Campaigns: which brands aced Halloween?

Author: CIM COM

It’s getting bigger. Halloween as an occasion is capturing our imagination and a greater share of consumer expenditure. It spurs every second person to make special purchases. Retail sales rose to £310 million in 2016 and forecast to amount to £320 million this year. Small wonder then that brands, especially those which rely on impulse purchases, take Halloween seriously. See how retailers, restaurants and consumables brands aced the occasion with these brand-building campaigns for Skittles, Svedka vodka, Burger King, ASDA and M&Ms.

Skittles haunt parallel space

Harry Potter’s Platform 9.5 was a joyful gateway to another dimension. But Skittles’ Floor 9.5 is a bitesize horror that gives you every good reason to avoid working late around Halloween. In the Mars and Fox channel collaboration, independent creatives conjure up a chilling storyline that defies the usual cheery Skittles confectionery treatment. Written by Simon Allen and directed by Toby Meakins the mini-movie builds suspense, disbelief and fright value in just two minutes. Brand content is relegated to a discreet front and finish spot, but brand value is there throughout.

Stalked by Svedka Vodka

Sometimes you just can’t get away. You’re followed everywhere. Stalked into a corner. Swedish vodka brand Svedka knows only too well that ad retargeting can give consumers the creeps. So its created its own ad retargeting nightmare. It begins innocuously enough with cocktail recipes served up on social media, but it gets more sinister if you click through to the Svedka Halloween content and view ‘The Curse’ video. By viewing you’re cursed with retargeting ads (personalised by your online behaviour vodka preferences and geographic location) popping up as you browse the internet. To shake off the curse, you need to pass it on. It just goes to show horror and humour make for an effective brand treatment.

Burger King spoofs McDonalds?

Burger King took ownership of the clown emblem usually associated with McDonalds and gave it a spooky twist for Halloween. In its ad, a teen cyclist is chased across town by malevolent clowns reminiscent of author Stephen King’s evil Pennywise character in ‘It’. With the tagline ‘Come as a clown, eat like a king’, the brand offered the first 500 diners at selected restaurants a free whopper when they came dressed as a clown. The promotion has emerged in spots from the USA and Lebanon to South Africa and the flagship Leicester Square branch in London.

ASDA leverages Shazam

Some retailers reckon that if brands get Halloween right then they’re all set for a rewarding Christmas trading season. ASDA has certainly brought the supermarket brand to the fore of consumer consciousness with its campaign. Created by Saatchi & Saatchi London, the campaign positions ASDA as ‘Home for all things haunted’ and takes in TV, radio, social media and PR activity. The creative sees a family possessed by a bolt of green light as they showcase Halloween costumes and groceries. The ad uses the functionality of mobile music app Shazam, normally used to help you name a soundtrack or find lyrics. With this campaign consumers can use Shazam to get straight to ASDA’s Halloween e-commerce web pages.

Ghostly encounter for M&Ms

Mars and Fox are behind this M&Ms ad which features a father, his daughter and her friend, who tell each other a ghost story as they stop the car on an isolated country road. It’s well executed so if you get scared easily, don’t watch. Los Angeles directing duo Jack Bishop and Justin Nijm created this shareable short.

More on Halloween

Read Thomas Hobbs report on the importance of Halloween in Marketing Week magazine:

With spend set to surpass £320m this year, Halloween has become an occasion retail brands can’t afford to ignore.