Most pages about advertising blimps are trying to sell you one. This one assumes you have already decided you want one, and is trying to stop you buying the wrong thing or buying it at the wrong time. Work through these ten before you order.
1. What do you need people to do — read, or notice?
If they need to read a message, you need the blimp, because it carries full-colour artwork on both sides. If they only need to notice colour and movement, a 5.5-foot sphere at $350 does that for a fraction of the price.
Answer this first. It changes everything downstream.
2. How far away is your audience?
A blimp at 120 feet is visible from a long way off. Whether your *message* is legible is a different question, and depends on how large the artwork elements are.
Simple wins: a short name, a big logo, one number. Long sentences at 120 feet are decoration, not communication.
3. Is there a clear sightline, or trees?
Height solves buildings. It does not solve mature trees on the approach road. Stand where your customers will be driving from, look at the sky above your site, and check what is actually in the way.
4. Are you inside five miles of controlled airspace?
Below 150 feet above ground, the FAA is not involved in tethered balloons, and the standard flight height of 120 feet stays deliberately under that. But within five miles of controlled airspace, you call the local tower for permission.
That call is routine and has never been refused in forty years of doing it. It just needs to happen. Check an airspace map for your address before ordering, not after.
5. What does your city say about temporary signage?
Airspace and sign codes are separate systems. The FAA question and the municipal question have different answers, and municipalities vary a lot. Ask your city, or ask your landlord, before the blimp arrives.
6. Is your artwork ready?
Build time is three to seven days from **artwork approval**, not from order. If you have an event in ten days and your logo files are somewhere on a former employee’s laptop, your real timeline is longer than you think.
Shipping adds two to five business days on top, UPS Ground from North Carolina.
7. Where is your helium coming from?
A 13-foot blimp takes about 170 cubic feet for a full fill. A 200 cubic foot tank from a local welding-gas supplier runs about $300, which is $1.50 per cubic foot, so a fill is roughly $255.
You will lose about one percent per day. Plan a top-off every three to seven days, about $2.50 per day of flying. Find your supplier before the blimp arrives, not the morning of your sale.
You will also need a fill hose — $45 if you do not have one.
8. Who brings it in when the wind picks up?
This is the question that decides whether you still own a blimp in a year.
The rule is 25 miles per hour forecast, bring it down. Wind does not wear a blimp out; wind loses one. Name a specific person, not a department. On sites with staff turnover, write it into the opening or closing routine.
9. Do you have somewhere to anchor and somewhere to store?
Net lift is about three pounds, so a sandbag or a fixed tie-off is sufficient. You are not engineering anything.
Storage is the shipping carton — 60 by 26 by 3 inches, stored flat. It does not need special conditions.
Indoors, you need 15 feet of clear ceiling for the blimp to fly properly.
10. Would you rather not do any of this?
Legitimate answer. In greater Phoenix and Tucson there is a full-service option where the equipment, helium, setup, weather monitoring and removal are handled for you at $297.25 per day for a blimp in greater Phoenix, $327.25 in Tucson.
It is weekend-priced and billed on the Monday after. No contract, no minimum, stop any week. If weather keeps it down, there is no charge for that day.
Outside greater Phoenix and Tucson, buying is the practical route, because crews have to physically reach the site.
The numbers, in one place
– 13-foot blimp: **$1,526**, artwork both sides included – Shipping: **$135**, two to five business days, single carton – Build: **three to seven days** from artwork approval – 5.5-foot sphere: **$350** plus $27 shipping – Fill hose: **$45** – Included: 120-foot tether line **or** 105-foot metallic pennant line – Helium: roughly **$255** a blimp fill, about **$2.50/day** thereafter
One reassurance worth having
Safety record is one claim in forty years, for $2,000, against $1,000,000 in liability coverage. When someone asks what happens if it comes down on a car, that is the answer.
Questions we get
What does a 13 ft advertising blimp cost?
$1,526 printed, with full-colour artwork on both sides included in the price. Shipping is $135 UPS Ground from the factory in North Carolina.
How much helium does it use?
About 170 cubic feet for a full fill, roughly $255 at $1.50 per cubic foot from a welding-gas supplier. It loses about one percent per day, so top off every three to seven days.
How high does it fly?
120 feet on the standard tether. That is deliberately below the 150-foot line at which the FAA becomes involved in tethered balloons.
What happens in wind?
Winds forecast over 25 miles per hour, bring it in. Wind does not wear a balloon out, but it can lose one.
How long until it ships?
Three to seven days from artwork approval, plus two to five business days shipping.
More at blimpsforsale.com.