John's appointment tops off the firm's investment in design and print, which has included doubling print capacity in the last year.

"Now we're working hard and smart," said head of marketing Mike Goldwater. "We're under pressure from advertisers and taxi drivers to run just in time and as smoothly as a military operation."

The studio is based at the company's 1,000sqm operations centre in Bethnal Green East London, which has 12 bays for fitting graphics to taxis.

Printed output is produced on Metamark vinyl using four HP Designjet 9000s and a pair of Epson Stylus Pros - a 7600 and a 9600. Graphics are cut using a pair of Summa plotters.

The space for the studio was created by relocating the sales and marketing operation from Bethnal Green to Oxford Circus in London's west end.

Taxi Media produces a mixture of full livery taxis, where the entire vehicle is wrapped, along with supersides, a pre-cut panel that runs along the side of the vehicle from head light to tail light.

"While full-livery provides great impact, supersides are more affordable and easier to fit and tend to be used tactically by customers who want short bursts of high-volume exposure," said Goldwater.

The business was formed in 1995 as Taxi Promotions by chief executive Asher Moses, last April it acquired Taxi Media from Clear Channel Outdoor, and now claims 73% of the London taxi advertising fleet.