When Gravity Industries raced their jet suits across the water, each pilot needed a suit that read from the shoreline and from a camera drone, in a colour that told the commentators who was who. That meant wrapping the engine pods, the back pack and the arm units on a team of suits in matching colourways, on tight compound curves where a car panel would be easy by comparison.
The work was planning as much as fitting. Small parts were wrapped off the suit where they could be, so edges wrapped round rather than stopping at a cut line. Every colourway was proofed before print so the suits looked like a set when they lined up on the pontoon. And the whole job had a race date that was not going to move, which is the deadline we are most used to.
Jet suits are the extreme end, but the same approach applies to anything a brand straps to a person or puts in front of a crowd: kit that gets handled, knocked and filmed, and has to look right in every frame.
A prop is seen up close, touched, sat on and photographed from every side, which is less forgiving than a van seen at forty miles an hour. The Red Bull can car is a good example: a giant printed can built around a kart chassis, where the print had to wrap a cylinder without a visible seam on the sides people photograph.
- Oversized products and packaging, from cans and bottles to boxes and cartons
- Photo-opportunity pieces for activations and launches
- Vending machines, claw machines and arcade cabinets
- Telephone boxes, kiosks and street furniture for sets and pop-ups
- Helicopters, jet skis, rowing oars and kit nobody normally wraps
- Props for film, TV and photography shoots, wrapped and unwrapped between scenes
Where the prop needs building first, our sister company Cube Branding designs and builds it, and we wrap it, so one team handles the whole piece.
A lot of brand builds start as MDF: counters, plinths, kiosks, display stands, exhibition walls and the structures built on the back of promotional vehicles. Wrapping them rather than spraying them is faster, the finish is consistent across every panel, and a printed graphic can run across the whole build in one go. When the campaign changes, the build can be re-skinned instead of rebuilt.
MDF needs preparing properly first. Raw board is porous and the edges are dusty, so film will not hold on it as it comes. It has to be sealed and primed to give the adhesive a stable surface, edges filled and sanded, and the build left to cure before the film goes on. Skip that and the wrap lifts at every edge within weeks. Get it right and a wrapped MDF build looks like a manufactured product.
We wrap builds made by Cube Branding and builds from other fabricators. If you are briefing a builder, tell them the finish will be wrap and we will tell them how we need the surface.
Awards and trophies get wrapped for the same reason vehicles do: a brand finish, a colour that photographs, and a graphic that can change next year. Oversized trophies for a stage, award plinths and display cases, sponsor walls and stage pieces are all wrapped in printed, metallic, chrome or textured films depending on how they will be lit and seen.
Chrome and metallic films look spectacular under stage lighting and unforgiving in daylight, so we will tell you honestly which finish suits where the piece will be seen. Anything that will be handled gets a tougher film or a laminate.
- {01}Brief. What it is, what it is made of, where it will be seen, how long it needs to last, and the date.
- {02}Surface and film. MDF sealed and primed, plastics degreased, metal checked. For an unusual surface we test a piece of film before committing to the whole job.
- {03}Design and proof. Artwork placed on a template or a measured drawing of the object, so seams land where nobody looks.
- {04}Print and laminate. HP latex on 3M or Avery cast film, laminated where the piece will be handled.
- {05}Fit in Caterham or on site. Small pieces come to the unit. Builds, stages and anything that cannot travel are fitted on site, anywhere in the UK or abroad.
- {06}Check and hand over. Every edge checked, care notes for whoever looks after the piece, and removal booked if it is for one event.
A one-off prop can often be turned round in a few days. Event work is planned back from the date.
Wrap Cube is part of All Cube Limited, trading as Cube Branding. Cube Branding designs, builds and installs brand activations, events and large-format print, so a specialist job can go from idea to build to wrap without changing supplier. If you need a vehicle or a prop to hire for the event rather than to own, our sister company Hire Cube keeps a fleet of promotional vehicles and props that we wrap for each campaign.
For vehicles that are the campaign, from a Defender 6x6 to an Airstream stage, see our promotional wrapping page.
Questions people ask before they call
Specialist wrapping
Tell us what it is, what it is made of and when you need it. We'll come back with a plan and a price. 020 8944 6360.