Frightfully Effective Halloween Campaigns

It’s that time of year: pumpkins, spooky décor, last-minute costume shopping and everything you can imagine covered in cobwebs and creepy crawlies. 

For those who love Halloween, it’s a fun day, but for marketers it’s a chance to get creative! 

We asked the Shooting Star team what their favourite Halloween campaigns are, and here’s what they came up with…  

Our Account Executive Lizzie is a huge fan of Fanta’s current Beetlejuice campaign.

Fanta chose to partner with the highly anticipated Beetlejuice Beetlejuice film, launching a limited-edition flavour ‘haunted apple’ in packaging featuring Beetlejuice and the iconic stripes. Marketing activity for this campaign included cinema and TV ads, spooky reels on social media and in-store promotions.  

Since the film’s release, Fanta has continued the Halloween campaign by offering the chance to win exclusive prizes and tickets for the ‘Afterlife Train’, an immersive online adventure.  

This makes the campaign interactive, helping to drive interest (especially with the countdown) and encouraging more sales as they come with a chance to win.  

Director Kate has chosen Heinz for their (scarily) good Halloween campaigns. This year they have teamed up with Walkers to launch a Heinz Scarily Good Monster Munch Pickled Onion Flavour Mayo. The brand has tapped into the growing trend for Halloween parties and the limited availability of these products helps to create a sense of excitement amongst consumers who are keen to get their hands on one of the limited-edition bottles on sale. 

To coincide with the product launch creative agency Gut New York has developed a new ad campaign Heinz Smiles which plays on The Joker and turns happy diners into Halloween clowns with a carefully placed smear of sauce. 

The strapline ‘It ha ha has to be Heinz’ is a simple yet clever twist on their usual messaging. We’re already looking forward to seeing what creepy campaigns they come up with next year! 

Digital Content Executive Dan enjoyed Marmite’s Trick or Treat campaign. Marmite has always stuck to its iconic slogan – you either love it or hate it – and for Halloween, they took it one step further. 

They launched two new jar designs (though the contents stayed the same), one labelled ‘Treat,’ encouraging fans to gift the “boo-tiful” jar to Halloween lovers, and the other labelled ‘Trick,’ cheekily suggesting that consumers prank a Marmite hater with the gift. 

This campaign was a fitting example of Marmite staying true to its playful and bold brand identity. By tapping into their love/hate divide in a fun, seasonal way, they not only reinforced brand loyalty but also created a memorable experience for their audience. 

Fed up of little kids knocking on your door at Halloween? Director Jez loved the way M&Ms have turned the tables on the trick or treaters by collaborating with doorbell provider Ring.

Customers can set their video doorbell to greet visitors with a selection of festive replies from M&M character Red. When the doorbell rings, Red invites visitors to take on a variety of Hallowe’en challenges and interactive games. 

M&Ms is encouraging Ring users to share videos of the most amusing moments on social media, bringing the ancient practices of Halloween up to date with modern technology.

Sadly he can’t take part because his doorbell is an actual bell, and if you ring it his dog Luna goes crazy!

DB