Here’s a scary fact: Halloween is one of the most expensive—and most profitable—holidays in North America. While Black Friday might haunt your wallet, Halloween spending reached a whopping $12 billion in 2023, with 83% of surveyed consumers planning to splurge during the spooky season, according to the National Retail Federation.
It’s not just about candy and costumes anymore. Halloween has become a golden opportunity for brands to unleash eerie, creative, and fun campaigns that capture attention and drive sales. From spooky social media stunts to interactive experiences that leave customers spellbound, there’s no better time to cast a spell on your audience.
And with $12 billion on the line, it’s time to turn a few chills into big thrills for your business. Whether you’re brewing up an eerie campaign to target Gen Z or conjuring up nostalgic experiences for millennials, Halloween gives you the chance to shock your audience—in all the right ways.
Ready to give your customers a frightfully good time? Check out these spook-tacular ideas to inspire your Halloween campaigns and tap into the spirit of the season. 🎃
Halloween Marketing Ad Campaigns You’ll Want to Copy
1. Fanta’s “Fantaween” Campaign
Fanta embraced the spooky season with its playful “Fantaween” campaign. The soda brand rolled out limited-edition Halloween cans featuring spooky designs and launched an interactive Snapchat lens, turning users into various Halloween characters, and an in-person haunted house-like experience. By merging physical products with digital and in-person engagements, Fanta created a memorable multi-channel experience.
Key Takeaway: Combining limited-edition products with AR or interactive content can boost engagement and sales, especially when targeting younger, social-media-savvy audiences.
2. Burger King’s “Scary Clown Night”
In a fun jab at a rival, Burger King launched its “Scary Clown Night” campaign, where customers dressed as clowns (a nod to McDonald’s mascot) could get a free Whopper on Halloween night. This tongue-in-cheek approach turned the competition into a spooky, brand-building opportunity.
Key Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to use humor and playfully reference competitors. This tactic can drive viral moments, especially when tied to an event like Halloween.
3. Lush’s Halloween Collection
Lush releases a Halloween-themed collection every year, featuring limited-edition products like spooky bath bombs and pumpkin-scented soaps. The brand leverages social media, sharing eerie visuals and how-to tutorials for creating themed self-care experiences. Lush’s use of visually striking content and seasonal products drives excitement and sales.
Key Takeaway: Seasonal product lines paired with shareable content (such as tutorials) encourage organic social engagement while promoting the product line.
4. Reese’s “Trick-activated Candy Machine”
Reese’s took trick-or-treating to the next level by creating a “Trick-activated candy machine” that distributed candy with the press of a button. Placed around neighborhoods, this campaign brought a fun, physical experience to the Halloween season, complete with interactive elements.
Key Takeaway: Creating an in-person experience, even something as simple as a vending machine, can make your brand memorable and social media-worthy.
5. Airbnb’s “Night in Dracula’s Castle”
Airbnb partnered with Bram Stoker’s great-grandnephew to offer guests the chance to stay in Dracula’s Castle in Transylvania for Halloween. The contest, where the winners were flown to Romania for an overnight stay, was highly engaging and generated lots of buzz on social media.
Key Takeaway: Offering unique, once-in-a-lifetime experiences as a Halloween campaign prize can capture consumer imagination and generate massive social media attention.
6. Ford’s Haunted Car Wash Prank
Ford set up a haunted car wash as a Halloween prank, scaring people who drove in for a wash. The campaign was filmed and turned into a viral video that showed the company’s light-hearted side while entertaining viewers.
Key Takeaway: Tying your product or service into a memorable experience (like a haunted car wash) is a great way to entertain and engage customers.
12. Heinz’s “Tomato Blood”
Heinz rebranded its iconic ketchup as “Tomato Blood” for Halloween. It released limited-edition bottles featuring a spooky label and even ran a “Heinz Costume Shop,” selling capes, makeup, and other accessories to transform customers into vampires using Heinz ketchup as “blood.”
Key Takeaway: A playful and imaginative rebranding of your everyday product can turn it into a Halloween novelty, sparking engagement and sales during the holiday.
13. Chipotle’s “Boorito”
Chipotle’s “Boorito” campaign has been an annual Halloween tradition since 2000. The brand offered discounts to anyone who came into the restaurant dressed in costume. Recently, they shifted this to a digital activation, where customers could enter to win discounts and prizes by taking part in the brand’s virtual costume contest.
Key Takeaway: Incorporating a tradition into your Halloween campaign, whether it’s physical or digital, can help create an ongoing sense of excitement and loyalty around your brand.
14. LG’s Haunted Elevator Prank
LG Electronics once created a Halloween-themed viral video by setting up an elevator prank in which the floor appeared to fall away, giving passengers the scare of their lives. The campaign was designed to showcase the realism of their screens, and the prank footage quickly went viral.
Key Takeaway: Shock value, when done right, can create a fun viral marketing moment that not only showcases your product but also leaves a lasting impression.
15. Google’s “The Great Ghoul Duel”
Google created an interactive game, “The Great Ghoul Duel,” for Halloween, available on Google’s homepage. It was a multiplayer game where users could team up as ghosts and collect “spirit flames,” adding a fun and spooky element to the search engine for the day. The game was simple yet addictive, driving significant engagement.
Key Takeaway: Creating interactive content, like games, can be an excellent way to entertain your audience while building brand affinity.
Final Fright
The beauty of Halloween marketing lies in its creative freedom. This season offers a unique opportunity to think outside the box and try campaigns that may be a bit more daring or playful than usual. By crafting spooky-good ads with mystery, urgency, and interactive engagement, you can make this Halloween your brand’s best yet.
Whether it’s through AI-powered conversations, social commerce, or fright-filled quizzes, there’s no shortage of inspiration to brew up some magic in your campaigns.
