Fleet branding that works: Vehicle wraps help landscapers stand out

We asked and you delivered! Hundreds of companies submitted photos for Lawn & Landscape’s first-ever vehicle wrap competition.

Our readers picked their favorites from the Top 25 through a survey garnering almost 4,000 votes.

Now we’re talking to those winners about what sets their fantastic fleet apart from the competition. These four green industry business owners have learned a thing or two about the subject matter, so you can hear their advice on all things vehicle wraps and how that ties into branding, marketing and more sales.

What’s in a name?

The key to any successful landscaping truck wrap, and brand in general, is an eye-catching name that customers will read and instantly want to learn more about you.

Kirk Brown has been running his own landscape company since he was 12 years old. After more than two decades in business, he decided it was time to completely rebrand his Douglassville, Pa.-based company with a new name and logo.

“We used to be called Kirk’s Lawn Care — that was the name I came up with at 12 years old with really no forward thinking at that point. We stuck with that all the way until last year,” Brown explains. “We rebranded for several reasons — one being that I have a great management team and while I am still very involved in the business, but less so in the day-to-day operations. I wanted to put more of the focus on my team. When clients called, they were always asking for Kirk.

“Another reason was with our name including lawn care, we offer a bunch of other services…and other things beyond the lawn care realm — even though we were marketing those services, we found our clients weren’t remembering that we were offering those services just because of our name. It wasn’t at the forefront of their mind when they hear the name Kirk’s Lawn Care,” he adds.

That’s when the idea for Outdoor Splendor was hatched. Brown says before he began the process of rebranding, he knew he wanted a new name that had nothing to do with landscaping.

“With a landscaping company you always have the oak leaf or a tree or grass — it’s all very repetitive the logos that are out there. I wanted to do something that would shake things up and be a disruptive logo in our marketplace,” he says.

“That was the reason why we chose the peacock — what comes to mind is beauty and grandeur and an elevated status. That works into the word splendor as well. So, we made our tagline ‘Premier service, majestic results’ that all ties in, too,” Brown adds.

Down in Austin, Texas, a newcomer on the block, Loopers Lawn Care, was also looking to stir things up with their unique name.

A looper, a colloquial term for a golf caddy, not only brings the fun of the game but the knowledge, too. That’s what Partner Hank Wilson says they were shooting for with the name and brand. “We decided that we wanted to stand out and wanted to create a brand. We didn’t want the name to have the word ‘green’ in it or anything like that. We just wanted to create a brand that was fun and that people would remember,” he says. “A lot of people like golf and it’s kind of a play on a bunch of different golf references out there. It’s a fun, fun brand.

“The key is you’ve got to do something that’s memorable especially in a space that has a sea of sameness,” Wilson adds.

Stand out from the crowd

The Florida-based Helping Hand Lawn Care has a fleet of 22 trucks — each adorned with a different wrap ranging from roses to animal print to celestial patterns and more.

President Norm Ripper says he likes that each truck is unique and a reflection of that crew’s foreman.

“I noticed a lot of pest control companies do fun vehicle wraps and crazy, bright colors and different designs and all that — we decided to make each truck unique and let our guys pick what their trucks look like when we get new trucks in,” he says. “They have all these options that they scroll through, and they pick their favorite design and that’s what we use for the trucks. They have ownership over their own look for their crew.”

Not only does it make it like a scavenger hunt for Floridians to find all the different patterns — but Ripper says having his employees choose their own wrap helps with employee retention and getting them to care for the trucks like their own vehicle.

“Employees are keeping their trucks so much cleaner,” Ripper says. “It helps the employees take pride in what they’re doing and keeping their trucks clean. All that helps and when you take care of your stuff people notice.”

Standing out is what Matthew Hogue, president of Houston’s Hogue Landscape Services, takes a vehicle wrap from good to great.

“With our vehicle wraps, we wanted something bold and clean that clearly communicates who we are and what we do — even at a glance,” he says.

“The color palette, logo placement and messaging were all chosen to feel modern and polished while still being approachable,” Hogue adds. “Our fleet of 80-plus vehicles range from our signature Bronco to F-150, 250 and 350’s to crossovers — and the wrap design was created to stay consistent and impactful across all vehicle types. As our fleet continues to grow, the design scales seamlessly.”

Not only did the Bronco’s landscaping truck wrap win Lawn & Landscape’s contest with a whopping 49% of the vote — it’s also turning heads around Texas.

“The Bronco goes to jobsites but not with crews. A supervisor, or myself or a marketing manager will drive it around town,” Hogue says. “We use it basically to just draw people to the brand. I bought it during COVID because I went to buy a truck and there were no trucks. It was the only thing on the lot that wasn’t a box van.

“I thought I wanted to have some fun with it — so we got all the lights,” he adds. “At night, we can light that thing up with wheel lights, undercarriage lights — all of it. We’ve used it in holiday parades and neighborhood community events, too. Kids love it because it’s got a train horn.”

Wilson argues the type, and quality, of the vehicle is almost as important as the wrap itself — and while Loopers is still relatively small with only one van — it’s still making an impression.

“The amount of business and calls that we get… from our van alone is amazing. It’s very exciting,” he says. “People see the van and they see a professional company. It’s a nice Mercedes Sprinter Van. They don’t see a broken-down flat-bed truck with rust all over it… they see a professional company.”

Who to turn to

To get that professional, memorable brand, Brown says they hired a marketing firm who specializes in service industries.

“With the graphic design and some of the other strategy, we knew to really do this right, and to really do this investment, we needed to tap a professional to handle that. It’s one of those things that’s very disruptive to do and very costly to do and it can all go wrong if you don’t have a well thought out plan behind it,” he says.

Brown estimates he probably spent around $200,000 rebranding his company — and it was key he got a return on his investment, which was even more reason to turn to the professionals.

“The company we used designed pretty much the whole logo and brand around the truck wrap,” he explains. “The first thing they will do is design the truck wrap even before your logo. They center everything around how your trucks look, so the uniforms, the business cards — everything else follows.”

Brown says the company gave plenty of input on the design, color scheme and even the name by doing research within the industry and within Brown’s market.

“They did competitor analysis and competitor research to make sure we’d be different. They even did some psychology work behind the name and behind our mascot — like when you see a peacock what does that bring to mind,” he says.

“That’s part of it that a lot of people don’t understand when you do a successful rebrand, is the psychology behind what people’s first impression will be, before they have any communication with you, just based upon appearance.”

Wilson says Loopers too turned to a marketing professional with help determining their design.

“We felt this was very important, so we engaged a professional designer to create the entire brand and to design the wrap,” he says. “That was really important to us.”

Hogue however says his landscaping truck wrap was designed more serendipitously — through a local business.

“Our first location I rented in this industrial park / strip center type place and over on the corner was a little wrap shop. I literally walked in there and said, ‘Hey I’m starting this company’ and the owner’s wife, Leslie, sat down with me and we designed it on a whim,” he recalls. “Working with a local company allows for better collaboration, quicker turnaround and a strong working relationship.”

Hogue says the local company he takes their fleet to has expressed gratitude for “saving” their business through all their collaborations. “COVID was very good to us — we probably bought 30-some trucks,” he says.

“In fact, our local wrap company told us we single handedly saved their company as we experienced rapid growth during this time. That makes you feel good,” Hogue adds.

Keep under consideration

Designing a vehicle wrap is no easy task, and something that shouldn’t be taken lightly, Wilson says.

His best advice for companies aiming to make a splash is to take your time and make the investment worth your while. Wilson also suggest Seth Goin’s book “Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable.”

“Be intentional about what you’re doing and investing into the process — don’t just slap a logo on the side of a truck with a magnet,” he warns. “Really invest into what you’re going to look like out on the street because that will say a lot about you.”

Ripper agrees, adding that more green industry companies should invest in their vehicle wraps and branding.

“In our line of business if all of our vehicles look nice, everyone won’t associate us with the old, broken-down trucks with a guy driving around” he says.

“It’s important for everyone to look at their brand constantly and adjust to what’s going on in their area and try and make themselves stand out.”

While cost and ROI are always important to keep in mind — Ripper says the costs associated with vehicle wrapping aren’t astronomical.

“All of the trucks we have that have been wrapped for about two and half years now — the wraps are still holding up really well. Everything is more expensive now, but it’s probably going to average around $8,000 to $11,000 per vehicle but there’s not a lot of hidden costs with it at all,” he says. “I wish we would have started doing it a long time ago. It helps us stand out. You have to stand out in this business because everybody is doing the same thing, so you have to do whatever you can to make yourself unique.”

Brown says he feels the costs of not investing in your brand are higher than those needed to tackle the project.

“Having a bad brand, you’re going to have to spend many more dollars on Google Ads, yard signs and all those marketing channels if it’s not something that’s memorable,” he says.

“I wish I would’ve done it sooner. It only gets more expensive the bigger the company you have and gets more expensive as you grow.”

Customer engagement equals success

Hogue says the company is hyper-sensitive to how leads come in.

“Was it Google, SEO, Facebook? I’d say about over 20% of them are from people who’ve seen our trucks,” he says. “Our vehicles act as mobile billboards, and customers engage with them constantly — whether it’s seeing them in neighborhoods, at jobsites or on the road. We often hear that people recognize our trucks immediately, and many new customers mention seeing our vehicles around town before reaching out. The wrap helps reinforce brand consistency and professionalism, which builds familiarity and trust long before the first phone call.”

Ripper agrees, saying customers are always calling in when they see a new Helping Hand truck.

“Everybody loves them,” he says. “They’re always looking out for them and when they spot them — customers will call in about them and voice their opinions. We get calls from random people who’ve seen them and are now looking for our services as well.”

Brown says customers have been clamoring, positively, over their new brand. “(Customers) really embraced it and we’ve really embraced it and our peacock mascot. It’s a fun thing; we’ve named him Pete the Peacock.

“We’re just trying to embrace the fun of it all and I think our employees are much prouder to come to work for a branded company like we have now.” L&L

The author is senior editor with Lawn & Landscape.