Automobiles Branding Methods and Materials in Ghana

Academic institutions in Ghana like the KNUST and University of Ghana, to mention but a few, have accepted vehicle branding especially on their institutional vehicles. This has helped these institutions to market themselves over the years. Although these academic institutions and other agencies do vehicle branding, preliminary findings suggested that, the knowledge on the methods of branding and the basic materials used for each branding method is not widely known to many. This is the primary motivation for the conduct of this study. This study aimed at identifying the methods and materials used for branding the automobiles. To achieve this aim, the methods of vehicle branding were identified and the basic materials used for each vehicle branding method. The qualitative research methods, characterized by the descriptive research design were employed in the study. In this 300 respondents from KNUST and University of Ghana were selected for the study, 150 from each university. They were sampled and interviewed using the snowball, simple random and purposive sampling techniques. The study revealed three main methods used in branding vehicles in the communities: vinyl graphics, metal impression and magnetic branding. Their corresponding materials used are polyvinyl chloride, metal and magnetic materials respectively. From both universities, the study also revealed that the most commonly used method of branding in descending order were vinyl graphics, metal impression and magnetic branding. The study make five recommendations regarding further research areas; approaches that may be more durable for some of the methods; and improvement on vehicle branding with trendy technologies.