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Beckoning banners

Digital banners have completely taken over hand painted ones, be it product promotion, political campaigns or weddings, says DEEPA H RAMAKRISHNAN

PHOTO: T. SINGARAVELOU

INNOVATIVE TOUCH A hoarding put up to celebrate Chief Minister N. Rangasamy's birthday

The Painter of Signs from the imaginary town of Malgudi would scoff at the signboards that crowd the Pondicherry skyline today. For, artists like him who depend on the wind to dry the paint are out of their jobs thanks to digital signboards, banners and hoardings. It's like a year-round exhibition on the roads, remarked a person looking at the huge, colourful flex hoardings that have sprung up all over the town.

In the first week of August, a few days before Chief Minister N. Rangasamy's birthday, his supporters enthusiastically put up hoardings to celebrate the occasion. There were even hoardings which showed the Chief Minister in jeans — actually those of Rajnikanth and Vijay with just the faces replaced with that of Mr. Rangasamy. Every year, Thattanchavady, his constituency, sees more number of hoardings featuring him. Digital banners have completely taken over hand painted ones. Cinemas have taken to flex hoardings and fan clubs seem to prefer them. Political parties and even shops are no exception to this practice. "The first mega sized hoarding was placed in Pondicherry a couple of years ago during the visit of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. This year, for the INTUC meeting, a 3-km-long flag was made with hundreds of smaller pieces, each 5-ft long. We prefer flex flags and hoardings as there is a lot of scope for design and colour, and the faces of the leaders look as clear as in a photograph," says G. Ravichandran, State president, INTUC.

"Flex boards cost less, consume less electricity and have a rich look. It takes only about an hour to print a small-sized banner," says M.V. Sivakumar of Shelvaa Digital, whose company was among the first to introduce digital banners in Pondicherry nearly five years ago.

Even wall posters made of paper have taken a beating, what with people going in for hoardings for weddings and birthdays. Says Sivakumar, "When it comes to weddings, the work is seasonal. Last week all of a sudden, after Aadi, we worked for 15 weddings. During the Assembly Elections, there wasn't much work but we got some orders during the local body elections."

Before being printed, the banners and hoardings have to be designed. According to Harikrishnan of Sega Graphics, "We have ready-made designs and also make new ones as per the requirement of the customer. Individuals and corporates approach us. Those who want a wedding hoarding done bring along the photos of the bride and the groom as well as the text. We help them choose the colour and design. Though flex is the material normally used for hoardings, vinyl is used to make shop name boards."

The cost of a design ranges from Rs. 200 depending on the size. The flex sheet, which costs between Rs. 7 and Rs. 13 per sq.ft, comes in different qualities. Printing a banner/hoarding can cost anywhere between Rs. 9 and Rs. 40 per sq.ft.

"A lot of technological advancement has taken place in flex sheet printing. Canon has come out with a bubble jet printer that can print on any surface, be it rock, wood, cloth or glass. The present method is the injection method where the colours are injected onto the sheet," says Harikrishnan.

Anandan of Ajantha Digital says his machine can print a 250-ft long hoarding at a stretch and it will take about five hours to do the job. "There are nearly 30 companies that make banners in Pondicherry and around five of them have as many as 10 printing machines."

"We don't take orders for weddings and other functions since we don't have advertising space for short periods and cannot break advertisement campaigns of big companies. They also cannot afford the rates that corporates pay. We take bookings for hoardings of companies such as Airtel, Aircel, Reliance, Tata Indicom and Carrier Aircon. Usually the minimum campaign period is one month and bookings range between three and six months," says Viviyan, manager, Vicamp Publicities.

Printed flex banners and hoardings that become outdated or remain unused are used as tarpaulins in lorries. "I have started using small sized flex banners for lining the shelves at home instead of paper. They are washable," says Deepamalika, a housewife.

However, big banners prove to be a distraction on the roads and drivers find it difficult to concentrate especially if a hoarding is attractive or placed at a vantage point. Whether they are a distraction or not, whether people lose their jobs or not digital banners are here to stay.

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