Have a Spooktastic Halloween!
Whether or not you celebrate Halloween personally, it’s a great holiday for advertisers. Candy, costumes, pumpkins, zombies – it’s a creative’s dream. Plus, Americans are expected to spend a $8.4 billion on Halloween in 2016. Depending on your company, you might change up your product offerings, decorate your store, get creative with images, run a photo contest, turn your social media profile spooky, or offer a seasonal discount. I think of Halloween as a time to have fun, be creative and just a little bit creepy!
Listed below, in no particular order, are 13 Spooktacular Brands who I think have down a great job this year with spookily effective Halloween-themed advertising campaigns.
- Airbnb ran a giveaway: one night in Dracula’s Transylvanian castle. No one has slept in Dracula’s castle for 70 years, until now. The winners of the contest will be flown to Romania to spend Halloween night in Castle Bran. They will arrive at the castle by horse-drawn carriage, eat the same meal the Count gave to Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s novel, and get to sleep in velvet-lined coffins. It doesn’t get more Halloween-y than that!
2. Kit Kat ran several Halloween-themed ads. One featured Chance the Rapper in costume, talking to himself on a Kit Kat wrapper.
https://youtu.be/8lN8OZqFuHs
The other ad spot pays homage to horror-movie tropes and 80’s flicks. What do you do when being chased in a forest by a homicidal maniac? Break out a Kit Kat, of course!
https://youtu.be/4vDkux2Mx5U
3. Facebook launched augmented reality selfie Masks for the Live video feature and rolled out new Reactions.
4. Sure, WD-40 is known for getting rid of the squeaks in your doors but what about when you want creaky hinges? The solution lies in the Haunted Door app.
5. A Burger King in Queens, New York definitely wins Best Restaurant Halloween Costume of the Year. The location dressed up as a ghost of McDonald’s by covering the building in white sheets. They changed their sign to read: “Booooooo! Just kidding, we still flame grill our burgers. Happy Halloween.” Petty? Maybe so. But a great burn. The prank was limited to the one location but it seems corporate is involved as a video was posted to its YouTube channel of the “Scariest BK”:
https://youtu.be/vimBpdBnaBs
6. Texas confectioner Atomic Candy created a creep new commercial. I almost didn’t include this one because I’m not a fan of clowns but I’ve got to hand it to them – they sure did get in the Halloween spirit!
7. Chipotle once again gives hungry customers a tasty treat on Halloween with its Boorito campaign.
8. In keeping with their ‘get outside’ image, REI compiled a lovely list of Halloween activities to be celebrated outside. I’m torn between making campfire-roasted pumpkin seeds, going on a haunted hike, or taking a zombie preparedness class.
9. I love stop-motion and Dia de los Muertos so El Jimador Tequila’s ads were guaranteed to make this list.
https://youtu.be/-tRwXaK_iUA
10. Dr. Pepper released a new commercial that invites you to buy the official Larry Culpepper costume for Halloween. “Side effects of wearing the official Larry Culpepper costume may include instant popularity, constant refreshment, and so, so many selfies.”
https://youtu.be/5ueu45Jx7EE
11. I have to hand it to Walmart for invoking the Invisible Man in one of their ads for Halloween.
https://youtu.be/3wEGE6-iLBo
12. Justworks created a rather memorable Halloween ad campaign. Throughout October the ads ran in New York City subway cars and on the walls of Union Square station. The company paired retro horror movie images with modern taglines about the fears an entrepreneur might face.
13. DDB New York created two ads for State Farm that will ‘scare you right’ this Halloween.
https://youtu.be/x3QHVqrPvoM
https://youtu.be/WmNf2AtY2Z8
Happy Halloween!
