Most people circle 10/31 on their calendars for the costumes and candy, but in the world of events the spooky celebration also brings with it another fun treat: super-creative brand experiential. So, in between the skeletons and sweets we hope you enjoy five of our favorite Halloween brand activations. Warning: some of these ideas might scare your socks right off!
1. Skittles Scary House On Wheels
Skittles took our two favorite things about Halloween -- trick-or-treating and haunted houses -- and combined them to make the Haunted House on Wheels. Can you imagine greeting your next trick-or-treater only to find out that it’s an entire (haunted) house? The goal of the activation was to inspire teens to go out and trick-or-treat, while bringing attention to the Skittles brand during the highest candy buying season of the year.
Reece’s established themselves as the best candy around when they set up candy converters, allowing people to insert their unwanted goodies and receive a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in return. Their goal was to “save halloween” which created a narrative around the fact that Reese’s are the best and all other candies are inferior. Considering the activation generated over 1,300 media placements in three days, we think it’s safe to say the campaign was a success.
M&M created an animated interactive ghost story to keep fans, particularly younger candy lovers, engaged and involved in their Halloween storyline in the weeks leading up to the holiday. The story was a digital version of a “choose your own adventure” storybook where participants voted on what they wanted to happen next. It created compelling involvement in the campaign, and a sense of brand ownership that followed. Overall, a great connection for the younger generation of candy lovers to establish with the M&M brand.
4. Burger King’s Scary Clown Night
The Burger King and McDonalds rivalry was alive and well last Halloween when BK announced their “Scary Clown Night” campaign during which consumers received a free burger on Halloween if they were dressed up as a clown. The activation was brilliant in its means of directly putting down McDonalds and their “creepy” mascot, while simultaneously drawing tons of people to their restaurants. We loved everything about this activation from the competitive edge to the crazy clown costumes!
5. Guinness Halloween Coasters
Guinness had a simple, but smart activation last Halloween. They shipped black ghost-shaped coasters to bars and pubs around the UK that served their beer. Halloween is a huge night for bar hopping, so the festive coasters were appropriate and timely. The fact that sales of Guinness skyrocketed that night was not a coincidence - guests loved the fun addition to ordering their beer. This goes to show that sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference!
