The audience towering on the edge of its seat, waiting for the action to begin. The players pacing the dressing rooms, doing their best to psyche themselves up. The greasy food and beer just begging to be devoured. For the athletic type, is there really anything more adrenaline-inducing and exhilarating than attending a live sports match? Toyota commissioned custom inflatable cricket balls in the hopes of inspiring a bit more team spirit for cricket fans while also engaging their brand at games throughout Melbourne.
We live for the moments when we can simultaneously serve fellow businesses and add a little spice to people’s everyday lives. If we could have started work on this project sooner, we would have!
Negotiating the Plan
These custom inflatable cricket balls were originally meant to be 1/3rd of an ambitious brand activation. The client not only wanted custom balls, but also an inflatable wicket and a bat as well. These were to be used out on the cricket field to inspire audience engagement.
Unfortunately due to time constraints, there was no logistical way we would actually be able to construct, test, and ship all the units out before or even by the deadline. The marketing team chose to use the real props to engage the crowd, instead moving forward with the creation of the custom inflatable cricket balls as a less direct activation, in which they were displayed outside of Melbourne matches.
Creating the Perfect Design
Any time we are dealing with business logos that need to be clearly replicated, one of the best choices is a full process print. This method of printing allows you to deposit all colours of ink that are to be used at the same exact time. The resulting image is generally much crisper and more vivid than what can be achieved using other methods.
For our projects, we at Inflatable Anything use a computer-assisted design software program that takes the image sent by the client, and imposes it onto the yet-to-be-made inflatable. It helps us determine what proportions and dimensions best serve the marketing strategy. For these particular 2 metres tall by 2.5 metres wide units, the client wanted the majority of the ball to be white to resemble a real cricket ball. Of course, full processing was mostly agreed upon to replicate the logo as precisely as possible, but it was also quite effective at capturing the details in the stitching around the perimeter of the custom inflatable cricket balls.
Rounding the Corner
As part of our business practices, we do our due diligence to stay on top of, and offer, only the very best solutions for our clients’ needs. Polyvinyl chloride and polyester both have certain qualities to them that elevate the polymers above other options when it comes to constructing inflatables, such as weather resistance, overall durability, and portability from match to match. However, there is 1 way in which you can manipulate PVC that is impossible to achieve with polyester, and in this case it was 1 of the most important features of the units.
These custom inflatable cricket balls were meant to be central and free standing without any kind of noisy and distracting constant blower, so we knew they would have to be created by welding PVC panels together. These structures can be inflated, sealed off, and left standing for at least several hours. The heat method, proving so reliable, also meant that if these balls happened to unravel, it was just a quick phone call to get the team back down there to repair the .28 millimetre thick material.
Since this sprawling concept had to be modified, we also strategically included D rings throughout the design of the custom inflatable cricket balls, so that they might be hung from the ceiling instead if the car manufacturer’s marketing team decided it suited the cricket pitch better.
Putting It All Together
Although we were really looking forward to trying to bring the client’s initial idea to life, the time needed to achieve such a feat far exceeded the already tight deadline. Even just being tasked with the production of the custom inflatable cricket balls, the unit got to the client with only 1 day to spare before that year’s cricket season began. Regardless, the Toyota cricket balls seemed to contribute to the atmosphere of the cricket matches, and we were absolutely thrilled to provide what we could for the client and the league’s sports fans..
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