Nespresso’s big build
Nespresso needed an eye-catching campaign to promote its official sponsorship of the America’s Cup, but the oversize nature of the billboard and its landmark location posed logistical challenges for the install. Boston Digital wrapped it up
Boston Digital project manager Ross Nicholson said it helped that they had had a dry run in 2012 to launch the countdown to the America’s Cup.
“We were able to take the good things, and the things we’d learned we could do better, and apply it to the new build,” he says.
The Nespresso Boutique is located in a landmark Newmarket building. It meant Boston Digital had to look at using a different kind of material for the 36-metrelong wrap, as the traditional PVC banner used in most billboards could potentially damage the façade due to it weight.
“We ended up using a creasefree stain fabric, which made the weight of the billboard about a third of a traditional PVC version,” says Nicholson.
Even with those weight savings, Boston Digital supported the billboard with scaffolding supports under the canopy to help it take the weight. Camelspace erected those supports as close to canopy as it could, in order to maximise exposure.
Boston Digital used sublimated technology to print the billboard, a process that uses heat to transfer dye on the materials and allows the image to be printed all the way to the edge of the material. The technology is at the forefront of outdoor advertising methods as it has a number of advantages over traditional PVC. For one, images are permanent and don’t peel or fade, and the colours achieved are much more brilliant, with continuous tones equivalent to photographs.
The creation and installation of the billboard required the coordination of several additional companies, as well as Auckland Council approval and an engineer’s sign-off. Boston Digital oversaw the project and brought in the best to work on it.
The three sides of the billboard were stitched together by Dave Giddens Sailmakers, while Aarkim Plastics cut, polished, and put together complementary acryclic displays inside the store. All the individual pieces had digital print graphics applied to them by Boston’s team.
On the night of the install, Boston got Skin Tight Billboards on the job, which they did in only four hours.
“Again, we learned a few tricks from the 2012 install,” Nicholson says. And the Boston Digital crew were at the Boutique bright and early at 7am on the Monday to install the digital printed graphics and acrylic displays in time for opening.
“There were a number of different components that needed to come together, all at the same time,” Nicholson says. “Everything was calculated down to the last minute, due to the Boutique opening at 9am.”
The billboard is set to stay up for the duration of the America’s Cup.
Removal was the next challenge, but Boston Digital had it all planned out.
Scheduled for a Sunday evening, all scaffolding was gone by the Monday and the building returned to its original condition by the following Friday.
Nespresso senior marketing specialist Susie Hickey has been thrilled with the campaign, both in 2012 and 2013. “The way it’s been viewed by the public has been fantastic,” she says. “The public have embraced the campaign and it’s helped raise the profile of the boutique and the America’s Cup in the Newmarket area.”
Contact Craig Polley to bring Boston Digital’s expertise into your next outdoor campaign, on +64 21 907 506 or craig@bostondigital.co.nz.