Depending on who you ask, cars are either a necessary evil or the number one hobby. They definitely help us be more mobile and get around in the city during a busy business day. For many companies, it makes sense to keep a fleet of cars and give them for use to their management staff and sales team: they can write them off, and they are a great way to get more visibility.

The Importance of Branding Your Company Cars

Branding company cars makes a lot of sense: branded vehicle acts as a deterrent against theft and it prevents employees from using it for personal reasons since it is so visible and recognizable everywhere.

From a marketing point of view, car branding is an affordable and very effective way of promoting your brand image everywhere you or your employees go. Instead of paying for outdoor billboards, you have your own mobile billboard that reminds people about you and helps reinforce the messages you send them through your website, newsletter and social media accounts.

Do You Send Out the Right Message?

Putting a logo on a car is not enough. There are a few more factors which determine how people perceive your business by looking at your company cars. These main factors are so important, that they can actually hurt your brand image if you stamp your logo on just ‘any’ car.

Here are a few considerations:

1. Condition of the Car

Are your company cars properly maintained and spotless clean? Or do they leave an unpleasant trail of smoke coming from the exhaust pipe? Have they been recently equipped with new tires or are they cracked and at the end of their life?

Just like your company headquarters, your cars say something about your business: that you are environmentally responsible, or not; that you constantly invest in the assets you own and maintain them in a proper, professional-looking condition… or not. Before you apply a logo on a company car, make sure it deserves to be branded and is in a prime condition.

2. Car Model

Whether we like it or not, people associate a specific car model with certain values and traits of personality. Your business needs to make sure that it sends out the right message through the types of cars it has in its fleet. For example, no matter what type of business you are running, buying two-seater sports cars is probably not a good idea – they are associated with youth, recklessness, and racing. On the other hand, if you want to promote a family-friendly brand image, luxury sedans or SUV vehicles will certainly send out the right signals.

3. Car Color

Again, you cannot run away from the non-verbal meanings associated with different colors. For instance, car dealers are now speaking of “the Apple effect” – a lot of companies order white cars for their fleet because this color is indelibly associated with the successful and innovative IT giant.

If you run a consulting or professional services business, blue is a great color to choose because it expresses the ideas of confidence, professionalism, reliability and stability.

Place Your Logo Wisely

There are many options for stamping a company logo on a car: on the doors, on the front hood or on the trunk. However, you should remember that in traffic, most drivers will see your logo reversed in their rear view mirror. You might need to flip over your logo and size it accordingly to give the same effect as the original one (you’ll often see this on ambulances).

Also, if you have vans with sliding doors, make very sure how you print your logo and company slogan. There are many unfortunate examples on the internet of accidental humor when sliding doors cover logos and mottos.

>> Are you looking for a reliable partner to handle your car branding? Get in touch with Impact Color today.