point-of-sales  awards 
A decal which transforms to reveal a drink-driving message when exposed to a warm stream of liquid has generated both local and international acclaim for printing company Mesh. Produced on behalf of Clemenger BBDO for Land Transport New Zealand, the urinal-placed decal initially appears as a silhouette outline of two vehicles with a caption asking “which car will you piss off in tonight?”. When exposed to a temperature above 20 degrees Celsius the decal momentarily transforms to reveal an image of a taxi versus a car written off in an accident.

As well as winning an Innovation In Print Gold Medal at this year’s Pride In Print Awards, the decal has attracted considerable overseas attention, says Mesh Sales Manager Andrew Craig.

“The exposure went beyond expectations,” he says.

“We have had many enquiries from New Zealand and offshore with regular inquiries still being received.”

In fact, such has been the interest generated by the decal it was somewhat surprisingly “uplifted” from the urinal of at least one Wellington bar.

Mr Craig says the decal is quite unique due to the fact it “changes before your eyes”.

“The concept was to have the image just appear and thereby communicate a message simply and effectively to the intended audience. It had to be reusable and to be easily implemented.

“Once the temperature drops back below the 20 degrees Celsius-mark the black imagery reappears, thus blocking out the intended message. This capability gave the graphics the ability to be reused many times.”

As well as having a long-standing working relationship with Clemenger BBDO, Mr Craig believes Mesh was chosen for this campaign because of its “can do” approach.

“We get involved on the sourcing and developmental side of the project to produce an outcome to suit all the criteria as outlined in the brief.”

A specialist printer of point-of-sale items, Mesh also this year won a Pride In Print Award in the Large Format Screenprinting Section for its work on Coppelia Superlite. Mr Craig says the company has now earned a total of 13 Gold Medals and nine Highly-Commendeds.

“The Pride In Print Awards are still a worthwhile event to enter as a means of measuring where our company is at, compared with the other companies within the industry.

“From the staff’s point of view, they get a sense of achievement knowing that what they have produced has been recognised as a top-end product. It also ensures we maintain or exceed a level of quality that our client base expects.

“Given that some of our client base come from within or associated with the wider printing industry, it gives us more exposure along with re-emphasising what Mesh is about.”