Trade shows are a great way to advertise your business by combining the ability to demonstrate your product and being able to directly interact with the public to take control of your message and branding. Sheds N Homes Gympie wanted to add a little something to their displays, so they requested a humble inflatable dancing man to help draw attention at both these types of shows and onsite events.
Here at Inflatable Anything, we are honoured to be able to support fellow businesses, and we very much looked forward to getting started on this project!
Finalising the Blueprint
The client, as a trusted Queensland franchise, didn’t want an inflatable that was too elaborate. Their image is more of a down to Earth team of metal and construction workers, so all they asked for was a 3 metres tall inflatable dancing man with the bare basics of their branding on it: their name and colours. To fully make it an inflatable dancing man that demanded to be seen, the construction franchise also requested wavy “arms” on each side.
An inflatable dancing man is a fairly common marketing strategy, especially for smaller businesses. Although we don’t have much personal experience making them, after so many years in this business, we knew what steps we had to take to bring this particular idea to life. Beyond that, the bespoke inflatables we are typically tasked with creating have many of the same elements as an inflatable dancing man, so it was just a matter of modifying the concept a bit.
Quality Supplies
At Inflatable Anything, we have 2 standard options for material, both the best of the best. Even top quality materials are only superior if they can adequately fit the client’s needs though. For most projects, but especially for an inflatable dancing man, it was a no-brainer which polymer would land on top.
Whereas both PVC and polyester’s best feature is that they are both quite durable, the former also has a lot of hardness and tensile strength to it, meaning it’s more inflexible. Polyester, on the other hand, is known for having the ability to be manipulated into holding and maintaining precise shapes, like the lip of a replica beverage can. However, the units made with this polymer also have more movement to them, which is pretty important for a unit that will be whipping back and forth over a fan blower. By sewing these panels together and attaching the body to the blower unit via Velcro, these structures can easily navigate having constant air blown through them.
A Few Extra Touches
We did have to ultimately modify the business logo slightly to make it work on this inflatable dancing man, so we had to make sure everything else about the unit’s marketing exceeded the construction franchise’s expectations. To achieve a clean, unrelenting print on this type of material, one option stands out: dye sublimation. One big advantage of polyvinyl chloride is that it is fire retardant. Polyester is quite flammable, however, it has its own special manipulation that renders the material unique and worthier. There is a technique used on an inkjet printer in which you can apply heat indirectly to it without risking safety issues that also amps up its quality in the process.
Dye sublimation is a multi-step printing process where heat is turned into the far less damaging gas of steam. This steam relaxes the pores of the tightly wound polyester fibres to allow sublimation inks to settle into them, which results in a print that not only looks crisp and fresh, but will not be going anywhere for a while. On top of that, since we were dealing with the franchise’s logo, we also used a full print to avoid any visible gaps in the now landscape formatted image.
One More Happy Customer
This inflatable dancing man took some accommodating of our standard business practices to get done, but it wasn’t too long before it passed straight through quality control protocols and shipped off to Queensland. Though it ended up missing the first planned event due to unfortunate weather conditions, the bespoke unit made its journey just in time and has been set up for several trade shows and onsite at Sheds N Homes Gympie events since.
At Inflatable Anything, you can expect us to go out of our way to ensure you receive the best customer support and the best solutions for your business. Give us a call today!
