11-17-2008 Heppner brands its fleet of vehicles in eastern France with the colors of its new visual identity

The deployment of the new visual identity campaign is currently taking place throughout the eastern region of France starting in Strasbourg, historic birthplace of Heppner, where all the ground equipment of the local agency as well as those in Nancy, Metz, Colmar and Mulhouse now wear the new colors. 

Branding operation calendar 
Between August and October, Heppner initiated the rollout of its new logo and colors in the Ile-de-France region implicating nearly 100 ground vehicles: semi-trailers, road trackers and carrier trucks. Since mid September up to mid November, the operation has continued in the greater eastern region of France targeting nearly 70 vehicles. At the same time, branding is progressively being extended to other regions, notably in and around Lyon. This large-scale branding operation will be pursued up to 2010 

A modernized visual identity: a major step in Heppner’s development strategy and reflection of its new ambitions 
For Christophe Schmitt and Christophe Lemoye, Regional Directors in the east of France: “Over the past 85 years Heppner has changed its logo four times, the most recent being some 20 years ago. The ‘little green fellow’, emblem federating the company’s human values, remains the principal component of our new visual identity. Our new logo is decisively contemporary, with its green background and clear-cut forms, and designed to more identifiable. A strong signal of our own evolution, it confers us new élan and is part of Heppner’s development strategy and readiness to look towards the future. The choice of our partners, in particular Megamark and 3M, was not left up to hazard and exemplifies the ampler of this operation.”  

Megamark and 3M: two first-rate partners 
The technical procedure called « total covering » or « paint replacement » used for applying the adhesive films was an obvious solution for Heppner for the following reasons: flexibility, simplicity, speed of application and limited immobilization of vehicles. Last spring Heppner entrusted this operation to two partners, both experts in their fields: - the 3M group, a reference in the sector, for the design and manufacturing of the films,
- Megamark, specialist in visual communications and vehicle branding and selected for its proven expertise, for the implementation of  this large-scale operation.
 
To start with Megamark conducted an audit on the fleet at two intervention levels: the weatherproofness and the friction of the truck surface. The teams at Megamark were then trained to do the needed bodywork (grinding and sandpapering the surfaces). Above and beyond the number of vehicles involved and the guarantee covering the durability of the adhesive, this contract between Heppner, Megamark and 3M is quite original in that it includes the basic technical preparation of the equipment before branding. 

Behind the scenes of the branding of a Heppner semi-trailer 
The branding operation known as « total covering » or « paint replacement » can be resumed as follows: “1 semi-trailer  = 2 people per day”. It calls for a streamline procedure outlining a number of strategic steps that the Megamark teams must follow:
      -    arrival of the vehicle to the workshop specially set up and requisitioned for the operation,
- dismantling all the parts and accessories of the truck (plates, door frames…),
- cleaning and sanding the bodywork,
- manually affixing the green background adhesive film and this on the apposition of the “Transport & Logistics” adhesives,
- reinstalling the parts and accessories on the truck. This operation when done on a semi-trailer corresponds to a surface area of 90 m sq (sides and doors). It requires neither drying nor a protective varnish coating on the vehicle that can thus get back on the road as quickly as possible.    

Heppner’s entire vehicle fleet 
1,459 pieces of equipment, including:
* 871 semi-trailers
* 400 road tractors
* 188 carrier trucks