Spooktacular Halloween Marketing Ideas & Ads

How Much Do Customers Spend During Halloween?

Data shows that nearly half of consumers shop for Halloween before October to avoid the stress of shopping at the last minute. In 2023, people spent a record-high $12.2 billion on Halloween shopping, while the amount is predicted to decline to 11.6 billion in 2024. On average, consumers spend $103.63 annually, with many preferring to buy their products from discount stores. The same report mentions that $3.5 billion will be spent solely on candy and $500 million on greeting cards. How can you leverage this occasion and incorporate Halloween marketing ideas and ads in your strategic marketing plan? If you operate only in the digital world, you’re probably looking for smart lead generation techniques that will grab your customers’ attention and convince them to visit your website. Or you may launch creative Halloween ads to target buyers all over the internet, including social media, email newsletters, and Google search pages.

Keep reading if you want to discover how you can turn your Halloween advertising into a cash machine.

Captivating Halloween Marketing Ideas

1. Spooky Email Campaign

Did you know that for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an ROI of $36? This is the beauty of email newsletters and getting as many people as possible to join your email list. But how can you make your Halloween newsletter ideas stand out and ignite clicks? Let’s start with your visuals. The images, graphics, and videos you incorporate in your emails should align with the theme. You may even use GIFs and fun animations to spark interest. Also, your subject line should be specific and catchy, not generic and full of unnecessary emojis. Try to use words like “spooky,” “haunted,” “trick or treat,” and other Halloween-related words and puns.

For example, you may choose a gloomy color scheme with spiders hanging from top to bottom and spiderwebs at the corners. But you don’t need to go above and beyond and fill your emails extensively with design elements, as they may distract from your main focus, your CTA.

2. Decorate Your Website

Many physical stores choose to add Halloween decorations to attract customers. Similarly, you should do landing page optimization and add spooky design elements. For instance, you can add some Halloween-themed emojis or make the mouse cursor look like a ghost roaming around. Ensure your Halloween marketing ideas and graphics are optimized for various devices. If you have special discounts, promos, or flash sales, you may create a dedicated landing page to generate more leads. Then, you should add a banner with clear holiday design elements and a similarly themed CTA button. Additionally, your messaging must create urgency, so a countdown timer may be the perfect addition to achieve this. Last but not least, you can incorporate Halloween-themed popup banner ads to promote your special discounts.

3. Inspired Social Media Posts

There is nothing more engaging than Halloween social media marketing ideas and ads. For starters, you can create inspired posts showing your products in the spirit of Halloween, like Heinz’s special bottle calling their ketchup “tomato blood” in 2021. If you don’t have the resources to invest in such initiatives, you can encourage people to share their content with you, such as Halloween memories and costumes. You can take things up a notch by creating social media Halloween interactive posts with games, puzzles, and quizzes to increase audience engagement. For instance, you can create quizzes about famous Halloween movies, challenge your followers to get as many answers correct as possible, and give a shout-out to the top performers.

4. Sponsor A Halloween Event

Sponsoring events is a wonderful Halloween business idea to build brand awareness and generate new leads. Check your community to learn about special events like Halloween fundraisers, costume contests, pumpkin carving contests, and runs. Don’t just pick your event blindly, though. Identify whether these happenings align with your brand and target audience. Once you find an event that suits you, contact the organizers and choose a sponsorship level that fits your budget. Then, you should advertise your involvement through various methods, including press releases to relevant publications. If possible, have a representative of your brand present at the location so people can engage with them in case they want to learn more about your business, or set up a merchandise stand.

5. Flash Sales And Discounts

If you are in the retail business and want to capitalize on Halloween, flash sales, limited-time discounts, and promo codes might be exactly what you need. Make sure to inform your audience in time to check your website and leverage your special offers. You may run Halloween spooky ads and promotional campaigns to increase engagement and attract more customers. Even if you are in the SaaS B2B world, you can incorporate this Halloween marketing idea into your plan, such as by offering a free demo for those who sign up for your newsletter. Whatever you do, your marketing approach should sound urgent and create FOMO. People should understand that your offer is an exclusive discount available only for a limited amount, so they should hurry and make a move.

6. Giveaways

Many companies run giveaways as a Halloween team-building activity, which you can also do to drive social media engagement. Depending on your industry, you may offer free products, exclusive discounts, and gift cards. Ask your audience to tag their friends and family so you can get even more participants. This way, you get more followers without having to spend any money on ads. In addition, you can ask them to join your email list as part of the participation rules. Everyone loves free stuff or exclusive gifts—they make people feel unique and valued, creating a sense of community and boosting retention. If you want to promote your giveaway, create a Halloween social media commercial to increase visibility while generating new followers.

7. Halloween-Themed Blog Posts

Content marketing is at the epicenter of any B2B marketing strategy. Your blog doesn’t have to be super formal with topics strictly related to your niche. A creative Halloween marketing idea is to craft and publish articles about topics suited for that period. For example, you can write about Halloween costume ideas for businesses that arrange office parties and whose employees are encouraged to attend dressed in costumes. You can also address the remote team and write about things they can do for Halloween despite the distance. Just ensure that your Halloween-related articles align with your brand image and target audience. Once your content is ready, you may promote it on social media and other trustworthy platforms by republishing your articles.

8. Create Engaging Videos

Halloween marketing ideas don’t stop here. Videos tend to be very popular on social media platforms and, of course, YouTube. You don’t need a massive budget to create a Halloween ad campaign and boost sales enablement. If you have a graphic designer on your team, you can ask them to combine engaging visuals with Halloween-themed design elements and pop culture references to create a highly captivating video. Add spooky music, and your recipe is finished. Then, promote it on all your social media platforms, including YouTube and any other video-sharing channels you may use.

9. Spark UGC Competitions

Like giveaways, competitions tend to get more attention than static image posts. If you are in the B2C sector, you can encourage your audience to post their picture featuring your holiday-themed product. Ask them to be as creative as possible and offer a prize to the winner. You may come up with a hashtag for everyone to use when they upload their images so you can follow the participants. Starbucks is a great example, as they asked their followers to post pictures of their Zombie Frappuccino while using that same hashtag. The result? The hashtag was used over 30,000 times! You can follow the same Halloween marketing idea to boost engagement and accelerate business growth.

10. Out-Of-The-Box Activities

When you have a physical store, it’s a little easier to attract clients by installing a Halloween-themed photo booth, turning a small part of your store into a haunted house, or hosting a trick-or-treat event in collaboration with other stores. However, when you operate in the digital world, intimacy is limited, and you need to come up with more creative Halloween marketing ideas. For starters, you can invite your social media followers to carve their pumpkins or follow a specific cooking recipe and post their results. You don’t have to crown a winner or offer rewards; your goal is to drive engagement. On top of that, you can host costume competitions or an after-hours event for you and your customers to have fun.

9 Terrifyingly Good Halloween Marketing Ideas That Turned Into Ad Campaigns

1. Geico – Good Choices

When it comes to Halloween marketing ideas and ads, Geico, an insurance company, brings one of the most memorable and commendable examples. For Halloween, the company decided to create a satirical ad inspired by a common horror movie trope: people’s bad decisions. In the ad, the four stars are being chased by a killer, and instead of getting in the car and leaving, they decide to hide in the least safe spot available. This way, the company not only communicated its on-brand messaging but also entertained audiences with its witty and highly relatable ad.

2. Ford – Spooky Car Wash Prank

Ford’s Halloween ad was genius. The company decided to play pranks on potential buyers going on test drives. But first, they scheduled visits to a car wash, which is where their masterful pranks took place. Once the clients went into the car wash, the lighting suddenly became dark and eerie. Various monsters and other creatures jumped on the car and knocked on the windows. There were hidden cameras in the car and car wash to get the buyers’ reactions. Of course, once the washes were over, they realized that the monsters were people dressed in very realistic Halloween costumes. If you’re wondering how the company justified using cameras inside the vehicles, they simply asked people if they were okay with filming their test drives.

3. IKEA – The Shining

IKEA doesn’t really need to increase brand awareness on social media or in the physical world. People all over the globe already know who the company is. Taking inspiration from the movie The Shining, they created a Halloween commercial with spooky elements. The ad starts with a little boy riding his toy bike inside the aisles of an IKEA store. At one point, the boy encounters two people who look like the twins from the famous movie. But then it is revealed that it’s his imagination, and these two people are his parents calling him to join them. This Halloween campaign has been successful in communicating the holiday spirit and maintaining the family atmosphere the company is known to encompass.

4. Burger King – Nightmare Burger

To promote the release of their Halloween burger, called “Nightmare King,” the fast food company created a smart ad where they hosted a clinical trial. Their goal was to test 100 people and see whether they had nightmares after eating their signature burger. The creepy atmosphere and music made you feel like people were taken into a scary hospital. Each participant was given an entire burger to eat and then was wired up and taken to a bed. Scientists monitored everyone while they were sleeping to notice any unusual patterns. In the morning, subjects would detail how they felt and what types of dreams they had during the night. The ad worked because it was relevant to Halloween and created a very realistic sense of spookiness.

5. Airbnb – Halloween Night In Paris Catacombs

Airbnb is known for its witty Halloween marketing ideas, one of the most famous being its contest calling for people to sleep inside the Parisian catacombs for one night. They didn’t even need to come up with a Halloween campaign ad to boost brand awareness and increase sales. They just promoted this unique opportunity through email and on their website. People could join the contest to win a night in the largest grave, where they would share the night with roughly 6 million remains. But this is not the only time Airbnb surprised their audience on Halloween. In 2016, the company started another contest, this time for a chance to sleep in Castle Bran, Dracula’s castle. The winners were flown to Romania, taken to the castle in a horse carriage, and allowed to sleep in plush coffins.

6. LG – So Real, It’s Scary

How can a tech company promote its IPS monitors creatively and boost sales? You can take LG’s example. Similarly to Ford, the company ran a prank. They replaced an elevator floor with a special monitor and added a secret camera inside the button panel. Every time people would get in the elevator, the lights would flicker and the monitors would make it look like the elevator floor was disintegrating and people were floating, causing them to get nervous. However, once they took a better look at the floor, they realized it was all a prank.

7. M&M’s – Stayin’ In

M&M’s is known for its lighthearted and creative Halloween ads. In one ad, two candy characters dressed in spooky costumes appear excited about the holiday until they realize it’s them that trick-or-treaters eat on that special day. So, instead of going out, they decide to stay in and protect themselves. A simple yet effective Halloween marketing idea.

8. Koala – Easter Eggs

Koala is a mattress company that decided to do something a little different. Instead of scary ads and creepy commercials, they focused their social media strategy on promoting the “Easter eggs” hidden on their website. They cleverly inserted Halloween Easter eggs on various images, like a pumpkin on a nightstand or a skeleton peeking through a window. They invited their audience to find all of them and write how many they spotted in a comment. The first person to get it right would get a gift from the company. This tactic drove their engagement, as the free offer was the incentive most people on social media needed to participate in the competition.

9. FitVine – Email Marketing

We have already talked about the benefits of email marketing during the Halloween season, and FitVine is a wonderful example to prove our point. The company releases healthier alcoholic beverages, specializing in low-sugar wines. Their Halloween marketing idea was to create an email campaign with heavy Halloween design elements like skeletons, ghosts, candy corn, and many more. While their graphics screamed Halloween, their messaging focused on their products’ health benefits. Their promo wasn’t too salesy and instead circled around their catchy ad slogan: “Really good wine, without the scary stuff.” This immersive email experience featured their regular messaging dressed in a Halloween theme.

Key Takeaway

Halloween promotions and marketing campaigns are wonderful ways to generate new leads and boost your fall sales. From launching a themed email drip campaign and decorating your website to sponsoring Halloween events, there are many ways you can increase brand awareness. You can host social media giveaways and contests and encourage your followers to share their UGC content. If, on the other hand, you’re looking for content marketing ideas, you should prepare special blog posts and videos you can repurpose on various channels.

Crafting one-of-a-kind Halloween ads can be a challenge, but that’s where imagination and creativity come in. If you’re having trouble coming up with original ideas, let the examples above inspire you, but always implement them with your own unique spin to bring something fresh and original to your audience.