The leaves turn crisp, the nights grow longer, the smell of pumpkin spice latte lingers in the air… Ah, can you feel it too? This is how Halloween excitement begins to brew! Celebrated on October 31st, it has gone a long way from ancient Celtic roots to a truly global phenomenon and enchanted millions with its eerie fun and community spirit. And its appeal doesn’t seem to fade! In fact, with billions in revenue generated every autumn, this holiday, without a doubt, can be called a huge commercial success.
Trick-or-treating, haunted houses and other endless opportunities to be seized – it’s a marketer’s dream come true. The recent revival of gothic themes in mass media, with hits like “Wednesday” and the highly anticipated “Beetlejuice” reboot, has only fueled the Halloween hype.
In this article, we’ll show you how to “spookify” your advertising campaigns to ride this wave of Halloween enthusiasm and get the most outstanding results in this competitive market.
Themed Content
The long-hanging fruit here is to tailor the content you usually produce exclusively for the Halloween season. The options are indeed plentiful: spooky-themed articles, social media posts and videos featuring holiday-related tips, tutorials and ideas. This way you can tap into the festive spirit, create memorable experiences and motivate people to share user-generated content and thus expand your audience even further.
Here is how Maybelline got creative with their product recommendations: they offered a set of Halloween makeup tutorials to achieve professional-quality looks for the party. People get inspired, purchase cosmetics and receive compliments for their stunning appearances. Meanwhile, the brand enjoys increased profits – a classic win-win!
Bacardi contributes to the scary aesthetics with a collection of Halloween cocktail recipes. And, of course, their rum is part of the fun! Eerie visuals and step-by-step instructions encourage brand followers to mix their own spine-chilling drinks for fright night parties.
Hershey’s opens a treasure trove of party ideas full of themed recipes, decoration tips and games for the little ones. This strategy both fosters a sense of community and celebration and encourages chocolate-lovers to share their festive experiences and creations.
Visuals and Design
To evoke the eerie atmosphere of this holiday, you need to use spooky graphics for crafting your Halloween-themed promotions.
Let’s start with the colour palette: orange represents pumpkins and autumn leaves, black symbolises darkness and mystery, purple is often associated with magic and witchcraft, green can be used for eerie, ghostly effects and red is perfect for a chilling vibe, adding a hint of blood and horror.
When it comes to fonts – there’s no room for error, so it’s vital to choose the right style. You can go with creepy and distorted fonts like “Chiller” and “Creepster” for an unsetting vibe or achieve a classic haunted look with “Blackletter” or “Old English” Gothic fonts. If you want to add more drama and mimic handwritten blood notes with splatters, “Zombie Holocaust” or “Feast of Flesh” might be the perfect option.
As for graphic elements, bats (whether flying or hanging upside down) and pumpkins (Jack-o’-lanterns) are the most recognisable Halloween symbols. Skulls and skeletons are great for a macabre touch, along with simple yet effective ghosts. And we absolutely have to use some spiders and webs for a creepy-crawly effect!
To set the stage for these elements, you can opt for backgrounds like foggy graveyards or haunted castles. A full moon can be used to highlight sinister night-time ambience, accompanied by crooked branches of dark dense forests.
Heinz came up with an eye-catching special edition Halloween packaging which plays on the visual similarity between ketchup and theatrical blood. Just perfect for spooky-themed events!
MINI Cooper uses visual metaphors and Halloween motifs like eerie lighting, ghostly sheets, bats and jack-o’-lantern faces. This approach evokes a sense of mystery and slightly hints that MINI cars are fun, stylish and perfect for night-time adventures.
McDonald’s “OPEN LATE” advertisement triptych features a coffin, a grave and a sarcophagus. Again, clever usage of thematic elements! Plus it’s very appealing to those looking for a late-night snack during the Halloween season.
Interactive Campaigns
Halloween-themed interactive elements are a chef’s kiss that will definitely make your ad campaigns more exciting. For example, you could kick off a costume contest on social media and ask people to share their spooky outfits. Naturally, with a shot to win some cool prizes. Holiday trivia quizzes are a fun way to both educate and entertain people, just don’t forget to sneak in a bit of product promotion. Giveaways can be tied to festive challenges, like scavenger hunts or pumpkin carving.
Airbnb’s Dracula contest once had a brilliant Halloween campaign! Listen to this: they offered the winners to spend a night in Dracula’s Castle in Transylvania. So daring! The task was simple: to come up with a creative answer to the question: “What would you say to Count Dracula if you met him in his castle?” Sure thing, it created a massive buzz in the media!
Last autumn BuzzFeed offered their readers Lush Halloween Bath Bomb Quiz. It asked participants about their spooky season preferences (Halloween activities, treats, decorations, etc.) and, based on their answers, revealed which Lush Halloween bath bomb best matched their personality. Entertainment and subtle promotion of seasonal products, how smart!
Storytelling
Storytelling for Halloween marketing is just what the doctor ordered. You can create your own creepy stories and embed your brand in the narrative or ask your customers to share their eerie experiences. Throwbacks to past Halloweens will evoke a sense of nostalgia and make your audience feel more connected.
Want to resonate on a personal level? Then choose the memory to tap into and get inspired: favourite childhood costumes, trick-or-treating adventures, old urban legends and campfire tales or even spooky games like “Bloody Mary” or “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board”.
Jack in the Box’s short film called “Feeding Time” is a clever Halloween campaign about a demonic food truck that sells “Angry Monster Tacos” on Halloween night. The plot follows a group of bullies who robbed a couple of children of their hard-earned Halloween candies. Well, let’s just say they’re gonna pay for that… But no more spoilers, you can watch it yourself! What a good scare, perfect for the season!
But there is more to it! The short film also included a hidden code to promote the brand’s app. The first 1,000 members of the Jack Pack loyalty program could snag two free tacos with a purchase. To take the campaign offline, Jack in the Box also drove the Angry Monster Truck around LA on Oct. 21, and later even opened it for consumer reservations.
“Monsters Not Included” promo video by IKEA has a humorous twist: it reassures parents that they won’t be bringing home any under-the-bed monsters when they shop for children’s furniture in their stores. That’s a genius way to address common childhood fears in a lighthearted way.
Cross-Promotions
Cross-promotions with other brands on Halloween is your lucky ticket to spice up your marketing and collect bigger profits. Do your research and find the brands that compliment you (not compete with you!). Then you can team up and run joint campaigns that feature co-branded products or shared events. Let’s say you sell candy, then your good match would be some costume retailer. Just offer discounts or special bundles together and watch the magic happen.
A great example of such collab is NYX and Warner Bros. that teamed up for the campaign called “Who Stole Halloween?” They produced TV series about iconic villains played by famous reality personas. The viewers got engaged trying to solve the clues and find the evil-doer. And it’s not difficult to guess what makeup brand those villains were wearing. Again, a win-win!
Another unexpected yet successful joint campaign was launched by the instant messaging app and the fizzy drink company. Yep, you got it right! Snapchat introduced exclusive lenses and filters that could only be unlocked if you scanned a special snapcode on Fanta products. People were thrilled to try on these over-the-top horror effects and spread their spooky content like wildfire, expanding the reach of both market players.
Conclusion
As we wrap up, remember that Halloween is a magical time for unleashing your creativity and making your brand irresistible. Use our guide to create memorable moments with interactive campaigns, spooky storytelling or exciting cross-promotions. Embrace the spirit of the season and trust your marketing instincts. Happy Halloween advertising!
