining profitability in vehicle wraps is a matter of giving customers better, more attention-getting designs, offering them a full range of services and valuing the importance of creative in an increasingly me-too environment.

"In the advertising world, they value creative," Keoni Denison says. "The target market had to change for us. We're retargeting to a more sophisticated, higher-class client. You can always go elsewhere to get something cheaper."

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Traditional Wraps vs. Conceptual Wrap Advertising

So I was talking to a friend in the wraps industry yesterday who wanted to know what a "wrap advertising agency is vs. a traditional "wrap company" and I was forced to whip out my spiel. Which goes something like this:

The average wrap is simply branding on a vehicle or object. Take an ad for a particular company and stick it on a vehicle... maybe even do a bit of creative design to it to make it stand out. See the bus below.

Then look at the bus below... and you tell me the difference!

The shark wrap integrates the function and form of the object into the design of the wrap to create an interactive experience. Anyone who rides to work on this bus is going to talk about it all day... hence creating an instantaneous gang of salespeople for National Geographic! It is all about creating interesting experiences that create conversations, not simply annoying advertisements. Seth Godin, the author of Purple Cow, names this phenomenon IDEAVIRUSES. Creating salespeople out of clients by creating memorable experiences with inventive marketing, exceptional customer service, or anything to get them talking about something that is out of the hum-drum of everyday life! Check out his blog when you have a moment: Seth's Blog.

Wrapping all of this together with track ability through promotional codes, registration lists surveys, and other tactics showcase some of the most powerful "non-advertising" advertising out there. Involve the market in an unusual, epic experience/adventure and viola! hooked. This is the secret of success for some of the most brilliant marketers in the world. And now, introducing wrap advertising campaigns into the mix... oh what fun!