Using Wide-Format to Rebrand a Campus

When McMaster University in Ontario decided to rebrand, one of the first visible signs of the new look and feel was to be 35 banners around campus, highlighting some of the key researchers from various schools throughout the campus plus some noted alumni.

Phil Poelmans, director of Media Production Services, was called on to coordinate the project, which involved producing 72x26˝ banners on double-sided vinyl and mounting them to poles around campus.

To start, Poelmans’ team had to survey the campus and take note of every pole that could be a potential installation location. They created a detailed map, and using that, the marketing department choose the sites for phase one, with more planned for later installments.

Phase one was targeted for completion in time for the campus Welcome Week, which kicked off on August 26, 2017. However, delays in choosing the subjects and content for the banners pushed that back — at least initially.

“All of this changed on August 15 when I was informed that our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, was coming to McMaster and help some residence students move in on August 26,” says Poelmans.

The in-plant had just 10 days to finalize the designs and ensure all banners were installed before that crucial visit.

“With five days left we were still finalizing design and content, and having to revise our installation plan with our outside partner,” Poelmans says. “At last, we started sending some files to print and by Wednesday, August 23, the last file was submitted. All 35 banners were printed, sewn and ready to be installed by the end of Thursday. The entire installation took place on Friday, August 25, beginning first thing in the morning until early evening — just under the wire.”

Poelmans’ in-house graphic design team did all of the artwork, he says, but even though the in-plant has wide-format capabilities, he chose to rely on an outside partner for the printing of this project.

“Many times we will design everything, then work with the partner to manufacture and/or install the pieces,” he notes. “Basically it comes down to capabilities. Doing everything in-house is just not a sustainable model anymore.

“Everyone has developed their niche of what they’re really good at, but then we also handle any kind of work that comes in — we decide if it makes sense to do in house or contract it out, and we do that on behalf of the entire university,” he explains. “Every print project comes to us, and we either produce it or act as brokers. Because of that, we have a lot of leverage and can negotiate great rates and pass along the savings.”

Poelmans says that the size and scope of the banner project meant it was more cost effective to work closely with one of the in-plant’s partners, acting as the project manager to coordinate all of the departments and stake holders throughout the process. It worked out so well, the in-plant is planning to start phase two shortly.

The plan is to have another 30-plus banners installed on different poles around campus, in addition to the ones already produced, in time for the May at Mac event starting May 12.

“We don’t want to do what happened last time,” says Poelmans. “We want to be print ready a few weeks before to give us time to produce and install the banners. We’re going to work with the same partner as last time; even though we’re outsourcing, we worked with them for many successful projects, so they feel more like an extension of our in-plant. We’re great at partnering with the right people to make virtually anything happen.”