Halloween is quickly creeping up and triggering feeds to fill with spooky, holiday-inspired campaigns from companies across all industries. Holiday marketing offers a limited-time outlet to put your creative bones to work and reach customers on a relatable level.
Brace yourself as we dive into five viral Halloween marketing campaigns successfully launched to engage consumers. Don’t keep your eyes shut the whole time though or you’ll miss techniques to implement in your next campaign.
1. Burger King: #ScaryClownNight Campaign
The international fast-food chain, Burger King, debuted its campaign #ScaryClownNight in 2017. Select Burger King locations encouraged customers to visit on Halloween dressed as clowns to receive a free WHOPPER®.
Burger King promoted the campaign with the tagline “even clowns should eat like kings” and an eerie YouTube video. The video, which garnered close to 700,000 views, featured a teen boy biking alone at night only to be chased by a town full of clowns, one notable clown closely resembling McDonald’s beloved clown mascot, Ronald McDonald. Not only did this campaign get burger-loving fans into the restaurant, but it also poked fun at its major competitor.
https://www.burkhartmarketing.com//www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR6XhtdU6TA
2. Fanta: Snapchat Collaboration Campaign
In 2018, Fanta released Halloween-themed soda cans with illustrations of vampires, skulls and other creepy designs to introduce two new flavors: Blood Orange Zero and Pink Grapefruit Zero.
The cans also featured a QR code that unlocked Fanta-themed Snapchat filters of bats, pumpkins and skulls. Coca-Cola also promoted this campaign on Facebook through a prank video of a fake tarantula scaring customers while they were in the stores near Fanta products.
https://www.burkhartmarketing.com//www.facebook.com/fantagreatbritain/videos/486221785215615/
3. Chipotle: Boorito Campaign
Chipotle introduced the Boorito campaign in 2000 to treat customers with a discounted meal. The tradition attracts costumed customers every year on Halloween for a $4 burrito, bowl, salad or tacos after 3:00 p.m.
Chipotle promotes the campaign every year with Halloween-inspired ads, such as the signature foil-wrapped burrito sporting a jack-o-lantern smile surrounded by menu items with a chilling rebrand.
4. Zombie Skittles Campaign
There is no doubt that candy is a Halloween staple, but Mars took this tradition to a horrifying, new level in 2019 with Zombie Skittles. This rebranded product featured five tasty Halloween flavors, such as Boogeyman Blackberry and Mummified Melon. However, the flavor mix included a few ‘rotten’ Zombie candies that fans wouldn’t see coming until they bit into it.
This campaign’s oddity factor made it newsworthy and left consumers fascinated and intrigued to try it out themselves. Skittles also interacted with consumers’ emotions by daring them to brave the “utterly disgusting taste experience.” As a result, the internet was flooded with videos of reviews, challenges and taste tests by bloggers and foodies alike.
5. Topshop: Stranger Things In-Store Collaboration Campaign
Shortly after the hit series Stranger Things released its second season, Netflix partnered with Topshop to offer customers a captivating in-store experience at its London flagship location. The store transformed itself to mirror iconic show settings, such as Will Byer’s hideout, Joyce’s living room and the Hawkins lab.
Visitors also viewed an in-store screening of the series and browsed limited-edition Stranger Things retro tees and sweatshirts. Online customers also joined in on the fun, by being able to “strangeify” their visit. This effect altered Topshop’s website to a Stranger Things theme. The campaign was promoted on Topshop’s Instagram using a short clip from the series and #TopshopTopmanxStrangerThings.
https://www.burkhartmarketing.com//www.youtube.com/watch?v=seCgmZLJpdM
If these campaigns gave you the chills, we encourage you to contact us to discuss how to effectively elevate your marketing efforts throughout the holiday season.
