Not far from my home, behind a 7-11, an Amazon package pickup locker has been in place for the last couple of years. Though I’ve noticed it before – branded in an orangey-yellow with an Amazon logo – I’ve not paid it much mind. Until the other day.
Driving past, I noticed bright graphics had been added to the locker structure. The words “Play-Doh” and “back to school” popped out in a bright red. A child, manipulating Play-Doh, graced the corner. The structure has been transformed from a branded “thing” into a surface on which advertising can be placed. A new thing: point-of-pickup advertising.
Thoughts and Questions
These lockers are wrapped to promote back to school, a specific part of a specific season. This is not a long-term display. I would expect to see the wrap on these lockers change frequently, particularly as Halloween and the winter holiday season approach (see update below).
This is more work for wide-format printers and installers (a good thing). This locker unit is not in a high-visibility place, yet it received the back to school dressing. This leads me to believe that this effort is not a one-off, but part of a broader effort to use the more than 2,800 Amazon lockers, in more than 70 American markets, as advertising structures.
I wonder how these branded lockers fit in with local sign codes. Are they signs? Are they temporary structures? Are they considered permanent fixtures? Do they exist in a grey area that sign codes have yet to address? I’m interested in your feedback.
Update
And just like that ... three weeks after the start of the school year, the "back to school" graphics have been removed. Will new, updated graphics soon appear? Likely.
Back to normal. | Credit: Wide-format Impressions
Point-of-Pickup Advertising?
Not far from my home, behind a 7-11, an Amazon package pickup locker has been in place for the last couple of years. Though I’ve noticed it before – branded in an orangey-yellow with an Amazon logo – I’ve not paid it much mind. Until the other day.
Driving past, I noticed bright graphics had been added to the locker structure. The words “Play-Doh” and “back to school” popped out in a bright red. A child, manipulating Play-Doh, graced the corner. The structure has been transformed from a branded “thing” into a surface on which advertising can be placed. A new thing: point-of-pickup advertising.
Thoughts and Questions
These lockers are wrapped to promote back to school, a specific part of a specific season. This is not a long-term display. I would expect to see the wrap on these lockers change frequently, particularly as Halloween and the winter holiday season approach (see update below).
This is more work for wide-format printers and installers (a good thing). This locker unit is not in a high-visibility place, yet it received the back to school dressing. This leads me to believe that this effort is not a one-off, but part of a broader effort to use the more than 2,800 Amazon lockers, in more than 70 American markets, as advertising structures.
I wonder how these branded lockers fit in with local sign codes. Are they signs? Are they temporary structures? Are they considered permanent fixtures? Do they exist in a grey area that sign codes have yet to address? I’m interested in your feedback.
Update
And just like that ... three weeks after the start of the school year, the "back to school" graphics have been removed. Will new, updated graphics soon appear? Likely.
Back to normal. | Credit: Wide-format Impressions
Dan Marx, Content Director for Wide-Format Impressions, holds extensive knowledge of the graphic communications industry, resulting from his more than three decades working closely with business owners, equipment and materials developers, and thought leaders.