6 Scary-Good 2020 Halloween Marketing Campaigns


October 28, 2020

During any given year, Halloween is normally a period of profound spookiness and general ghoulish behavior. A time where seeing a neighbor’s yard littered with human bones is not a cause to dial 9-1-1 but rather chuckle enviously.

However, 2020 has certainly been anything but a given year, what with every day being filled with its own foreboding dread and the likelihood of trick-or-treating during a pandemic at an all-time low, many brands have been hesitant to promote their usual monstrous marketing campaigns and instead just sit this one out.

Still, some have found ways to provide some much-needed levity while taking advantage of the skeletal marketing space. Let’s take a look at a few of our favorites, shall we?

  1. DUMBGOOD x Spirit Halloween

Social media-driven clothing brand DUMBGOOD is the undisputed king of collabs and their most popular Halloween release has been the Spirit Halloween product line. Yes, the Spirit Halloween that takes over abandoned Circuit City retail spaces and sells clown wigs and wolfman masks starting in mid-September. 

The full product lineup includes hoodies, sweatpants, tees both short and sling-sleeved, each emblazoned with that signature spooky ghost and “now hiring” messaging. Whether or not the merch will allow you to walk into any Spirit Halloween store and pretend to be an employee remains to be seen.

 

  1. Heinz Ketchup’s Tomato Blood

You can’t get your claws on Heinz’s extremely limited edition blood-branded ketchup at your local grocery store. Instead, you’re going to have to get over your stage fright and create a TikTok video that features a Heinz Ketchup bottle somewhere in it and includes #HeinzHalloween. 

The ketchup giant will then select 570 lucky winners who will receive the spooky bottle (that allegedly glows in the dark) to use as they see fit, likely by dipping fries in it, sticking said fries in their mouth like fangs, and running around saying “I vant to suck your blood!” At least, that’s how we would go about it.

Great use of taking an existing product and spookifying it for the Halloween season as well as generating social buzz.

 

  1. Denny’s Blue Moons Over My Hammy

Do you live in Miami and love Denny’s chain of diners? If you answered “heck yes” to both of these questions, you’ll be able to participate in their incredibly-named “Blue Moons Over My Hammy” campaign where bear with me here, you can order the classic Denny’s Moons Over My Hammy breakfast sandwich with garishly blue sourdough bread. We are always a big fan of when restaurant brands make their food an absurd color for a seasonal promotion.

“Why would they do this?” Well, this Halloween is the first one since 1944 to feature a blue moon in the night sky. Thus, it seems only appropriate to dye some bread blue in celebration of this momentous occasion. If you want to try it for yourself, head to a Miami Denny’s on October 31st!

 

  1. Burger King’s Scariest Places On Earth

Shots are being fired by Burger King this Halloween as the fast-food chain announced that customers who drive by one of the “scariest places on earth” will receive a free Whopper.

Just where are these scary locations? Why, they’re shuttered McDonald’s, Sonics, Wendy’s, and Jack in the Boxes located in Johnston, Rhode Island; Birmingham, Alabama; McHenry, Illinois; Houston, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio. 

Customers can check in on the BK App once they are 300 feet away from these former stores to redeem their free Whopper, though careful, Burger King has pointed out that these spots are incredibly scary and if you listen carefully, you can almost hear the scream of a flat-top grill.

Another great example of making a very regional campaign that garners national attention and doesn’t require too much oversight. Plus, getting these areas to download your app to participate? Win-win.

 

  1. ColourPop’s Hocus Pocus Line

If there’s one thing millennial women love during Halloween, it’s the movie Hocus Pocus. Makeup manufacturer ColourPop knows this better than most, which prompted them to launch a Halloween line of makeup kits around the over-the-top looks of the Sanderson sisters.

Demand was so high, that when the product launched a few weeks ago, it completely swamped the Shopify backend and delayed the launch a full 24 hours. Since then, the company’s social posts that feature the Hocus Pocus makeup kit are far and away their highest performers, which just goes to show how thirsty we all are to be drip-fed nostalgia.

 

  1. Mucinex’s Athleisure Line

Look, you might be digitally poking us in the chest telling us there’s nothing scary about the Mucinex mascot. You may be right. After all, what’s scary about a cast of sentient, blob-like mucus hanging their hats on little coat racks and generally commenting about how they’re never going to leave your body? Especially during a global pandemic?

Even if you don’t find gelatinous green monster men scary, you can at least appreciate the new line of athleisure merchandise that Mucinex dropped during spooky season in collaboration with fashion designers Steven Alan and Christina Viviani. Yes, these are real-life sentences you’re reading.

These aren’t just sleep masks and robes emblazoned with boogers, either. The collection includes antimicrobial fabrics, soothing color palettes, and temperature-regulating materials. For example, the sleep hoodie has a built-in eye mask you can pull down to doze off in style and comfort. Sign me up.

Who would have thought that Mucinex would have a shining example of taking merch to the next level. Many are comfortable with just slapping their logo on a hat and calling it a day, but more and more we’re seeing genuinely exciting product lines and collaborations receive national recognition for their incredible attention to detail and exciting designs. Never thought we’d say it, but we really want that Mucinex robe. 

 

Scary-good or just plain scary? 

So, what do you think? Were you impressed by these brands’ spooky initiatives? Tell us what you think about them (or other recent interactive/Halloween campaigns) in the comment section below. And from all of us at Envision Creative, have a very Happy Halloween! 🙂