PUBLICATION CENTER

With schools and recreation districts looking for ways to supplement their budgets, and sign and graphics companies looking for new ways to keep their printers running, all of these empty spaces may provide some needed, and real, economic stimulus.

Butler Design Agency in Syracuse, Ind., home to the irrepressible David and Susie Butler, are big local high-school boosters. And every year they provide court and courtside graphics for the local basketball tournament.

This year’s project set the duo’s creative wheels spinning in a bigger and wider direction as they contemplated the possibilities of providing sponsored court and gym graphics throughout the state.

“How many gyms are there in the state of Indiana? Schools need money too, and all you have to do is let them know how much money they can make with sponsorships by having us print those sponsorship graphics for them,” says Susie Butler. “Even our little town has a community gym, so it’s perfect, and it’s available to market. I don’t think anyone has really approached this on a high-school or local level.  It’s tough times for everyone, but this is such a massive ad opportunity with big-time exposure for any potential sponsors willing to try it.”

This year, the Butlers printed center court graphics with their Mutoh on FLEXmark® V 400 F White Opaque A-109 Vinyl for Indoor Floor Surfaces laminated with FLEXmark® OV 600 6 Mil Safari Luster PSA overlaminate. For projects like this that fall outside FLEXcon's recommended and approved floor surfaces, it's important to test the material on the floor first since some wood or faux wood surfaces can be damaged by the adhesive.

Another excellent possibility, since many schools and recreation centers have carpeted exercise floors, is to use FLEXmark® V 400 F White Opaque A-120 Vinyl for Carpet Surfaces laminated with FLEXmark® OV 650 R 6.5 Velvet PSA Overlaminate. This combination, which is currently on sale at LexJet for 25 percent off your first order, opens up a lot of spaces to lucrative sponsorship printing opportunities.

Susie says the graphics printed perfectly, installed with ease, and have proved extremely durable through the barrage of foot traffic a typical tournament produces. She adds that they’ve asked the athletic director to keep the graphics on the court to see how they hold up over a longer period of time and through additional abuse. That way they can better gauge the long-term durability of their floor graphics for future projects.