What did the job entail?

The buses are in fact the first example of a new wide-format ‘painted bus’ format, being rolled out by Exterion Media UK (formerly CBS Outdoor) to celebrate the Year of the Bus. High quality print was nonetheless needed to create the footballers emblazoned across these route 38 and 8 buses. 32 4x6m footballers were printed: 10 Lionel Messis, six Steven Gerrards, six Mesut Ozils, five Luis Suarezes and five Dani Alves.

How was it produced?

The footballers were printed by VGL in Reading. The full-colour images were inkjet printed, as were CAD cut vinyl lettering and logos.  Materials used were 3M Controltac, and Contra Vision for those graphics applied over the windows.

What challenges were overcome?

“The key challenge was ensuring the integrity of the design over the different elevations and bodywork of the bus, and ensuring consistency of the display,” said account director at VGL Jon Helm. “We had to consider the window positions on the bus to ensure the correct parts of the display were produced in the Contra Vision vinyl and ensure that the printed images on the curvature of the bus displayed correctly once applied.”

What was the feedback?

Jason Cotterrell, managing director at Exterion Media UK commented: “Painting the entirety of one of our iconic New Routemasters is an entirely new approach to bus advertising and is guaranteed to turn heads on London’s busy high streets. The capital is the centre of creativity for advertising so we’re really looking forward to seeing what other brands can do to make the most of this incredibly powerful advertising platform.”