A large blimp is only large in a useful way if it stays in the air and stays looking new.
Polyurethane holds shape, PVC does not
Budget advertising balloons are PVC. Ours are polyurethane, and at larger sizes that difference gets more obvious, not less.
A big PVC envelope creases where it was folded and those creases stay. Sunlight makes it brittle, and brittle at scale means seams. Polyurethane folds and re-inflates without scarring and tolerates ultraviolet light far better, which is why a fourteen-year-old balloon is a normal thing for us to hear about.
Artwork across a large surface
The panels are white and the artwork prints directly onto them, both sides, included in the $1,526 price. There is no separate artwork charge and no setup fee.
The process reproduces nearly any graphic or color at full size, so you send the logo you already use. Large surface area is where cheap printing shows itself, and it is worth asking any vendor what happens to gradients and fine type at thirteen feet.
Lift, tether and what holds it down
Net lift on the 13-foot blimp is about three pounds. Large does not mean unmanageable. A sandbag or a solid tie-off is enough.
Every blimp includes your choice of a 120-foot tether line or a 105-foot metallic pennant line. Pick one. The pennant line adds a visible column of movement below the blimp; the plain tether keeps all the attention on the envelope itself.
Where large blimps earn their keep
- Auto dealerships — Visible over the rooflines from the highway, not just from the frontage road.
- Homebuilders — A California company flies more than 100 of our blimps every weekend for builder communities.
- Grand openings — Instant scale on day one, without a permanent sign budget.
- Large-format retail — Big box frontage is wide and low. A blimp adds the vertical the building does not have.
- Trade shows — One helium fill covers a three-day show, with 15 feet of clear ceiling.
More at usablimps.com.