Halloween is expected to be big this year, with the National Retail Federation predicting that consumers will spend $10.14 billion around the holiday. The pandemic slowed spending last year after the CDC recommended consumers avoid trick or treating but this year, the public health organization has said that outdoor trick or treating with people in your pod can go ahead.
To celebrate the return of Halloween, brands are already working to get consumers into the holiday mood.
Following up on a popular social post from last year around Home Depot’s popular Halloween skeletons posing with a beer, Budweiser has created a Budweiser’s Bud Can Halloween costume that people can dress their skeleton up in. This year, the AB InBev brand posted a photo of the two skeletons enjoying a beer together at a bar with the caption “You walk into the bar and these two are staring at you. What do you do?”
“Given the success of our social post around the skeleton last year, and Home Depot’s second iteration of the product this year, Budweiser saw another opportunity to jump in and put a fun and uniquely Bud spin on the skeleton again this year,” said Kristina Punwani, Head of Marketing at Budweiser USA. “Last year, our skeleton was outside to mirror social distancing guidelines, while this year’s skeletons are positioned enjoying a Bud at their local bar to reflect society today. We also offered fans of the brand a way to dress up their skeleton in a fun, beer-centric way since Home Depot’s own skeleton costumes sold out in minutes.”
Krispy Kreme is celebrating the spooky holiday with a temporary rebrand as “Krispy Skreme.” The QSR has created a new logo and look across its digital channels and in-store signage visible that will run throughout the month of October. Krispy Skreme is selling its Halloween menu featuring: The Abra Cat Dabra doughnut, Enchanted Cauldron doughnut, Bewitched Broomstick doughnut and Spooky Sprinkle doughnut.
On Saturdays through the rest of the month, consumers can purchase a $1 “Saturday Scary Sharies” dozen with the purchase of any dozen. Additionally, the brand is celebrating the holiday by giving away free donuts to anyone that comes to its shops in costume, regardless of purchase.
Heinz is celebrating Halloween by dressing up its classic ketchup in a limited-run Tomato Blood Ketchup packaging and promoting the bottles as a great Halloween costume accessory. The brand is selling the costumed ketchup on its ecommerce site HeinzHalloween.com. The site also includes costume kits, costumes and pandemic masks on the site. The goods will also be on sale at the Heinz Halloween Store in Los Angeles, a pop-up aimed at promoting its product as a source for fun costume ideas.
Candy makers are also getting the word out in hopes that consumers will stock up on their holiday favorites for trick or treaters and for themselves. Ferrero brand Butterfinger is currently running its Butterfinger Investigators (BFI) campaign to build buzz around the holiday.
“We know leading up to Halloween as well as after Halloween, parents and family members tend to sneak and eat Halloween candy, whether it is candy that is around the house or out of a trick-or-treaters’ bag and this promotion is about turning yourself in after you have stolen that treat,” Miguel Zorrilla, senior marketing director at Ferrero told Brand Innovators. “Turn yourself in is an output of the Butterfinger Investigators campaign.”
