30+ Frightfully Fabulous Halloween Marketing Campaigns
In 2023, Halloween spending was expected to hit an all-time high, reaching $12.2 billion and exceeding the previous record of $10.6 billion in 2022. That level of consumer excitement demands some of the best Halloween marketing campaigns!
But do you want to hear something really scary? Over half of marketers will spend most of their holiday campaign budgets in November. If you’re waiting until after Halloween to promote your brand, you might be missing out on an enormous potential sales season.
So, how are brands responding to the opportunity? We’ve updated our best Halloween marketing campaigns list with some new additions, and (spoiler alert!), video storytelling is king! Let’s take a look at how brands are tempting their audiences in terrifying ways for the scary holiday.
Bacardi – “Terrifyingly Good”
Bacardi, the popular alcohol brand, decided to get into the scary action last year with a Halloween campaign inspired by classic horror movies. The brand produced two 30-second spots explaining how to make cocktails with Bacardi for the holiday, and stirring up some terrific fun. Both clips featured the famous limited edition glow-in-the-dark Bacardi bottle. The campaign extended to include a curated Spotify list of scary music titles and Snap filters for some AI fun. The campaign was an all-around success that launched well in advance of Halloween, giving the audience plenty of time to get into the ‘spirit’ of the season.
Jack in the Box – Angry Monster Tacos
Fast food chain Jack in the Box also went the horror movie route for Halloween with a long-form video storytelling campaign running at close to 8 minutes. The short film called “Feeding Time”, launched on Friday, 13th October 2023, starring the “Monster Tacos” and “Angry Monster Tacos” who teach some unruly teenagers a lesson with their food truck. It’s a great example of how to engage the audience with a twist: the film features a hidden code, and the first 1000 Jack Pack app members to spot it won free tacos! The campaign also included a real-life Angry Monster truck driving around Los Angeles for a day, and also available for rent close to the holiday. This demonstrates the power of omnichannel marketing, which we love to talk about here on the Outbrain blog.
Airheads – A.I.rheads Scarefest Film Festival
Candy brand Airheads put the “AI” in their name with an ingenious Halloween campaign that combined video marketing, UGC (user-generated content), and – yes – AI. With the popularity explosion of AI-generated video, Airheads launched “Scarefest”, an AI horror film festival, asking filmmakers to create an AI-generated Halloween-themed film under three minutes long, featuring the iconic Airheads balloon. Fans voted for their favorite, and the winning prize? $2000 and a year’s supply of Airheads. The engaging campaign, promoted on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and a dedicated website, got everyone involved, entertained, and scared witless!
Ikea – Monsters Not Included
Were you afraid of monsters hiding in the closet as a kid? Chances are, yes, and that’s exactly what IKEA was banking on in their “Monsters Not Included” campaign. And monsters don’t just lurk in closets, but also behind curtains, and maybe even under the bed! Emotion is a powerful driving force in advertising, and by tapping into a common child-like fear, the furniture giant is tapping into something primitive and powerful. And while the IKEA brand promises that its furniture and home accessories do NOT include monsters, there’s always another solution – buy a nightlight! Short, simple, and oh-so scary!
Angel Soft® – Toilet Paper Mummy
Speaking of childhood, did you love wrapping your brother/sister/friend in toilet paper and pretending they were a mummy? As it happens, toilet paper mummy is the easiest (and least expensive!) Halloween costume to make. And Angel Soft® is strong enough and soft enough for the perfect costume. The campaign featured Angel and her friend Jorge, cute animated characters who inspire viewers with their costume idea. And the true brilliance of this campaign? Recruiting celebrity mom influencers to promote it!
M&Ms – M&M’s Halloween Rescue Squad
What’s not to love about this Halloween campaign? The beloved M&M candy brand does not want your candy bowl to run low on Halloween night. So in 2023, the brand offered to deliver free refills of M&Ms to the doorstep of anyone who asked for it, while supplies last. The promotion was run in collaboration with GoPuff, who promised to have the emergency treats arrive within an hour. All you had to do was register on the dedicated website on October 31 after 3pm. This is pure marketing at its best. After all, nothing works like a free gift, not to mention a delicious one, delivered just in time for trick-or-treat!
Maybelline – Halloween in the Concrete Jungle
If you’re not wrapping yourself in toilet paper as a mummy, then your costume must include some terrifyingly good makeup tricks. That’s what the Maybelline cosmetics brand was pitching to audiences last Halloween – and the theme? Concrete jungle. That means wild animal looks, including cheetah, butterfly, and zebra, to make your personality roar at your Halloween party. The campaign included online tutorials for how to apply the jungle faces, and AR filters on Snap where consumers could try out the makeup styles and decide on their perfect Halloween costume. Wild? We love it.
Mars Wrigley – “Halloween it like you mean it”
Halloween means different things to different people, though we can all agree that chocolate is a must. Confectionery makers Mars Wrigley are encouraging people to participate in the holiday with a dedicated website imploring viewers to “Halloween it like you mean it”. And the brand is helping out with an engaging, interactive online experience, including a Handy Candy calculator to figure out exactly how much candy you need to buy, Halloween recipes, shopping links, decoration ideas, and a promo code offer. What more do you need this Halloween?
Liquid Death – Martha Stewart Dismembered Moments Candle
When you think of Halloween, Martha Stewart is probably not the first person who comes to mind. But that doesn’t matter to Liquid Death. The canned water brand teamed up with Stewart for Halloween to create the aptly-named Dismembered Moments Luxury Candle. The campaign features a surprisingly chilling commercial starring a calm and sweet-talking Stewart promoting the candle, with suitably horror-filled screams, fake blood, and heavy metal music in the background. The shock factor is high with this one – and somehow, it works!
UNICEF – “Add some meaning to your Halloweening”
Since 1950, UNICEF has provided its famous orange boxes to kids on Halloween to collect donations when they go trick-or-treating. For this year’s Halloween, UNICEF is going fully digital. The orange boxes are now a QR code, which can be scanned anywhere, anytime. Throughout October, people can donate, interact on social media, learn more about UNICEF and what it does, take part in virtual or physical events, and more. The campaign appeals not just to school-age kids but also to Gen Z and Millenials, who are big into social giving and humanitarian causes. The digital-first campaign is called “Add some meaning to your Halloweening”, and we think it does just that.
Papa John’s – Garlic Sauce talisman necklace
Who doesn’t need a good old-fashioned talisman to ward off evil spirits on Halloween? Pizza chain Papa John’s has created a sterling silver “Stranger Bling” talisman necklace inspired by the restaurant’s iconic Special Garlic Dipping Sauce. Available internationally at Black Feather Design, and promoted with a short teaser film, the talisman necklace is a shout-out to 80s horror cult classic films, and the brand’s own Jack! Halloween film series. Besides the usual candy and decorations, it’s great to see a brand venturing out-of-the-box with original Halloween merch. And don’t forget to pop a fresh garlic clove in the talisman to keep those nasty ghosts away.
Mars & Rubicon – Less Halloween waste
Halloween is fun and all, but the amount of waste it creates is truly frightening. Six hundred million tons of Halloween candy wrappers and used packaging ends up in landfills every year, according to research by Rubicon Technologies, the recycling services company. So Mars and Rubicon have teamed up to tackle the problem. This year, Mars is taking part in Rubicon’s Trick or Trash™ campaign, offering recyclable trick-or-treating bags with a pre-paid postage stamp. After the big day, consumers can fill their specially-designed bag with candy wrappers, and send it all back for recycling in a few simple steps. With over 75% of people planning to celebrate Halloween this year, this campaign will have a meaningful impact!
Kit Kat – The candy bowl that never runs out
A bowl that never runs out of candy? Where can we sign up?
Kit Kat is celebrating Halloween with a marketing campaign that kids everywhere are going to love. According to AdWeek, the company has not disclosed exactly how the never ending candy bowl works, but when the candy runs out, more candy magically appears. Kit Kat has invited people to submit a request on Instagram for the bowl to visit their hometown, and there’s one lucky winner to be picked at random. If Halloween marketing sometimes feels a bit gimmicky, then this is an example of how to do it right. Exciting, engaging, and with a sense of urgency – it’s definitely a winning Halloween campaign.
Hot Topic – “Halloween Forever”
This Halloween campaign is a fun celebrity collaboration, unabashedly appealing to the Gen Z audience. It combines two stars from hit shows Cobra Kai and Shameless, and fashion brand Hot Topic’s new Halloween clothing collection, inspired by classic horror films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre. For marketing to work, it needs an emotional touch – something that gets you in the feels. This campaign offers it too: Cobra Kai actress Mary Mouser, who stars in the Halloween commercial, used to work at Hot Topic before her rise to acting stardom! Nice touch.
Kmart – ‘Merry Spookmas’
Ok, so this Halloween campaign is from last year, but it deserves a belated mention. Kmart in Australia made the genius move of blending two of the big holidays in the end-of-year retail season: welcome to “Spookmas”! The campaign did a great job of blending the digital and physical retail worlds too, using Snapchat ads and Lenses. Via a Snapcode, the users could unlock the AR experience while in the Kmart store. Kmart achieved its goal of engaging a Gen Z target audience and getting them excited around both Halloween and Christmas: $25 ROAS and an average 54-second playtime for the Halloween campaign Lens. That’s a very merry Spookmas indeed!
Heinz – The “creepiest condiment”
As every self-respecting child knows, the best pretend blood for a Halloween costume is ketchup. Heinz is taking it to the next level with limited edition “Tomato Blood”. It’s the same ketchup we all know and love, rebranded with a new spooky-looking label that definitely ramps up the creepy atmosphere. The campaign is designed to create a “full Halloween experience”, and also includes a pop-up store in LA where visitors can make costumes using the fake blood, as well as a Halloween Heinz Blood costume kit available for purchase online. All in all, a great way to leverage a beloved product for a special holiday. And no campaign is complete in 2021 without the social media angle – consumers are encouraged to share photos of their ketchup-(blood)-soaked Halloween costumes.
Butterfinger – Turn yourself in
Parents munching on their kids’ Halloween candy – it’s the ultimate crime, made famous by Jimmy Kimmel’s popular annual YouTube challenge, “I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy.” Butterfinger is focusing on a similar theme with a funny, catchy campaign aimed at parents. It encourages them to “Turn yourself in” if they are guilty of stealing their child’s Butterfinger from the trick or treat basket. They’ve dubbed it the “Butterfinger Case Files”, and parents who ‘fess up and submit their mug shot to the dedicated website are in the running to win a $25,000 prize. A smart example of how specifically targeting parents can be a winning tactic on Halloween.
Snickers – Bite size Halloween
No matter what you’re marketing, great storytelling is always the key. And when it comes to Halloween, spooky stories are a fantastic way to capture consumer imagination and attention. Snickers has done it this year with a smart Halloween short with a scary twist. It’s more funny than scary, but it definitely keeps you wondering what will happen next. Of course, candy is one of the most popular product segments for Halloween, with a forecast of $3B consumer spending around the holiday in the US in 2021, so naturally candy brands are competing for eye-catching and original marketing ideas. We think this short film fits the bill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E_tDa9h9_o
General Mills – “Monster Mash”
Nostalgia in marketing is powerful. That’s what General Mills is tapping into with their new Halloween campaign, a 50th anniversary reunion of the five cartoon monster characters from their Monster Cereals line, first launched in 1971. To celebrate the reunion, the monsters got together for a take on the popular 1962 single, “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett & The Crypt Kickers. The full-fledged campaign includes a spoofy “Behind the scenes” style short video, “The Remaking of the Mash: A Monster Miracle”, and special product releases, including cereal flavors with retro packaging, vinyl character toys and watches. Everything old is new again, and that’s especially true for Monsters Cereals this Halloween.
Temptations – “Tasty Human”
With so much pressure on brands to always be original and exciting, Halloween marketing is getting stranger by the year. Temptations, the cat food brand, isn’t holding back, releasing a limited edition cat food for Halloween in “Tasty Human” flavor. It’s true, cats can give off a somewhat freaky vibe, and research postulating that if cats were bigger, they’d eat humans definitely does not help their reputation. But Temptations is bravely running with it, and this wacky Halloween-centric product and campaign is sure to gain some buzz among cat owners.
Nike – Halloween sneakers
Did we mention that Halloween marketing is getting weirder? Candy and costumes are pretty obvious, but a Halloween-themed special edition Nike sneaker is something else. Even so, it’s become a tradition, and this year, Nike is once again tapping into the whimsical, child-like side that seems to infect people of all ages around Halloween with new release shoes especially for the season. For example, the Nike Dunk Low style is black, cream and orange (very Halloween-y colors) with a glow in the dark overlay, illuminated outsole, and creepy spider pattern on the insole. For Nike lovers, the product is the campaign, generating so much anticipation, buzz, and endless unboxing reviews online. It’s a good example of a product so completely entwined with the brand that almost any new release will be sure to generate interest. Halloween? It’s just an excuse.
Lego/Star Wars/ Disney+ – Terrifying Tales
Brand collaborations are always a good thing, especially when you’ve got three uber brands working together. That’s what’s happened this Halloween season, when Lego Star Wars kicked off the Disney+ “Halloweenstream” with its Halloween special, Terrifying Tales. Together with the trailer of the new spooky film, Lego Star Wars dropped a series of five shorts, each featuring a funny, Halloween themed plot and some favorite Star Wars characters. Of course, we’re talking here about three of the world’s most famous brands, but any brand can ramp up its power around Halloween and other holidays via clever collaborations with like-minded brands.
Crest – #BringOnTheCandy Safes
Candy, kids, cavities! It’s not hard to make that leap when you consider how much candy gets eaten during Halloween season. And that gives toothpaste brand Crest every reason to get in on the action. This year, they’ve run with the theme of protecting your candy and protecting your teeth. As mentioned above, parents are notorious for taking their kids’ candy stash on Halloween. So, customers were invited to enter a competition to win a limited edition Candy Safe, where candy can be safely locked away from prying eyes and hands! To enter, participants had to post on Instagram why their family loves Crest toothpaste and why they want a Candy Safe, with all the right hashtags of course. Marketing lesson? Figure out how your brand can fit into the celebrations, and go for it!
Reese’s – A Better Place
As one of the most popular trick-or-treats, Reese’s is a big player in Halloween marketing. The brand’s Halloween commercial gets ironic and spooky this year, wondering what happened to all the Reese’s chocolates that ‘disappear’ around Halloween (“they’ve gone to a better place…). But it’s not just the creative ads. Reese’s has secured its place in the Halloween consumer culture in other ways, by partnering with neighborhood social network Nextdoor, for example, to offer the Treat Map app for local trick or treating. And now the brand is pushing its wildly popular Reese’s Pumpkins chocolate as the “Official Pumpkins of Halloween”, even competing with sellers of actual pumpkins for the title! It’s all done in good humor and with goodwill of course, which is the best way to strengthen a brand.
Skittles Zombies – Go horribly viral
Candies and chocolate are one of the biggest sellers during Halloween, after costumes and decorations. In fact, 9 out of 10 Halloween shoppers in 2018 planned to buy candy.
In 2019, the Mars company did a 180-degree-turn away from delicious fruity candy, with its release of Zombie Skittles. The product comes with 5 tasty Halloween themed flavors, such as Boogeyman Blackberry and Mummified Melon. However, it also includes a ‘rotten’ Zombie flavor, and the consumer will only know they are eating it once they experience the terrifyingly awful taste.
The beauty of this kind of marketing tactic is its potential to go viral with the help of influencer marketing. Playing on the psychology of the dare and the human fascination with anything weird, the Zombie Skittles concept drew loads of attention online. There were numerous video reviews, video challenges and taste tests by bloggers and foodies to show viewers just how horrible (and irresistible!) the rotten candies really are. As the Skittles press release stated, “It’s an utterly disgusting taste experience that will elicit strong reactions from anyone and everyone daring enough to try it.” The key to any great content marketing campaign? Emotion, of which Zombie Skittles have plenty!
Universal Studios – A watch party to remember
Universal Studios promoted its annual Halloween Horror Nights event with a TV spot that turns the innocent “watch party” concept into a terrifying prospect. The Halloween Horror Nights event, held at Universal Studios locations in Florida, California, Japan and Singapore, is a popular Halloween tradition, combining mazes, attraction, parties and more, all with a horror theme. This year, the focus was on the 80s, and the promo campaign centered around a group of friends getting together at home for a relaxing watch party. But the night turns terrible as the group is preyed on by their deepest fears. It’s a fun, nail-biting short video that definitely gets you in the mood for a horror night. Plus it’s a good example of the power of video advertising to communicate a message and a mood to your target audience.
UNICEF Halloween Heroes – Nostalgia for a new generation
Another emotion that works well in marketing is nostalgia. Think of recent Disney movie remakes, like Aladdin and The Lion King. The grownups who watched the original films in the 90s enjoy a nostalgic trip back to their childhood, while the next generation (their kids) fall in love with the new version at the same time. UNICEF Canada is banking on nostalgia with a reboot of its traditional Halloween Heroes campaign, where kids would go trick or treating with orange UNICEF money boxes, collecting donations house to house while they collect candy.
This year, UNICEF has launched its Halloween Heroes campaign in a fully digital online format, based on four “hero” characters representing kids’ right to childhood in areas like water, food, education and security. It just goes to show that in content marketing, you don’t always have to be new and original – sometimes, you can rejuvenate an old theme and make it powerful for a new generation.
Lunar Beauty Cosmetics – Witch theme works best?
Here’s an example of another nostalgia-driven campaign that’s playing on a theme – and using a drip approach on social media to tease customers with a slow buildup. Famous makeup artist, YouTuber and beauty blogger Manny MUA launched a special Halloween cosmetic collection under his brand Lunar Beauty. The Moon Spell Collection is based on pop cultures’ favorite witches from the 90s, drawing particular inspiration from the cult classic series Charmed.
The campaign created suspense over a few days before the launch of the spooky collection on October 4, with the release of a long-form half-hour YouTube video, and Instagram posts and teasers to get customers in the Halloween mood. The popular campaign combined good old nostalgia, a clear and catchy theme, and a slow drip approach to build momentum. As can be seen in some of the Instagram comments before the products were available for sale: “Can you drop the collection already so i can buy it!” When customers are begging you to release your products, you know your Halloween marketing campaign is a success.
Burger King – Trolling McDonald’s with clowns
What better way to kick off our top Halloween content marketing campaigns than with Burger King’s ingenious idea. It combined customer interaction with the clever trolling of rival McDonald’s and its famous clown mascot.
Burger King offered a free Whopper burger to the first 500 people to visit select Burger King stores dressed as a clown. The campaign was promoted via a creepy clown-filled YouTube video with the hashtag #ScaryClownNight.
A campaign that combines clowns and trolls? We want our Whopper!
Skittles – Long-form horror ad
In a Halloween campaign titled “Bite Size Horror,” confectionery giant Mars screened a series of four commercials for Skittles, Sunburst, Snickers, and M&Ms, each featuring a mini horror movie. Rather than directly promoting the products, the videos engaged the viewer with the brand by creating unforgettably scary stories, ending with a screenshot wishing “Happy Halloween.”
The long-form videos ran for two minutes, providing the necessary time to develop the plot, characters, and suspense for an engaging video story. This follows a clear trend as part of the recent rise in long-form video, which has been known to achieve even higher completion rates than shorter video ads.
Check out another Skittles “Bite Size Horror” commercial, which freaked out spectators when it was screened at a Yankees vs Indians baseball game.
Dior – Halloween goes haute couture
If you thought Halloween was all about kids in costumes collecting candy, then you are missing out on the beautiful, dark side of Halloween. Even Dior got into the spooky vibe with an influencer campaign featuring Bella Hadid, where the supermodel demonstrated how to create fabulous makeup looks just for Halloween.
The “how to” makeup videos were promoted on social media under the #DiorMakeupHalloween hashtag, targeting an entirely new Halloween audience with content that speaks their language.
Skoda – Carving pumpkins (and cars)
Candy, costumes, and of course, the obligatory pumpkin carving – Halloween is, and has always been, a special day for children.
Skoda, however, decided to appeal to the kid inside every adult. Its car commercial juxtaposes a young boy carving a face into an orange pumpkin against the adult version of the boy. Except years later, he’s carving a face into an orange….Skoda hood cover.
It’s a great example of content designed to appeal to different target audiences.
M&Ms – Interactive ghost stories
Last year, M&Ms ran an interactive social media campaign in the month leading up to Halloween. The campaign featured a weekly installment of an ongoing ghost story, promoted on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Every installment led up to two alternative endings, and viewers were asked to vote on their preferred finale. The following week, the story continued, based on the previous week’s winning ending.
The campaign combined some of the best practices of content marketing: a dynamic story, compelling video, and a layer of interactivity to get audiences engaged and personally involved.
Fanta – Holistic approach to horror
Fanta is repeating its popular campaign featuring seasonal graphics on its packaging along with experiential Halloween kits available at every point of sale (POS). This year, the graphics can be scanned to Snapchat, where they unlock Halloween-themed filters.
The soft drink giant’s Halloween campaign combines physical and digital elements, building on its past success. Last year, Fanta sales grew by 23% at convenience stores during the Halloween period.
It just goes to show how powerful content can be when made interactive, and when it includes more traditional marketing activities.
Fortnite – The Ultimate in suspense (and the results show)
We’ve discussed before how Fortnite, the world’s leading interactive computer game, pwns when it comes to content marketing. For a game that was released only a year ago, every whiff of marketing generates an incredible amount of interest, and Halloween is no different.
Last year, Fortnite released the Skull Trooper “skin” for Halloween, before the game reached the phenomenal levels of popularity it enjoys today. Now, the marketers behind Fortnite are using an incredible amount of hype to further ignite interest during Halloween 2018.
The question on everyone’s minds: Will Fortnite reinstate the Skull Trooper skin for Halloween this year? It’s this kind of suspense and build up that is the foundation of fantastic marketing.
Just check out the impact of the suspense-laden campaign on Google Trends — interest in the search term “Fortnite Halloween skins” just keeps going up and up:
Halloween is not for the faint of heart, and that’s true even within content marketing.
Spice up your Halloween content campaigns with creative inspiration from these spooky examples, and you’ll be celebrating with scary-good results!
Check out the Annual Guide to Holiday Marketing for more inspiring marketing articles and tips across the entire calendar.
