Examine out these Truck Actions photos:
Gorgeous:
Coup de Entourage?
Image by Ezra.Wolfe
First, let me express my admiration of the design and top quality of this paint job. The downward slanting backdrop and headline give a feeling of motion that is fitting for a step van. The orange and black with red accent generate robust contrast that you cannot miss. When I very first saw it I thought that Entourage was performing some tour on the Penn campus and turned to search for Vince and Turtle.
Secondly, what the hell is this? What occurred to Coup de Taco? (see their earlier discomfort task here: www.flickr.com/images/ezraw/4298284505/in/set-72057594077…). I hope it was a fiscal crisis, because that is about the only way I could forgive this kind of an affront to my (and hopefully the public’s) esthetic expectations for food trucks and the relationship they have with the neighborhoods in which they do enterprise.
If you search by way of my step van set (www.flickr.com/pictures/ezraw/sets/72057594077391068/with/4…) what you may well notice is that the lunch truck step van is an expression of identity for this unusual category of tiny organization. The emphasis in nearly all non-delivery fleet step vans is on individuality, typically shown using typography or colour. Even these who decide on not to paint their vans have customized them in approaches that are exclusive.
The step van food truck is the uncommon organization that comes with two enormous indicators out front that can be painted even so the owner likes. I do not even believe zoning has any say. Most owners take advantage of this to generate a visual identity. A food truck "brand." Because all step vans are nearly the identical size and form, there’s really no other way to do this. For instance, see Rami, correct following door serving middle eastern food (www.flickr.com/photos/ezraw/4298271579/in/set-72057594077…) or Suzi with the chef’s face drawn on the side (www.flickr.com/photos/ezraw/3168385047/in/set-72057594077…) or bright pink Denise’s (www.flickr.com/photos/ezraw/3086759419/in/set-72057594077…) or the just lately popular cupcake lady operating Philadelphia Buttercream ( www.flickr.com/pictures/ezraw/4508902913/in/set-72057594077… ).
To transform identities so all of a sudden and drastically is to invite confusion and probably alienate consumers by getting rid of a familiar signpost of their everyday routine. No to mention, and possibly most importantly, how could anybody possibly know what the Entourage truck sells? Only if you appear very carefully can you see the Coup de Taco logo is hiding out in the bottom left.
Third. It is dull. You could place this on a billboard and I wouldn’t appear twice.
There is almost no distinction amongst the expertise I have with a truck like this and a portable sign board truck like this: www.flickr.com/pictures/jag9889/3457265350/. Both are completely unrelated to what’s taking place inside and insult the neighborhood all around it. At least the sign board truck moves along. Coup de Taco seems to say, "I care so small about my relationship with the neighborhood that I am willing to danger it for money."
At least the sign truck and billboard declare their commercial intent up front. "Look at me, i am an advertisement," they say. "See me for what I am." But this lunch truck fooled us. It mentioned, "I’m a taco van, I’ll park right here every single day, and we can have a relationship. I’ll be a portion of the neighborhood and you can consume here too." But then we wake up 1 morning to hear, "Oh no, wait, sorry, I’m also an advertisement for an HBO show. But I’m not leaving either. Sorry you had a some romantic notion about me respecting you. Just preserve looking at Ari and getting tacos and we’ll get along fine."
So, really should we boycott Coup de Taco for this slap in the face of visual step van vernacular? For me, it is a moot point as I don’t work near it, and it really is typically not open when I pass by, so I’ve by no means eaten there. Also, as a companion in a small organization myself, I would not want to harm the earnings of the owner, who surely appears like a good guy (his blog: coupdetaco.wordpress.com/). But I surely would recognize if an individual did. That stated, element of the appeal and identity of Philadelphia for me is the crazy melange of indicators and storefronts all over town. I would never ever want to squelch that fire, nor the choice of each and every enterprise individual to do what he or she wants with their exterior, but I positive would hate it if we all ended up with signs like these on food trucks all over town.
Can’t wait until this is gone and we see the old Coup de Taco back soon.
PS, I got a close look final night, and this is a vinyl automobile wrap, which is actually pretty cool and virtually invisible unless of course you appear extremely closely. Would be exciting to see vans place these on and adjust up styles every year.
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Dad with the finished truck step
Image by Runcer
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Graffiti Truck
Image by Sapphireblue
This truck has obviously been utilised and abused by the disillusioned youth of Basel. Or just by CATS, whose tag is completely all over the place in the city… you know, you catch that kid and ship him off to reside with his grandmother in Berlin or in which-ever, proper there you have created a large step toward cleansing up the less beautiful bits of Basel.
Anyway, the graffiti caught my eye, but that logo got out my camera. It is for a German company known as Thedra AG, which appears to be a producer of janitorial equipment and industrial cleaners. (That expertise makes me really like the logo just that much much more.) Is it a fox? Is it a canine? Possibly it really is just awesomeness on four paws.
Elza, you said it all. I think people tend to forget just how much vehicle advertising can get done.
If you are interested take a look at our recent pics of our AmeriGlide van and let us know what you think.
Hi Erza,
Wow, this is a very thorough critique and you make many good points. I thought though that I’d clarify some of the issues around this campaign. The Entourage wrap was put on our truck as part of a promotion for the syndication of the show on a local channel and the crux of the promotion was based on two events that we (Coup de Taco) held in partnership with the station. At these two events we gave away 1200 tacos for free to 600 community members each time. The marketing firm that contracted us to do these events insisted that we also wear the wrap to promote the events and the show. At the time we weighed the ability to give away 2400 tacos to our community members for free vs. the take over of our brand image for a few days and decided that it would be best for our customers, our community and our business to wear the wrap and do the events. (There was a much larger logo of ours on the other side of the truck that was not photographed here). We found that the events were greatly enjoyed by everyone who got to participate including many homeless people, students and random passersby. We also found that many customers felt exactly the same way you do and many have stopped buying our food. This was an effect we did not anticipate. We realized way too late that the wrap would stay on our truck for a much longer time period than we thought and that people were offended by it.
We also didn’t realize that our paint job would be ruined by the wrap and that we’d be left with the tab for putting it back on. We’re relatively recent entrepreneurs and we’re learning every day from our mistakes. This one was very costly to us in a number of ways. We still love the idea of giving away free food even if it causes us to do some co-branding/co-sponsorship – we see other companies doing this all the time and it doesn’t seem to offend the community at large so much if done in a tasteful manner. We will never again have the truck wrapped for a prolonged period of time with imagery that is not our own brand as we now recognize what a deleterious effect it has on our customers’ perceptions of us.
That said, I’m not sure I understand why you think an advertisement or signage for a TV show is worse that a company’s own advertisement. McDonalds has a restaurant right around the corner from us and it is covered in its own branding and advertising materials – does that also offend the community? Is it better than Entourage in some way?
Either way, your point is well-taken and we really appreciate you writing such a thorough critique. It’s stuff like this that keeps us educated on our perception in the community and it is an extremely important channel for us to learn about what our customers think. I noticed you said you’ve never eaten at our truck and I encourage you to do so one day and let us know how the food is. We are thinking of creative ways to get the truck re-painted – maybe some kind of art contest is in the future… Hopefully it’ll be done before you next visit and you can re-photograph us for your blog.
Thanks for the feedback. All the best,
-The Coup de Taco Team
http://www.twitter.com/coupdetaco
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/55467445@N02] Thanks for taking the time to respond and clarify. I appreciate your thoughts as well. To answer your question, no I don’t think there is anything wrong with Entourage or its branding. I don’t think McDonald’s branding is better (or worse). I’ve seen a few seasons, and it’s a funny show. I guess the reason I was disappointed was that I have a romantic notion of food trucks like yours. I think they make Philly a more livable place, in a way that national corporate entities like McDonald’s can’t: they allow for creativity on a local level, both in terms of food, but also the presentation of the truck itself.
I love step vans (in case it wasn’t obvious!) and I love that people take advantage of them to make the city a better place. For me, that’s seeing the trucks as local businesses making fresh food and displaying their designs in my neighborhood. They are part of the visual landscape of Philadelphia. I can’t say the same about Entourage. Although I like the show, it’s a much different, less emotional relationship. If it got canceled, I might be disappointed. But if someone tried to run the trucks out of Philly, I’d stand up and fight. I guess the wrap damaged my belief that we all felt the same way about the importance of their visual identity to the city. Probably it’s not a accurate belief, but nonetheless, it’s what I felt.
I’m sorry to see the damage from the wrap. For what it’s worth, I recently applied for a grant from the Knight foundation to give grants to food truck owners to hire local designers/artists to paint their trucks with a focus on hand-lettered type. It’s a looooong shot, but if it goes forward, I’ll be sure to let you know. My idea is get artists in the vein of Steve Powers — he did the West Philly Love Letters project: http://www.google.com/images?q=steve+powers+love+letter&biw=... — and traditional sign painters as well, to paint trucks. I like what the mural arts program did, but I think it can be done better.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/55467445@N02] Forgot to add that the next time you are in Love Park I’ll try to bring all the office mates down for tacos.
Hi, I’m an admin for a group called Graff Trucks, and we’d love to have this added to the group!