The Cheadle Hume, Cheshire-based company has brought festive spirit to its premises with the product, which it has used to create two 75m images by individually wrapping the railings outside its own headquarters.
The product reveals two separate Christmas-themed illustrations when viewed from different angles. From one angle, the team has integrated a Royal Mail post box located next to the railings to create a 3D scene entitled ‘Santa’s post box’. A festive message from Cestrian can be seen from the other angle.
Managing director Phill Reynolds said: “Outdoor advertising is about capturing the imagination, yet available space can be limited. By using what is essentially the dull background of our grey railings we’ve been able to bring the road outside our offices to life.”
The firm used pre-press automation software to calculate the spacing between the railings in combination with the post box. Cestrian’s in-house team developed a system to manipulate each image to appear in a single, unbroken scene when viewed from the correct angle.
Once created, the scenes were overlaid with the railing calculations, sliced and merged together to create the individual sections for each of the 480 railings.
The merged image was then printed in a specific order on an HP Scitex TJ8600 industrial press, cut using an Esko Kongsberg XP24 cutting table, collated and applied rail by rail using a removable self-adhesive vinyl.
“There’s a little more work in attaching print to railings instead of a traditional billboard but the effect is very exciting, so we decided to test it out with something fun,” said Reynolds.
“We have a play centre opposite our premises and it’s been fantastic seeing the children’s spellbound faces as they try to work out how the two different images are created.
“As we’re working at ground level we’ve also been able to integrate the scene with its environment by using the post box as the focal point, which has added an additional, interesting dimension to the potential opportunities for the product.”
The firm expects to see interest in the product from businesses such as football clubs and out-of-town shopping centres.
Marketing manager Emma Baker-Smith said: “We put the images up on Sunday (30 November) and we've already had quite a few enquiries about the service.
“We've seen people standing and looking and pointing at it and we've also had some positive feedback from some of the nearby companies and some great feedback on LinkedIn and Twitter.”
Cestrian, which has 87 staff and a turnover of £11.6m, predominantly serves retail customers in the food and fashion sectors. Earlier this year the company invested in an EFI Vutek HS100 Pro 3.2m-wide flatbed and roll-fed UV press to increase its capacity and flexibility.
Xmas Railingwraps by Cestrian Imaging from Cestrian Imaging Ltd. on Vimeo.
