In celebration of Halloween we decided to take a look at some of our favourite creative campaigns from recent years. And maybe even help to inspire your next festive campaign!

Kicking it off with a brand we know and love. (Especially around Halloween) M&M's! In the UK this Halloween, M&M’s has partnered with the video doorbell brand Ring for a festive and light hearted campaign centred all around trick or treating fun. Taking an innovative spin on ringing someone's doorbell, instead of being greeted by human faces, first you will encounter Red! M&M’S iconic spokes candy. The “quick replies” feature of the doorbell will include a variety of replies from Red. Red will be asking visitors to respond to various silly challenges and cues to receive their Halloween treats! Think lots of dancing and funny faces!

This is an interactive, gamified way of taking old traditions and pairing it with new technologies. M&M’s will be asking ring customers to share they’re funny doorstep encounters on social media to create a widespread conversation and engagement. On top of the doorstep fun, M&M’s will be partnering with content creators across the internet as well as having in store promotions. This campaign continues to speak to the playful and mischievous candy characters we’ve come to know and love from M&M’s. And maybe, if trick or treaters are lucky, they’ll even end up receiving the classic candy in their candy bag after their doorbell fun with Red!

Next up, Heinz Tomato Blood! 

In 2020 we saw the beginning of the tomato blood campaign. In the height of the covid-19 pandemic, Halloween and many holidays were being celebrated a little differently. Heinz saw the opportunity to create a unique experience for their customers by shedding light on this quirky use of their ketchup product.. as Fake blood.

“If you have Heinz you have a costume” in 2021, Heinz leaned further into the tomato blood campaign by illuminating the fact that we’ve probably all used ketchup once or twice, scheming and pranking. Across the united states they created tomato blood ketchup packaging and even created costume kits that included a makeup palette and brush set; a sponge and dropper; a rhinestone sheet; a tattoo sheet; vampire teeth; and “spooky” fake eyelashes. Heinz largely championed TikTok to get customers to share their DIY creations on social media. They took this experiential marketing campaign to the next level by opening a pop-up Heinz Halloween Store in Los Angeles. The brand explained visitors could start decorating their costumes at the store's interactive “drip stations”. Now that’s committing to a concept and allowing customers to truly engage through creative expression!

The following year, 2022, Heinz continued the story of tomato blood, this time enlisting creator E.J. Marcus to play Toby, a human-friendly, blood activist, vegetarian influencer vampire who has a sweet spot for Tomato Blood. This campaign was value-driven, leaning into the interest and values of Gen Z. In the ad, Toby tries to get other vampires to make the switch to tomato blood, pleading that humans are worth sparing. As well as driving the vegetarianism message home "Heinz encourages ketchup lovers everywhere to be like Toby this Halloween season, joining vegetarian vampires everywhere and indulging in devilishly delicious Heinz Tomato Blood" says Heinz, speaking to a new generation of meat-less enthusiasts. The messaging could be interpreted as a lighthearted way of potentially hitting on deeper issues that activist driven Gen Zers could appreciate. Heinz rolled out this integrated campaign across socials like youtube, tiktok, instagram, twitter, twitch and the use of vegetarian vampire billboards with scannable QR codes leading to additional content.  

Lastly, going out with a shudder - Bacardi! 

Last year, Bacardi got everyone in the Halloween partying mood with the launch of their Halloween glow in the dark Bacardi rum bottle. They launched two 30 second ads that featured two new spooky Bacardi-forward cocktail recipes. The commercials were inspired by horror films like The Ring, The Shining and Psycho. In both ads you are able to see the featured glow in the dark bottle and what you can make with it. To extend the campaign, and keep the party going, Bacardi released a “Terrifyingly Good Playlist” on Spotify for their customers and brought a festive Halloween lens to snapchat which allows users to make their face seem like they are painted in makeup inspired by the cocktails. They covered all the party bases and made sure their customers were fully equipped to throw the best Halloween party, courtesy of Bacardi. This was an immersive campaign that gave consumers the opportunity to engage with the brand and use many different avenues to promote their use of the product on social media, whether it be through mixed cocktails or a snapchat filter selfie.