Car Wrapping – Why It Hasn’t Worked Before & How Wrappr Figured It Out

Startup brothers Liam and Jonte Shaw are picking up steam with Australia’s top brands, having reinvented the way wrapped cars will play into the modern marketer’s outdoor media mix.
Wrappr, the new OOH media brand, combines consumer advocacy with wrapped cars to create a measurable, mobile, dynamic outdoor medium.
Marketers have been sceptical of car wrapping in the past, and for good reason. Up until Nielson’s most recent 2019 Out of Home Advertising report, car wrapping performance has received very little attention from industry research bodies. Now, with third-party validation of the format, wrapped cars are set to become a much more frequent addition to the media mix.
The Nielson report found that wrapped cars are the most noticed transit media format:
- 326 per cent more than rail ads
- 106 per cent more than taxis ads
- 16 per cent more than bus ads
It also found wrapped cars are the second-most noticed OOH media format overall:
- 64 per cent more than street furniture ads
- 36 per cent more than posters
- 16 per cent more than digital billboards
The Wrappr model allows brands to build ownership of a local area, and/or ownership of a customer persona. Having spoken to numerous others that have pursued similar media models, Wrappr identified the three largest barriers to car wrapping success – previously, car wrapping companies would: have no way of ensuring safe driving from their drivers, have little-to-no way of tracking performance, and did not align the drivers with the brands they were promoting
To test their solution to these problems, whilst working with Foodora, Liam developed the concept for Wrappr and engaged the delivery service for what turned out to be a highly successful pilot campaign. Foodora ran a performance test between three cities – Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
In Melbourne and Sydney, Foodora spent 80 per cent of its out-of-home budget on traditional outdoor advertising – billboards, bus wraps, station domination campaigns etc. In Brisbane, Foodora spent its remaining 20 per cent of budget on Wrappr, with 20 Wrappr Advocates, and had the same investment in digital marketing as both Melbourne and Sydney.
Over six months, Brisbane sales grew by 108 per cent , while sales in Melbourne and Sydney grew only 34 per cent and 1 per cent respectively. That’s an increase of more than 74 per cent in sales between cities, with less than half of the investment.
Foodora country manager Jeroen Willems attributed the success of the campaign to the fact that Wrappr was able to provide out of home advertising at a “fraction of the cost of traditional options”, and that the format gave them “much more precision than otherwise would be possible in out of home.”
“The goal of a Wrappr campaign is for brands to build ownership over a local area, a customer persona, or both. If a brand wants to show off how loved they are by locals, or how loved they are by a particular customer segment, that’s what we do,” explained Shaw.
Wrappr also incentivises and encourages safe driving – GPS devices are installed into all Advocate cars while they’re driving for an active campaign, monitoring speeding and unsafe braking or acceleration. Wrappr cars also have a sticker on the back asking “How’s my driving?” so members of the community can alert Wrappr of any unsafe driving. Any unsafe driving has penalties attached to it.
Wrappr is also very ROI focused, “We don’t believe in hiding behind opaque methodologies,” explained Jonte Shaw.
“We want to help advertising be seen as trusted and genuine, so showing a clear ROI, which is third-party verified, is vital to this.”
To achieve this, Wrappr has partnered with market-leading retail analytics provider Blix, to provide their clients with granular, ROI-focused reporting and insights.
Wrappr also enables brands to create on-demand Activations, incentivising Advocates to drive or park their wrapped cars at key locations or events. For example, if a brand wanted to spontaneously target Australian Open or AFL Grand Final attendees, they could simply send out an On-Demand Activation to their Advocates and ask them to drive and/or park outside these events, and Wrappr will coordinate the activation and track the results.
“On-demand Activations are a fantastic way for brands to create high-impact brand moments where all of their Advocates collect together. It’s pretty hard to ignore ten or more branded cars driving past you,” explained Shaw.
Shaw said it’s early days, but he already sees many exciting prospects from this new form of outdoor media, and plenty of interest from brands.
Latest News

Air New Zealand & Bastion Shine Save Christmas With Their Latest Campaign
When it comes to New Zealanders, are they really just glorified Tasmanians who are much better at sport?

Google To Pay $111m To News Publishers In Canada
Google lumped with latest $100 million-plus fine. Which, when it's all said & done, is like 50 cents to the rest of us.

Thursday TV Ratings: The Chase Takes The Crown For Entertainment
Much like navigating the single-malt whiskey menu at Rockpool, Thursday night TV proves a tricky one for network bosses.

Before Adland: Luke Spano’s High-Stakes Switch
The Avid Collective MD reveals his life pre-adland. As exciting as it is, it's not international playboy spy & Lothario.

New Study Busts Aussie Advertisers Over False “Clean, Green & Sustainable” Claims
Aussie adland in strife over some of its 'green' claims. By that we mean environmental claims, NOT fibrous vegetables.

Network 10’s Rod Prosser On TV Ratings: “One Measurement System Is Better For The Industry”
The only thing B&T would love more than a chat with Rod Prosser would be a game of squash. Yes, he's a 'yellow dot' man.

It’s Friday Quiz Time Again!
Take B&T's trivia quiz for your chance to win a $100 booze voucher and possible cirrhosis of a major internal organ.

Innocent Bystander Wines Challenge The Boring With New Campaign
As the Latins famously say "in vino veritas" or "in wine, there is truth". And, truthfully speaking, B&T hated this ad.

Apple Enlists Taika Waititi For Gorgeous (& Not Christmas) New Work!
Think the month leading into Christmas is all Curtis Stone's Christmas prawns? It's Apple to the rescue today, readers.

Clean Up Australia Unveils Brand Refresh Via uberbrand
Do you have "litterbug" on either your resume or LinkedIn profile? Change your trashy ways immediately on this news.

Musk: Advertisers “Go Fuck Yourselves”
B&T warns this article contains language readers may find offensive. And by that we don't mean Elon Musk.

Triple M Puts The Gold Back In The Gold Coast
The Gold Coast is Australia's "glitter strip". That is if you think bogans, bikies & personal trainers are "glitter".

SenateSHJ Launches New Trans-Tasman Practices
SenateSHJ has launched a new digital, data and insights capability designed to help clients tackle the growing complexity of communication challenges. SenateSHJ Digital, Data and Insights (DDI) will combine the firm’s existing Digital and Insights functions to create a Trans-Tasman capability focused on digital communication, and the generation and use of data to improve communication. […]

Nova Shakes Off Swift Mania With Dedicated Station
Want to make yourself the most despised person in the office? Read on with the launch of Taylor Swift radio.

QMS CEO John O’Neill On His Plans To Get OOH Spend Up To 20% (Watchout TV!)
B&T's chatting with outdoor supremo, QMS' John O’Neill. Eerily the outdoors never got mentioned in any small talk.

AANA’s New Code Means Stricter Rules Apply To Advertising To Children
There are now stricter ad rules applying to kids. Yet, nothing a bottle of Fanta & a box of Froot Loops can't fix.

New BrandStory Format From Bonzai Allows 3x More Ad Space on Mobile
Creative technology platform Bonzai has announced the launch of BrandStory – a new premium mobile ad format. BrandStory offers triple the ad space and 2.8 times greater time in view than single scroll ad formats, addressing the surging demand from brands worldwide for more real estate to drive real results by seamlessly intertwining awareness, exploration […]

“Cut The Crap!” Piers Morgan Sensationally Outs “Royal Racists” On His TV Show
The corgis, anyone in the Palace with a funny hat & even Camilla off the hook, as Piers delivers royal racist dirt.

Wednesday TV Ratings: 365,000 Sign Up To Watch The Last EVER Hot Seat on Nine
Mrs McGuire reportedly unhappy about Eddie loafing about the house after Nine cans Hot Seat.

B&T’s Search For Australia’s Greatest Ad Heads To Channel 7
B&T went through the looking glass this morning, with editor-in-chief David Hovenden (above) appearing on Channel 7’s The Morning Show to get the general public involved in our search for Australia’s Greatest Ad. Hovenden chatted with Kylie Gillies and stand-in host Matt Doran about what makes a great ad and showcasing some of our favourites […]

It’s The Best Of The Best – Directors Of First Impressions, Presented By Finecast, Part Of GroupM Nexus
They're the ones with the best hair and the whitest teeth! Yes, it's adland's top 10 directors of first impressions.

Opinion: The Tall Planner’s Kate Smither On The DBA Dilemma
The science is not in question – smarter people than I, with far more data, have codified it. The logic is not up for grabs…it makes sense that creating mental shortcuts to your brand keeps you at the top of your mind. Lead image: Kate Smither – Owner, The Tall Planner I wouldn’t even take […]

Ortto & Tall Bob Partner To Deliver Better SMS & MMS For Australian & NZ Businesses
Two Australian-born technology providers have joined forces to bring more power and choice to marketers in Australia and New Zealand with mobile messaging that is more local, cost-effective, and integrated. It’s a partnership that sees two Australian software companies come together to deliver a world-class mobile-first solution for marketers building data-driven, personalised, omnichannel campaigns. While […]

PubMatic Nabs Luke Smith From Seven West Media
Seven's Luke Smith quits for PubMatic. However, he's still in line for one of James Warburton's annual Christmas hams.

Slew Of New Hires At Snap Inc.
Snap Inc. has announced a number of new recruits. B&T unaware if it positively impacted SEEK's share price.

Michael McLacren Confirmed As Deb Knight Replacement For 2GB Afternoons
Think AM radio has a bit of an angry boys' club feel? It's not improving things with this news.

Reddit Gets Playful Brand Refresh
This will be of interest to any Reddit fans, graphic designers or lovers of an orange so bright it burns the retinas.

World Square Counts Down To Christmas With Sydney’s Biggest Advent Calendar
Hopefully this news will get you in the Christmas spirit. Either that or go and stand in Westfields for nine hours.

Zitcha & Broadsign Partner To Drive Global In-Store Retail Media Market
Zitcha and Broadsign have teamed up to integrate the Broadsign out-of-home (OOH) advertising platform with Zitcha’s retail media platform. The collaboration empowers retailers to maximise and monetise in-store digital display networks and enables advertising partners to easily view and book available in-store inventory and review campaign performance alongside the retailer’s other media channels. With the […]

B&T’s Search For Australia’s Greatest Ad Part 5!
B&T's vote for Australia's greatest-ever ad is much like the recent referendum sans the mudslinging and Kamahl.

Ignite the Thrill: National Drag Racing Championship Unleashes Media Campaign Via Murmur Group
If there's one sport in the world that's thumbing its nose at global emissions, it's probably drag racing.

Rethink Ink: Is It About Time You Reconsidered Print?
Print's not merely an excellent vehicle for brands, it's also perfect for getting the barbecue alight for the sausages.

Double Rainbouu & 7-Eleven Launch Exclusive Summer Fashion Label
Today, 7-Eleven has announced a one-of-a-kind collaboration with the popular Sydney-based anti-resort wear label Double Rainbouu. Dropping tomorrow, December 1, just in time for summer, this limited-edition capsule will infuse the fashion brand’s rebellious spirit with a distinctly iconic 7-Eleven flavour. The unisex collection features five must-have styles comprising two signature Hawaiian shirts, a peaked cap, a bucket hat […]

Cannes In Cairns Media Accreditation Open Now!
Work in media? Want to cover next year's Cannes In Cairns? There'll be no free piña coladas without this form.

In-House Agency Council Research Report: 78% Of Marketers Now Work With An In-House Agency
In-housing is definitely an industry hot button topic. Admittedly still a long way behind office affairs.

OMA Announces Winners Of The Q3 Creative Collection Competition
Who doesn't love the out of home medium? Apart from the very real chance of being shat on by a bird.