30+ Years in Creative Production | Britten, Inc. | Britteninc.com

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Britten is a veteran-owned creative production house dedicated to delivering innovative signage, displays, and event branding solutions that make our customers stand out in a crowd. For 35+ years, we’ve leveraged our state-of-the art design, printing, fabrication, and manufacturing capabilities to propel high-impact campaigns and promotional ideas into the world. Always on time, on strategy, and on budget, we build the stuff that helps people, communities, and businesses flourish and prosper.

Made in USA Veteran Owned Small Business

brand promise.

When you want to create a buzz for your brand, trust Britten to get you noticed. From concept to completion, we’re dedicated to building up the brands of our customers with the highest-level of creativity, printing, fabrication, installation, and personal service. Britten says yes to projects, no matter how big or small, delivering world-class marketing and promotional material and unforgettable event experiences for your customers.

history.

01 1984 The First Banner 1

1984

THE FIRST BANNER

While Paul Britten was an architecture student at the University of Detroit, a friend suggested they enter a banner contest to win World Series tickets. They worked tirelessly, entered their hand-painted, custom banner, and won the contest (and the tickets)—as well as an audience with General Motors’ Chairman Roger Smith, who commissioned a 40-by-100-foot banner from Britten that would hang on GM’s world headquarters!

02 1985 Britten is Founded

1985

BRITTEN, INC. IS FOUNDED

The following year, Paul Britten completed his degree and landed an architecture job that took him to Washington, D.C. While working as a full-time architect, Paul continued moonlighting—promoting his newly-founded banner company, Britten, Inc., and making custom banners and signs on the side.

03 1986 Statue of Liberty

1986

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LADY LIBERTY!

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, Paul Britten hand-painted a birthday card of record-breaking proportions to hang in Times Square.

04 1986 Santa GM

1986

SANTA’S SLEIGH IS A CHEVROLET

Just in time for Christmas, Paul Britten created a football field-sized, wide-format banner for GM—”Santa’s Sleigh is a Chevrolet.” The banner hung at the Chevrolet World Headquarters and was featured in Advertising Age.

05 1987 Backdrops

1987

BRITTEN GOES FULL-TIME

Paul Britten left his architecture job to fully devote himself to Britten, Inc

06 1990 Grand Prix of Cleveland

1990

ENTERING THE RACE

Britten enters the motorsports market, securing a contract to produce and install all racetrack graphics for the Grand Prix of Cleveland and the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. The races were part of the CART open-wheel series.

07 1993 Old Building

1993

SETTING ROOTS

Paul Britten relocated the company to his hometown of Traverse City, Michigan.

08 1993 ANC

1993

A SLAM DUNK

Britten partners with ANC Sports as their primary printer for NBA rotational signage, located under the courtside score tables. Over the next 20 years, the partnership would grow to produce signage for thousands of professional sporting events.

09 1996 Printers 1

1996

A GAME-CHANGING DECISION

Britten purchases one of the first solvent inkjet printers ever sold.

10 1996 track 2

1996

BRITTEN SETS THE STANDARD FOR RACETRACK SIGNAGE

Britten secures its first NASCAR track signage agreement with Dover International Speedway. During this time, Britten pioneered the gigantic mesh banner program that is now standard at all racetracks. As NASCAR grew in the 1990’s and 2000’s, so did Britten—establishing themselves as the leading signage company for NASCAR tracks in the United States.

11 2000 Banner Galaxy Interface

2000

BLAST OFF!

Britten develops and launches BannerGalaxy.com, one of the first websites created that allows consumers and businesses to order custom banners and signage quickly and easily online, 24/7.

12 2002 Banner Saver

2002

GLOBAL SUCCESS

Britten acquires the BannerSaver™ patent, opening up new opportunities with this revolutionary bracket system. With its ability to withstand winds up to 90 mph, BannerSaver™ became an instant success in the United States and in Europe.

13 2003 UST

2003

BRITTEN BRANDS APPAREL

Britten acquires the United States T-Shirt Company (UST), allowing clients to incorporate their branding message from top to bottom.

14 2003 Dew Tour

2003

EPIC GRAPHIC SOLUTIONS

Britten reaches an agreement with NBC and the new Dew Action Tour to design and produce the look of the event—from the fan entry points to the half pipe ramps.

15 2004 tents 1

2004

A NEW MARKET

Britten enters a partnership with Mastertent, an Italian tent manufacturer known for producing the best pop-up tent frame in the world. Britten and Mastertent team up to offer the experiential marketing product to North America.

16 2005 Banner Rail

2005

INSTALLATION MADE SIMPLE

Britten unveils its new BannerRail™ system at Daytona International Speedway, transforming banner programs on the back of grandstands from installation-intensive projects to push-button systems.

17 2006 Simon

2006

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS

Simon Properties asks Britten to create a “Sky Banner Program” in order to offer advertisement opportunities in key locations in the mall, floating above their customers. In response, Britten invents the BannerDrop™ ceiling hoist system, which revolutionizes in-mall advertisements and is easy to change out.

18 2008 Banner Bright

2008

BANNERS GET BRIGHTER

Britten introduces the first internally illuminated banner solution—the patented “BannerBright” system. The platform uses LEC (Light Emitting Capacitor) technology, lighting the surface of the banner to provide illuminated advertising.

19 2008 MCM 4

2008

RECYCLING IS IN THE BAG

After a fruitful relationship, Britten and the Marine Corps Marathon brainstorm a way to reuse their finish line scrim and turn them into recycled, stylish eco-friendly bags.

20 2008 Big Ten

2008

OFFICIAL SIGNAGE PROVIDER OF THE BIG TEN

Britten enters an agreement with the Big Ten Conference to be the signage provider for all Big Ten championship events. With this endeavor Britten goes “back to college” and begins designing college exterior signage programs that help universities communicate their team spirit with grand imaging throughout their campus.

21 2009 Inreased Firepower

2009

INCREASED FIREPOWER

Britten acquires Ace-Hi Worldwide, one of the most advanced screen printers, producing four-color process signs, posters, retail banners, and custom POP displays. The addition of the talent and production equipment of the team from Grand Rapids, Michigan, solidified Britten’s commitment to delivering world-class firepower to our customers with large format, high volume POP needs.

Sideline Signatures | Sponsored Logo on Sports Field Barricade

2009

VIEW FROM THE 50 YARD LINE

Britten acquires Sideline Signatures™, a padded A-frame product with primary sponsorship appeal due to its direct position in-line with those in the stand and TV cameras. The pads display advertisements at the field level, which maximizes sponsorship exposure, ideal for high schools and colleges across the country.

23 2010 Northwestern

2010

"PURPLE-IZING" WRIGLEY

Northwestern announces that the football team will play a game at the iconic Wrigley Field, choosing Britten to “purple-ize” the grand old stadium. Britten produced and installed over 20,000 square feet of custom-fitted graphics to bring the ballpark alive for a Northwestern football game.

24 2011 HQ Expands

2011

HEADQUARTERS EXPANDS

Britten grows Traverse City world headquarters by acquiring an adjacent building. The high-volume production facility operates the large-format digital and screen printing presses.

25 2012 ND

2012

STEPPING UP STADIUM GRAPHICS

When Notre Dame announced that they would play a home game against Miami at Soldier Field in Chicago, they chose Britten to make the Bears’ field scream, “Go Irish.”

Printed Mesh Advertisement | Large-Scale Advertising for the Super Bowl

2012

SUPER BOWL-BOUND

In conjunction with Simon Brand Ventures, Britten wins the bid for exterior Super Bowl XLVI signage package in Indianapolis, Indiana.

27 2012 Olympics

2012

GOLD MEDAL BRACKET

Over 30,000 BannerSaver™ brackets were specified at the 2012 London Olympic Games, all throughout the UK.

Backlit Frame | LED Backlit Sign

2013

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

Taking backlit displays to the next level, Britten’s exclusive BriteWall™ system revolutionizes large-format LED banner frames. The result is a frame that looks great both inside and out.

Large Scale Building Wrap | Construction Preview Building Wrap

2013

A MONUMENTAL ACHIEVEMENT

The Plaza Hotel in New York City contacts Britten to create a scaffolding wrap to cover the entire side of the iconic structure on 5th Ave and Central Park South. The result is a stunning visual that suggests what the exterior of the building may look like after renovations are completed.

30 2014 Jarob Becomes Britten Décor

2014

Jarob Becomes Britten Décor

Grand Rapids-based Jarob, a printer, retail signage and display company, is now part of Britten Inc. The addition of Jarob’s expertise, client base and equipment will extend Britten Inc' position in the retail market.

31 2015 Custom Wallpaper Samples

2015

Wallpaper Is Back

With the increased interest in Wallpaper murals around the country, we decided to create CustomWallpaper.com -- an easy to use solution to get your favorite patterns and photos on your walls with easy to use materials and plenty of designs to choose from.

34 2016 Banner Saver com

2016

Britten Launches BannerSaver.com

BannerSaver™ is the world’s leading performance banner bracket designed to make light pole banners last longer. Creating a site dedicated to all things BannerSaver has helped many customers get the best brackets and fast!

Denver Broncos Foam3 D Entrance with Smoke

2017

Foam3D™ Goes Mile High

When The Denver Broncos unveiled a new entrance structure at Mile High Stadium, the players took the field underneath a lightweight structure that was entirely designed & fabricated by Britten. Our newly acquired Foam3D™ technology was combined with truss & pyrotechnics, and had to be set up and broken down in under 7 minutes.

20171008 100527 preview

2017

BoxPop™ Goes on Tour

Britten introduces customized shipping containers for events and mobile tours, including a pop up store that attended festivals across America all throughout the summer and The Bud Light Friend Zone which was set up at every home game for the Miami Dolphins.

Colorful mesh building wrap surrounding an office building.

2018

Wrapping It Up in Crystal City

Britten started out the year in a big way, with a series of building wraps on the schedule -- over 300,000 sq. ft. of wind-permeable mesh material was printed, shipped and installed in about two months’ time. Crystal City was later named one of the new global headquarters for Amazon, creating quite a buzz around these Britten-wrapped buildings!

35 2019 britten campus sign

2019

Britten Unveils Bold New Image

Britten has spent a lifetime making products that help build up people, businesses, and communities through the power of brand. Which is why "Build Them Up" resonated.

2020 PPE Isolation Gown Fabrication

2020

FABRICATION DURING TROUBLED TIMES

Britten pivots to PPE and medical gown production to help frontline healthcare workers slow the spread of COVID-19. Delivers COVID-related health signage to retail and event partners, in addition to WoodWorks™ portable handwashing stations for schools and BoxPop® N95 mask decontamination centers to hospitals across the country.

2020 Custom Wallpaper

2020

CUSTOMWALLPAPER.COM RELAUNCH

Britten makes personalizing the walls of any space easier than ever before. Customwallpaper.com delivers a huge library of modern wallpaper designs and murals, plus an easy custom art uploader for transforming customer art and photos into one-of-kind peel-and-stick wallpaper.

2021 Banner Galaxy Relaunch

2021

BANNERGALAXY.COM RELAUNCH

Britten updates the first online platform for 24/7 creation of banners, signs, and flags. BannerGalaxy.com also delivers a custom art uploader and private designer community for individuals looking to sell their artwork to businesses, party planners, and more.

Priorlife Totes

2022

PRIORLIFE RELAUNCH

Upcycling banners into durable, sustainable tote bags just got a whole lot easier. Priorlife by Britten was relaunched featuring a variety of new product designs and a new website equipped with an online shop.

Gray Whale Gin Mobile Bar | Custom SUV and BoxPop

2022

MAKING A SPLASH

In partnership with Amplified, Britten took home back-to-back Event Marketer awards for the Gray Whale Gin activation.

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Awards
Partner with our award-winning one-stop-shop to take your next project or event to the next level. Check out some of our awards including the Inaugural Hewlett-Packard Inkspiration Award (2016), ExhibitorLive Best of Show (Best New Exhibitor, 2020), EventMarketer The Fab50 (2021 & 2024), and more.
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Want to Join the Britten Team?

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