Light Tape® Illuminated Jeep Billboard

Aultman Hospital Billboard

When it was decided that as part of a multimedia advertising campaign that involved newspapers, radio, OOH and online advertising, a large billboard sign would be used to stress the leadership position in cardiac care in its market area, the Aultman Heart Center, at the Aultman Hospital in northeast Ohio, which does more than 600 open-heart surgeries annually, asked its agency, Innis Maggiore (Canton, OH), in association with NYC-based Metromedia Technologies (MMT), to create an advertising campaign that would really do it justice.

The original concept for the billboard was that an illuminated graphic, would pulse across the top of the extension to simulate the screen of a hospital's EKG machine. Constraints from the Ohio Dept. of Transportation mandated production of a static, illuminated image of the heartbeat instead of using neon or another, traditional light source. It was at this point that (MMT) suggested using LightTape®, an electroluminescent technology (EL). EL technology utilizes a flat, almost paper-thin lamp that emits a bright light in a wide colour array.

The 14 X 48-ft. base and the 4-ft.-high, sculpted vinyl extensions were "painted" using a proprietary "Core" technology. This process applies automotive-grade, acrylic paint, as opposed to standard, inkjet based toners, via a proprietary drum technology. The process produces a wider color gamut and minimizes fading to protect the graphic for years.

Once the vinyl extension was painted, pockets for the Light Tape© lamps were constructed on the reverse side. To allow the light to emerge, a 2-in. channel was removed, by hand, from the 7.3-oz. grey vinyl in the shape of the EKG line. Clear, matte, 19-pt., scrimless, marine, window vinyl with a matte coating was then welded in place with a Fiab RF welder along the EKG line, and blank white vinyl was added on the back to form the actual pocket. Roughly 60 ft. of Light Tape was used.

Electro-LuminX® Lighting Corp. Chester, VA, built and installed the EL lamps. Each horizontal and angular light segment was constructed as individual lamps that would be wired together to complete the full circuit. Once the lamps were inserted into the pockets, and the circuits were tested, the vinyl was carefully rolled and delivered to CBS Columbus for installation, which Sign Experts (Powell, OH) helped complete.

The vinyl extension, which was kept as one, long, continuous piece to accommodate the electronic circuits, complicated the installation process. A normal extension would have involved hoisting six, individual, 4 x 8-ft. plywood sections, with the vinyl pre-mounted on each piece. In this case, the plywood sections were measured, cut and installed prior to mounting any vinyl. The vinyl extension served as the template for cutting the EKG shape.

A large wooden spool was constructed, upon which the vinyl was rolled. The spool was then hoisted via a turnbuckle, which allowed the installers to unroll the portion of the extension required. The plywood on the billboard structure was pasted in sections, and the vinyl was adhered, using squeegees and rollers to eliminate the wrinkles. The wires from the EL lamps were fed through pre-drilled holes in the plywood.

Electrical contractor OD Miller Electric Co. (Louisville, OH) ran the conduit, mounted the electrical boxes and transformers for the lamps, and completed the wiring and timing of the lamps. The EL lamps come with a power transformer that allows the lamp luminance to be adjusted. 

CBS, MMT and OD Miller worked together to fine-tune the luminance levels and reduce the brightness of the front spotlights to insure the maximum visibility of the Light Tape product. As with any light source, another, brighter light source that competes with it reduces the luminance. To minimize the effect of the spotlights directed on the sign, OD Miller installed partial shields on the spots to reduce the amount of light that hit the extension.