I have always disliked the word ‘livery’. It’s just not a nice word. But the word itself, I believe, is quite damaging to those progressive vehicle media providers that are trying to elevate vehicle branding above that of ‘traditional livery’. Now, I know the word livery is used as a ‘catch all’ for all images, graphics and words used on vehicles.
The Cambridge Dictionary explains that livery is,
Well, fair enough, that is what makes up all vehicle graphics. In fact, it’s what’s used in all marketing content. But there is a big difference between a logo and some contact details on a vehicle, to that of a carefully designed piece of media playing an important part in the overall marketing strategy of a switched-on business.
It’s not alone. We are all guilty of using ‘out of date’ words and phrasing to describe a modern item or process. Take the word ‘dial’ for example. When was the last time you used a phone with a dial? Yet most doctor’s answer phone messages will say
“If this is an emergency, hang up and dial 999”
‘Dashboard’ is another. Today a vehicle’s
dashboard probably looks a bit like this…
But the original dashboard looked like this…
…and was a simple, wooden board to stop mud
and ‘horse emanations’ from hitting the driver!
The other aspect of using the misnomer ‘livery’, is that if does an injustice to the highly talented and skilled vehicle branding providers that take their art seriously. It’s a little like calling a highly skilled mental health specialist a ‘shrink’. Of course, there are still plenty of livery providers, some of them being very large organisations supplying huge corporate fleets. But times are changing with the more forward-thinking vehicle graphics providers slowly eroding their market share. How do I know this? Well, since 2017, Mediafleet has grown by over 300%. Yet, the commercial fleet market has not. That means Mediafleet is winning market share.
The design and implementation of vehicle graphics is an important part of a company’s integrated marketing plan. The evolution of the vehicle branding market has seen the increased involvement of internal marketing departments, and/or external marketing agencies. The cause of this is the demand from marketers that the ‘livery’ needs to reflect and support the overarching marketing strategy of the company. And that means more than a logo and some contact details. It means vehicles adopting the brand strategy.
Some vehicle graphics providers will work with their client’s marketing departments to develop the graphics in line with the marketing plan. It is important that internal marketing teams are aware of what is available in vehicle graphics. Plus, when the design has been agreed, it is important that the design is optimised for each vehicle type. Good marketing knowledge combined with a design flare is required for this. It is important that vehicle graphics providers have this skilled internal resource.
Generally, B2B marketing is pretty poor really – including vehicle marketing. For too long now, B2B organisations have focused on minimal marketing spend and have ignored investing in the brand. This has led to low brand recognition and decreased overall marketing effectiveness. But things are changing.
B2B’s are recognising that chasing up an enquiry by letting loose the ‘sales team’ is not enough and archaic. It’s also probably a little late with the potential client already residing at the bottom of the sales funnel (BoFu) – decision neatly made. B2B’s are learning the lessons from the B2C’s and are starting to market to people as opposed to businesses. Afterall, sales decisions are still based on emotion, trust and product/service recall, as well as the procurement specifications and details. In order to meet that goal this is all about reaching the maximum obtainable market, grabbing their attention, and having a memorable proposition.
That is why constant brand building is crucial. If you have developed a memorable brand and value proposition, your next client, although perhaps entering the sales funnel at the top (ToFu), your brand recognition will make it much easier to acquire as he falls through the funnel, MoFu to BoFu. In fact, he may not even complete this journey with the buying decision being made at any point.
