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Clear Channel Outdoor - Indianapolis
For Terrance Hooks, running a small business is a wrap.
His company, Trans 1 Graphix, has helped transform IndyGo buses into
colorful rolling advertisements for companies such as the ChaCha search
engine, Indiana Live! Casino and Lucas Oil.
"It gives you the largest exposure of any outdoor billboard," said
Hooks, president and chief executive of the wraparound vinyl graphics.
"It's larger than life, and it travels throughout the city. It appears
that your advertisement is everywhere."
Outdoor transit advertising -- which includes wraps like those on buses,
as well as graphics on trucks, cars and other vehicles -- is an $801
million market in the United States, said Jeff Golimowski, spokesman for
the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. That niche is about 11
percent of the total $7.2 billion outdoor advertising market. 
Vinyl wraparounds have been around for several years and continue to be
a hot market, said Michael Robertson, president of the Specialty Graphic
Imaging Association, with advertisers drawn to the unique means of
communicating with their audiences.
"The vehicle wrap market as a whole is growing," he said. "We know from
the number of companies serving this sector -- and the amount of
material used -- that it's one of the fastest-growing areas in outdoor
advertising.
"Vehicle wraps are popular because they take the message directly into
the marketplace. They allow marketers to target specific demographics in
key areas."
Hooks has come a long way since starting Trans 1 Graphix three years ago
with his wife, Tonya, and $1,200 in seed money from his personal
savings.
He was working at OB Media, an outdoor media company, and saw a niche in
the installation of transit advertising. After forming his company, he
approached Clear Channel Outdoor about the IndyGo account. Trans 1
Graphix then signed with Clear Channel to become the exclusive installer
for the IndyGo fleet.
Even though transit graphics account for about 70 percent of his
revenues, Hooks also installs graphics and wall murals for retail sites,
airport advertising, and commercial vehicle graphics, ranging from full
wraps to individual vinyl decals.
Hooks' business model has been decidedly low-cost. He previously ran his
company out of his McCordsville home. Starting today, however, he will
be leasing office space at the Indiana Minority Supplier Development
Council's Near-Northside headquarters at 2126 N. Meridian St.
Most of the application work is done at the customer's site, often after
business hours, and a full vehicle wrap can take about 14 hours, Hooks
said. The work is painstaking because several vinyl overlays must be
affixed and overlapped carefully to make sure bubbles don't appear.
Major national clients include Nike and Adidas, February's 2008 NBA
All-Star Game, the Indiana University bus system and Bank of America,
which took over LaSalle banks and hired Trans 1 Graphix to change
interior signage at its Michigan branches.
Trans 1 Graphix is on pace to do about $420,000 in business this year,
Hooks said, up about 40 percent over its first year. And, he said, he's
working with the Small Business Administration to find funds to expand
into new markets, including California.
Trans 1 Graphix is not alone in the Indianapolis market.
TKO Graphix of Plainfield handles outdoor transit signage for commercial
vehicles and semis transporting goods for clients such as Marsh
Supermarkets, Target and hhgregg, said Tom Taulman Jr., president of TKO
Graphix. Founded in 1985, the company has 98 employees and about $8
million in annual revenues, he said.
The rolling advertisements are effective and popular with clients --
especially larger graphics that can show a company's products instead of
just its name, Taulman said.
"Once they went with full-blown pictorials, they've never looked back
and do it every year," he said of previous clients. "Anybody who has a
product to sell, it just seems to go over real well."
Clear Channel Outdoor has received plenty of positive feedback from the
advertisers whose names adorn the buses, said Brad Burpo, vice president
for sales at its Indianapolis division.
Trans 1 Graphix has received minority business enterprise certifications
from the city of Indianapolis, the Minority Supplier Development Council
and others.
Hooks says such certifications help him grow his business. "They put you
in touch with organizations that are looking to work with minorities
where there isn't enough minority representation," he said.
The company also gives back to the minority community, Hooks said. Trans
1 Graphix donated services to Indiana Black Expo, handling banners,
table tents and other signs for this year's summer celebration.
Despite the economic downturn, Hooks is ambitious about his company's
future.
"We will be a multimillion- dollar company, based on the expansion into
other markets," he said. "Right now our primary focus is transit and
retail. But we're trained to do it all." |
