Phoenix rising

Vermeulen & Vermeulen Reclame in the Netherlands won a 2020 FESPA Gold Award in the wrapping category with a theme park-inspired Porsche car wrap. We spoke to founder Marcel Vermeulen about the work that claimed success.

This car wrap for the StreetGasm 2000 rally was inspired by a rollercoaster at the Toverland theme park. A 3D phoenix head was attached to the bonnet surrounded by a printed base wrap on 3M films including reflective grade and silver, printed using Roland wide format and CAD cut on Zund S3. In a two-week-long process, the feathers were hand-drawn, cut and applied to the bodywork individually to achieve the finished wrap.

What was the brief, and what were you attempting to achieve with the work?

Our brief was to design a jaw-dropping, neck-snapping wrap for this Porsche 911 Turbo S to compete in the rally. The customer had already wrapped a car himself, using plastic 3-dimensional fruit, so we had to exceed that very weird but prize-winning wrap. The theme was inspired by a new rollercoaster called Feniks at Toverland theme park in the Netherlands.

What are the benefits of the material choices that you made?

Reflective banner material from Sott could be used to make “real” feathers and also made it stand out in the dark, the 3M ij180-Mc120 silver metallic print film gave an extra dimension to the prints and the 3M 1080-GP292 Gloss Galaxy Black has got a really special metallic look, which added extra depth.

What were the key technical challenges involved in the project?

Mounting the feathers, and the bird’s head on the bonnet.

Marcel Vermeulen

How did you overcome those challenges?

Templating and test fitting.

What do you think you offer to clients that competitors don’t?

We always want to have all the techniques we offer in-house so we can experiment with the machines and materials.

How will winning this award change things for you?

We will simply stay focused on the current way of working and organising things. Hopefully, people are getting more familiar with the fact that wrap design is a different ball game and they need to get us involved earlier in the process.

How do you see your business expanding in the next five to 10 years?

We’re concentrating on new techniques and streamlining and improving processes and our workspace. We don’t want to grow in size, but in quality. We also invest a lot in a healthy and pleasant work environment.

What's the most important business tip or trick you could pass on to our readers?

Focus on the process, and make sure you have your orders well documented so you can save time and avoid error when a customer has a repeat order.

Anything else you want to tell us?

I just want to thank the judges – we’re really happy with this big award!