How Not To Make Custom Window Decals

When my son headed off to college everyone was excited. The school, Westminster College in Utah, sent out window decals for cars so new students (and parents) could show off their pride (and presumably the college could get a bit of free advertising and word of mouth). At a meet-and-greet more custom window decals were available. The more decals delivered to prospects the more exposure and pride, right? Wrong. I’m not excited – I’m disappointed. The school window decals are so bad they not only are a complete waste of money for the school, but they damage the school’s brand and miss an opportunity for any positive marketing.

What’s wrong with this picture? This is a picture of the Westminster College window decal I put on my car. Besides the fact that the static material barely held the sticker onto the window and I doubt it will hold for even a day, the window decal design is invisible. How could an organization pay money for these? Would a company buy promotional pens with their name on them if the pen didn’t come with ink to write? No. It is almost criminal that someone would sell these, but then for a buyer to not even notice they don’t work and be actively handing and mailing them out to new students (and maybe prospects, alumni, etc.) should be embarrassing.

I don’t mean to just pick on Westminster College as this decal marketing mistake is a much wider problem than that and I have seen the same problem at many other schools. But, somebody needs to wake up – don’t throw your marketing dollars away! To a company focused on the design and marketing potential of the sticker medium this decal marketing mistake is just painful to behold. Working with Websticker these custom window decal design problems could not happen – we would never sell custom window decals that do not support other marketing efforts, let alone have negative value for the organization.

How To Avoid Clear Window Sticker Problems:

Here are some quick tips and opinions based on this particular terrible window decal design:

• Static window decals are not needed or recommended. It extremely limits where stickers can be applied (inside of windows only) and there are many ultra-removable adhesives available if there are concerns about removability.

• Car windows are dark and any printed inks on a custom window decal must be either white or backed with white ink. White reflects light – dark colors are simply translucent.

• Depending on what other promotional stickers are available from a school, custom clear decals probably are not the best choice for getting stickers applied out in the world and maximizing exposure. Die cut custom vinyl decals and other styles that are more popular and have more versatile applications can be a much better promotional option.

• What ever type of promotional stickers and decals you buy from a manufacturer make sure you get input on the design and type of decal. And, make sure that you get what you pay for. What good is a decal that doesn’t work? If they don’t work, send them back, get a refund, have them reprinted the right way…

• Get help! Use a sticker design and production company that takes care of these concerns and addresses common mistakes, or learn more about proper sticker design and sticker marketing yourself. Contact Websticker with any questions or sticker campaigns that may need a review. I can also hook up anyone interested with a free copy of my book, Stick This!