Artistic Advertising for Vans
Page 51
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THE signwriter's skill invariably commands admiration ; his is a highly specialized craft. His scope, however, is necessarily limited to those subjects for which he has particular talent Furthermore, it is rarely that the man who has the ability to execute work of this description can also originate designs and conceive appropriate ideas for all classes of requiremeats.
By including amongst its staff a number of artists, each of whom will obviously have a flair for a certain class of work, and men with the ability to create suitable displays and the experience to produce decoration that has, besides artistic merit, high advertising value, an organization has, undoubtedly, a far wider range of activity.
Such a concern is the Multiplex Advertising Co., Cubitts Yard, 25S, Gray's Inn Road, London, W.C.1, which has long been associated with the changing-sign type of advertisement from which it takes its name. For roughly the past six months it has been devoting its activities largely to the work of originating and executing artistic designs for vans to advertise the trades of their owners. , The van bodies are all finished in ordinary oil paint, applied with a brush by hand, the artists generally working at the premises of the owners of the vans, or at those of the concern's authorized eoaeh painters, except when decorated panels are attached to the vans, these being painted in the Multiplex studios. We have inspected a large number of ,priginal designs and were much impressed by their artistic merit and strikingly attractive appearance. Our illustration shows a demonstration van, which is one of three, carrying six different designs, ordered from the Multiplex concern by Morris Motors Ltd., Cowley, Oxford, for exemplifying the possibilities of mobile publicity. Even the black and white reproduction speaks for itself. The cost of finishing a van with a pictorial design depends, obviously, upon the size of the former and the nature of the latter. An approximate estimation, however, is from 112 for a 5-cwt. vehicle to 118 for a 2-tonner. These figures are for the complete van and include lettering and two coats of varnish. In addition, a charge of 11 10s. is made for the original sketch in colours. For three guineas complete full-sized tracings of a design previously submitted and approved will be supplied should the owner prefer to have the work done by his own signwriter or artist, but desire to avail himself of the qualifications of the Multiplex concern to evolve an appropriate design.