We make these. That is the difference between an order that takes two weeks and one that takes two months.
Why domestic manufacturing shows up on your calendar
Most advertising balloons sold in the United States are imported. That means a container, a customs step, and a lead time measured in weeks that nobody can shorten once the order is placed.
Ours are built at our own factory in North Carolina. Production runs three to seven days from the moment you approve artwork, then two to five business days on UPS Ground. From your yes to your first flight is usually under two weeks.
If you have a grand opening or a show date, that gap is the whole decision.
Polyurethane, and why we will not use PVC
The cheap end of this market is PVC. We build in polyurethane, and almost every other difference follows from that.
PVC stiffens with age, keeps the creases from wherever it was folded, and goes brittle in ultraviolet light. Polyurethane stays flexible, folds and re-inflates without scarring, and holds up under sun. It costs more to make. It is also why customers write to us still flying the same balloon fourteen years later.
We could sell a cheaper balloon. We would then spend our time on warranty claims instead of manufacturing.
Printing is part of the build, not an add-on
The blimp is assembled from white polyurethane panels and the artwork is printed onto them during the build. Both sides. Included in the $1,526.
The process reproduces nearly any graphic or colour, so you send the logo you already use rather than a stripped-down version of it. If a supplier tells you your logo must be simplified to one colour, they are describing their printing limits, not yours.
Forty years of the same product
Arizona Balloon Company has manufactured advertising balloons and blimps for forty years. Some customers have been with us for more than thirty of them, which is the only proof of quality that cannot be faked. Nobody keeps re-buying a marketing expense for three decades unless it works.
A California company flies more than 100 of our blimps every weekend for homebuilder communities. Around 40 fly weekly in greater Phoenix.
We carry one million dollars in liability insurance. In forty years we have had one claim, for two thousand dollars.
Ask for a quote. Call 1-800-791-1445 or email sales@arizonaballoon.com and tell us the size and whether you want it printed.
More at usablimps.com.