Every volunteer with a car is a rolling billboard for your campaign - if their vehicle is branded. The question is what to put on it. Campaigns usually default to bumper stickers because "that's what everyone does," but magnets and window decals each solve problems stickers don't. Here's how they actually compare and where each one belongs.

The Three Formats at a Glance

Car magnets

A thick magnetic panel that sticks to any steel body panel and peels off with zero residue. Best size for a campaign is 12x24 or 12x18 - big enough to read from the next lane, small enough to fit on most doors. Full-color print on 30 pt magnetic material handles rain, sun, and 70 mph highway wind.

Political car magnets are the right pick for candidates, staff, and volunteers who drive personal vehicles they don't want permanently branded - especially anyone with a lease or employer restrictions.

Bumper stickers

The classic. Cheap to produce in bulk, easy to hand out, and voters put them on themselves. Vinyl construction lasts multiple seasons, but removal takes work - a supporter who commits to a sticker is committing for a while.

Political bumper stickers are the right pick for supporter give-aways - the sticker table at every rally, canvass send-off, and county fair booth. One box goes further than 500 palm cards.

Campaign stickers & window decals

Static-cling or die-cut vinyl designed for windows, laptops, water bottles and hard cases. Removes cleanly, and unlike a bumper sticker it doesn't need a bumper - it works on the back window, the side window, or somewhere off the vehicle entirely.

Campaign stickers & decals are the right pick for cars whose owners want the branding on the glass rather than the paint, and for the swag pile at events where laptop-sticker culture rewards a good die-cut design.

The Practical Comparison

Reusability

Magnet: fully reusable, moves car to car. Sticker: permanent. Decal: moves once or twice on glass, then loses grip.

Removability after the race

Magnet: peels off in seconds. Decal: peels cleanly. Sticker: takes a heat gun and 20 minutes per sticker.

Cost per unit

Sticker: cheapest by far - pennies in bulk. Decal: mid. Magnet: highest per unit, but reusable.

Visibility on the road

Magnet (12x24 on door): highest - a full car door of color at eye level. Bumper sticker: readable at close range only. Window decal: variable, depends on window size and glare.

Who Gets Which

• The candidate's daily driver: pair of magnets. Instantly removable when the candidate visits a workplace or house of worship that doesn't allow signage.
• Staff and lead volunteers: pair of magnets.
• Every supporter who walks up to the sticker table: bumper sticker plus a small window decal. Cheap, and one of the two will end up somewhere visible.
• Rally attendees, students, event visitors: die-cut stickers. Laptops beat bumpers for reach in that demographic.
• Business owners and storefronts: a big window decal for the front glass - a stronger endorsement than a small sticker.

Design Rules for Rolling Ads

• Legibility over decoration. Name in the biggest possible font, race title underneath. Voters see the car for two seconds at a traffic light.
• Match your yard signs. Same colors and typography as your political yard signs so drivers connect the two visually.
• Skip the URL. Nobody reads a URL from another car. Save it for the palm card.
• Include the "Paid for by" disclaimer. Yes, even on the magnet. Yes, even on the sticker.

How Many to Order

• Magnets: 2 per volunteer vehicle x active volunteers, plus a reserve.
• Bumper stickers: 500-2,000 depending on race size. Reorder if the box empties before September.
• Window decals: 200-500 as an event handout.