A temporary rebranding of Blackberry's headquarter offices in Slough was undertaken to support the launch of Blackberry's flagship smartphone, the Z10. Designed by Pope Wainwright and printed by Oasis Graphic Co, the rebranding was completed at midnight on 30th January 2013 and the graphics currently dominate the building - both inside and out.
The exterior vinyl wrap is UV Printed ContraVision One Way Vision Vinyl and larger than 11 cricket pitches. The light blue gradient print covers the office frontage from ground to roof. To the right of the frontage the two 9 metre tall images of the Z10, were UV printed vinyl overlays, profile cut to shape. The lettering for the marketing messages on the left were created from profile cut stock vinyl.
Dozens of interior graphics, also designed by Pope Wainwright and printed by Oasis, were installed throughout the building in lightboxes, on walls, on ferropaper and with liberal use of opaque matte black.
Oasis Graphic Co performed a comprehensive site survey in 2012/13, measuring and evaluating all the installation surfaces including the 60m x 12m exterior frontage. These precise measurements, together with recommendations for substrates and techniques were passed to the design studio Pope Wainwright, who created all of the designs.
In order to coincide with the tight release schedule, the Oasis installers worked around the clock, on two scissor lifts for 4 days, meticulously applying the graphics to the building. The design stipulated that the images of the Z10 had to be unbroken by the building's metal framework, so a great deal of care by Oasis' installers went into precisely wrapping the protruding metal with overlapping prints, making it disappear from view completely. The low temperatures and windy conditions made work harsh, but the right choice of materials meant that the graphics went up without a hitch.
With the release of the Z10, at 5pm on January 30th, Oasis' installers were ready to mount the 5m x 9m phone images, but needed to hold back until the phone was officially released. In a race to the finish, the team started on the phones at 5pm and mounted the final pieces just before midnight.
Watching the installation of the exterior wrap, Francesca Haywood, designer at Pope Wainwright was impressed with Oasis' dedication and attention to detail. She says, "Working with Oasis from the outset helped this project come together smoothly and according to plan. Oasis' comprehensive site survey and material tests allowed us to confidently create the designs, knowing that they would be exactly reproduced as we intended. After the planning and design phase, the Oasis installers did an outstanding installation job inside and out, working in synchrony with the lighting technicians in the dark and the adverse weather to create make our vision a reality. Client satisfaction matters as much to Oasis as it does it to us, and the final results were very well received."
