If you’re reading this article, it means one of two things. Either you are considering buying a cardboard cutout, or have done so and are looking for more information and best ways to use them. You’d be surprised at what they can do for business, for loved ones, and yes, for parties! We’ll dive into many aspects regarding what a cardboard cutout can mean and what it can do. Among the topics we’ll discuss:
- How they can earn you plenty more revenue
- How they can help family during the strain COVID has brought
- How they have changed the face of the sports world
Let’s start by telling you about the types of cutouts.
Types of Cardboard Cutouts:
First, there are what’s known as headsicles. Sounds like a popsicle, and it pretty much is. What you get with a headsicle is a printed image on cardboard (most often a face) held by a person’s hands or sometimes connected to a stick.
You’ll often see fans displaying them at sporting events.
Next up, life-size standups, or what’s sometimes referred to as a standee.
Those are cardboard cutouts you’ll see at stores, expos, etc. They are generally the size of 6 feet high and 30 inches wide. Those are our standard maximum dimensions we produce. Side note though…we are here for you and can be flexible on sizing on yours. We will make something taller and wider, but you will incur a little extra cost. Our skilled sales staff will go over the details with you when you place your order.
Lastly, there are what’s called life-size Cheer-Ups. That term is something we, at Good Guys Signs, came up with in 2020.
To be clear, they are the exact same thing as life-size standups, but we thought the moniker Cheer-Ups would work well, People have been shying away from travel to see loved ones during the covid 19 pandemic. The idea behind the nickname is what it sounds like…to cheer someone up with “your presence.”
Each one of these has a purpose and they are used for particular reasons to elicit a specific response.
Benefits of Using Cardboard Cutouts as Signs:
Let’s detail how they can be used to attract business, what information you should consider including on one used as a sign, and how the effect they can have on people.
A Life Size Cutout to Attract Business- They can have a tremendous impact with your current client base or those you hope to acquire for future revenue streams. A good old-fashioned cutout can induce buyer emotions in several ways you might not have thought of. They truly can increase your sales greatly.
You want to exhibit your brand. Why not, it’s the primary visual of your company. Maybe you’re displaying it in-store or perhaps at a trade show. Wherever the venue, it makes people aware of you, or reminds them who you are and what your product or service is. A cardboard cutout can be many things. You can simply use an image of yourself. It can be your logo. It can be something completely different. What if all it accomplishes is to get a laugh out of those who see it? That’s totally okay, because guess what? You engaged the audience. And doing that can be all you need to have earned that first sale or repeated business. Simply put, the only thing it takes is to evoke a response. You have succeeded in your quest.
We obviously don’t know why kind of company you own. But let’s use a couple of examples as to how a cutout can help your business. Example #1- you run a local convenience store. Let’s say you’re having a difficult time selling carrots. You bought a whole bunch, now they’ll go bad. You continue to lose money on them. You could quickly and easily get a cardboard cutout of a cute rabbit eating a carrot, and it might bring about a reaction. Sales of your carrots might just skyrocket.
Example #2- you own a car wash. You could buy two cutouts. They are identical cars. The way you display them could be that one is completely filthy while the other is squeaky clean. It’s sort of a before-and-after feel. Position them so people can see them as they drive by. Before you know it, you’re getting more business.
There are unlimited amounts of creative ways you can promote your brand. Regardless if it’s that you want to deliver a deep message, or are just hoping for a smile and a sale, cutouts are a very inexpensive way to advertise your company or its products.
Using Them as a Sign- They can be signs with any sort of design and information on them. It could be a cutout of a bee promoting jars of honey. It can be a sandy beach setting at a travel agency. You can do whatever you want with them to help sell anything.
Utilizing cutouts as signs is a phenomenal way to attract attention, whether they are in your store, at an expo, or anywhere you can gain more business. As we just exhibited, they don’t solely have to be an image of a life-sized human, although those can be incredibly effective. A cutout of a widely popular person at your place of business can give the impression to customers that the celebrity is providing you with an endorsement. Maybe you’re exhibiting at a convention, and your company sells an organic dog food, for example. Imagine the attention you’d get from attendees if you did something like on of these two things. You have a cutout of a healthy-looking pooch rolling in grass full of joy and contentment, or even jumping through a hoop. Creativity in the way you market with these promotional pieces will go a long way to earn business and ramp up revenue.
Your goal is to grab the attention of those you hope will become future customers. Simultaneously, it’s also important to be careful in planning the look of your cutout. Entertainment and information will cross paths when you are designing it. If you use verbiage on it without an image, keep it simple, keep it brief, and get to the point fast. Society has largely become very short with its attention span. You don’t want to overwhelm or irritate them with excessive amounts of text. They might see so much that it becomes too much. And then you could immediately lose them. Get them interested and keep them interested. That should be your aspiration.
As with any visual advertisement, color combinations are extremely important. Just like with text, color overload can negate a potential sale in the blink of an eye. There are color combos that go great together, and they’re not complex; generally two to three colors in a logo. See the following simple, yet effective color schemes that are globally recognized.
A Life Size Cutout and Social Distancing- We are undoubtedly living in unusual times. COVID-19 has put an intense strain on all that we are usually accustomed to. Families who normally travel to visit relatives have put that on hold. While times have certainly been tough, there is something you can do to feel closer to loved ones. The answer is a lifesize cardboard cutout.
The term “social distancing” has sadly become part of our everyday vocabulary. All a person has to do is look down at the floor in every store they go into. Signs are rampant in reminding us to keep 6 feet apart. Most everyone wears a face mask when running simple errands. With the practice of social distancing, people simply aren’t travelling across state lines to celebrate a family member’s 70th birthday. They’re not commonly getting on planes or trains to be there for that milestone birthday. A cardboard cut out can be a wonderful substitute for those who are missing friends and family.
During this difficult age we are dealing with, all of us at Good Guys Signs are filled with empathy. We have nicknamed our cutouts “Cheer-Ups.” We gave them that name because they truly do help, and they truly do cheer people up. A prime example is one of our customers named Jean Clement from Chicago. Something pretty darn special unfolded when we were making a Cheer-Up for her. We wrote about this very star-aligning story on our blog page. You may just laugh, cry, and feel a certain warmth all at the same time if you click the link below and give the article a read.
Sporting Events and Parties:
That pandemic talk was somber to even write about, but it is the world we’ve been living in. Let’s elevate the mood. Time to go over a couple ways that a cardboard cut out has been something special for the sports world, as well as how a life size cutout can end up being the life of a party.
The past year in sports has been unlike any that teams, players, and fans have ever experienced. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the country, and for the most part, fans have been kept away from stadiums. Then, a clever idea came into play. And something remarkable began to unfold. Enter to the world of athletics…cardboard cut outs.
This year, cutouts became a phenomenon of far greater significance than just for fun. Teams began selling big head ones and nearly full-body ones to people. Fans sent in their images to the teams who then hired companies (like ours) to produce the cutouts. Team staff members then placed the cutout fans into seats. Crowd noise was pumped into stadiums, and even in the case of the Oakland A’s baseball team, a star returned to his humble beginnings in the “person” of Tom Hanks. The A’s were able to convince the two-time Oscar winner and huge baseball fan to voice selling hot dogs through stadium speakers. Then, they produced a cutout of him selling the dogs. What was even more special about it is that Hanks’ first job ever was actually working as a hot dog vendor for the team!
Sports are competitive by nature. That competitive spirit was amplified this year, as teams tried to get the better of other squads and “get the win.” In Los Angeles, where Hollywood celebrities and season ticket holders attend games, teams were getting the stars’ cutouts and placing them in their assigned seats. How about the Tampa Rays baseball team, who play their home games about 20 minutes from our shop? They made custom cutouts of three of the most famous athletes in the city, and shipped them out to San Diego for a playoff game. Yes, in a cool and unique way, seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, along with a pair of Stanley Cup champions, “travelled” over 2,400 miles to support the city’s other pro team.
Cutouts of cardboard fans, pets, mascots, and former players of certain teams became commonplace in the stands. And this creativity didn’t just help fans to feel as if they were still part of sporting event experiences. It gave players a feeling of some sense of normalcy as well.
Cutouts and Parties- You’re planning for a party that’s on the horizon. You trying to figure out how to pull off something unique, something you haven’t done before. Then, the light bulb goes off, and you realize it’s the perfect time to add a cutout into the mix. The cutout can be perfect for parties and the differing emotions that might surround them.
Think about the possibilities you can have at a party with your lifesize cutout. An example of fun for someone’s 40th birthday– we have the ability to do some minor photo edits, as well as a major photo edits option. We have affectionately named the major photo edits “reconstructive surgery.” When you break out your cutout to reveal the birthday boy or girl looking much older, say 60, laughter will fill the room. People might stand next to it for a fun photo-op. You can also go in the opposite direction that’s more respectable and kinder. You could make the celebrated person appear 10 years younger. You certainly won’t draw a ton of laughter, but the recipient will probably feel a little better with your sweet gesture.
Here’s another example of a party scenario and how a cutout could be fun. Perhaps you’re in charge of preparing a retirement party for a co-worker. How do you send them off laughing? Give us their image, and we’ll edit them using a walker onto it. The bottom line is that there are plenty of ways a cardboard cut out can steal the show at any party.
How to Order a Custom Cutout:
Ordering your new custom cutout is very easy, and then the process is actually pretty fascinating. All we need from you is any two-dimensional image. Anything. It doesn’t matter what you want for your cutout. We’ll get it done for you. Send us a high-resolution jpeg file of the subject that’s your Cheer-Up, and we’ll produce a carboard cutout for you within two days. Click here to see what materials make up a cutout.
We have two types of materials that make up our cutouts: corrugated plastic and cardboard. We utilize carboard as our standard level cardboard standup. There isn’t much to get into regarding this material. If you’ve ever moved, you’ve undoubtedly packed stuff in a cardboard box. Corrugated plastic is a material you might not be familiar with. Corrugated plastic, or Coroplast™, is a thin plastic (about 1/6th of an inch thick). We use this material for our premium cutouts. It’s stronger than cardboard, is not susceptible to moisture, and dirt can be easily wiped off. Its lifespan is much longer. Because of all those bonuses, it does cost a little more. But rest assured, our prices on both materials are much less than any of our competitors.
Pricing on our standard cutouts is as follows:
- Desktop = $65
- For a 4 foot tall = $79
- For a 5 foot tall = $84
- For a 6 foot tall = $80
- Up to 7 feet tall = $109
- Up to 8 feet tall = $139
So as for the process, you would send us the aforementioned image, then our skilled professional designers will work with the image, then send it to our production department. That part of the staff prints the image, then uses a pretty amazing high-tech machine where they cut out the image. It’s really quite a cool process from start to finish. Click the link below for a quick video on how we produce them.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vML9d17wY86G2BCkdYsgeBNDymCo2Lv2/view
Wrapping Up:
There it is. A lot of information for you to digest. But it’s our job and goal to be as thorough with any and every current or potential customer. Part of our mission statement is that we absolutely feel it is critically important to us that people trust us with their brand and their money. We constantly strive to make every effort to provide the most elite service at extremely competitive pricing and unrivaled delivery. If there are any questions you still have, reach out to us at (800) 614-8040. We have an incredibly knowledgeable and talented staff that will help you with your next cardboard cutout.
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