When Owen Faulkner started thinking about creating his own heating and cooling company, he first wanted to create a logo that stood out from the many local competitors.

“I wanted something different; a lot of the competitors go with red, white and blue logos,” says Faulkner, owner of Town & Country Heating and Cooling Co. “I wanted to have fun with it.”

Inspired by some old furnace logos he found from the 1940s and 1950s, Faulkner said he liked the idea of creating a logo that looked like his company had been around for a long time.

After searching on Google for potential graphics companies, Faulkner ended up choosing Graphic D-Signs Inc. “Graphic D-Signs sent me a questionnaire on what I was looking for and that’s how they came up with the look and feel,” says Faulkner. “I was impressed with Graphic D-Signs’ original thought.”

Serving the Kansas City area, Town & Country began operating its heating and cooling service, maintenance and installation business on April 1, 2013. Since then, the company has added three full-time technicians — with another one on the way. Town & Country’s wrapped Ford E-150 and GMC vans average about 40,000 miles per year within a 30-mile radius.

“We had zero customers when we launched,” says Faulkner. “Having the vehicle wraps has helped promote and drive new customers. We have serviced over 3,000 customers since we started less than two years ago.”

Designing the Wrap

After looking at Faulkner’s old furnace logos, Graphic D-Signs developed six potential designs for Town & Country’s logo.

“I looked at all eight of my large competitors in Kansas City and wanted a design that would stick in people’s heads when they saw our vehicles driving around,” says Faulkner. “A lot of the competitors were putting each driver’s face on a vehicle wrap. There is such a high turnover in this industry that it would become very expensive to have to continue to update the wrap.”

Based in New Jersey, Graphic D-Signs specializes in branding for small businesses in the tradesmen industry, including contractors, plumbers, HVAC technicians and electricians, according to Danielle Massad, vice president of marketing.

Typically, Graphic D-Signs will brand the fleet company first by designing and building the logo, says Massad. Then the graphic company adapts and applies that new brand to the specs and measurements of a vehicle wrap.

Once the design is approved, Graphic D-Signs will share the final source files with the client and a printer/installer can apply the wrap to the vehicle, according to Massad.

“Graphic D-Signs did a great job,” says Faulkner. “Once they sent the design, a local printing company printed it out and applied the wraps to our vehicles.”

Graphic D-Signs even won an award for creating Town & Country’s logo — the gold medal at the 2013 Art Director’s Club of New Jersey, says Massad.

Brand Exposure

With Town & Country’s branding on all of its vehicles, Faulkner describes it as constant exposure. “People take photos of our vehicles and give us the ‘thumbs-up’ at stoplights. You couldn’t ask for better coverage.”

In addition to its vehicle wraps, Town & Country’s other marketing initiatives are all online. Faulkner uses Facebook, Instagram, Google pay per click marketing and paid lead services like HomeAdvisor.

“Our Facebook and Instagram posts feature the vehicle wraps,” says Faulkner. “When we hire an employee, we post their photo with the wrapped vehicle in the background.