Top 10 Ideas for Halloween Promotions to Boost Sales and Increase Brand Awareness 2024

Originating from the Celtic tradition of ‘Samhain’ Halloween is one of the biggest holidays. Getting dressed up, trick-or-treating, and carving pumpkins are all fun elements. We associate Halloween with fun, laughter and excitement. Hence, it’s a great idea to create some Halloween promotions to really benefit from the buzz.

Furthermore, Halloween is great for connecting with younger consumers especially Generation Z.  As a result, generating Halloween-specific ads will allow you to connect with consumers as they will specifically associate you with this fun occasion. Furthermore, targeted ads will help drive sales and increase brand awareness.

Here are our Top Ten Ideas for Spooky Halloween Promotions!

1.Augumented Reality Sweet Hunts. – For Halloween why not use AR to make virtual candy/sweet hunts to promote your brand in a fresh way? Hershey’s Chocolate did something similar in 2020 and it proved to be a huge success generating 30 x ROI. Additionally, 74% of buyers were new customers! Hershey’s Treat Quest.

Image Credit- Hershey

2. Petrifying On-Pack-Promotions- On-Pack-Promotions are great for driving short and medium-term sales. Adding some spooky Halloween colours and elements to your packaging is sure to make your products stand out on shelves. For example, Fanta have done this in the past to make their product pop! Fanta Halloween Campaign.

Image Credit- UNIT 9

3. Face Filters- People love to snap pictures of their amazing costumes and scary makeup. Therefore, filters are a great way to advertise your brand as consumers will associate it with one of the best parts of the celebration- dressing up. These can be especially beneficial to make-up brands looking to push their products. NYX Cosmetics have created creepy filters to demonstrate the looks their products can achieve.

4. Other Filters- Likewise, brands can also create filters that don’t involve faces but perhaps a fun background or even list a recipe idea. An alcohol brand adding a cocktail recipe would be a great way to promote their product for Halloween parties!

5. Mini-Games– Lots of brands have created fun Halloween-inspired games. This way users become invested in the game and as a result the brand. Chupa Chup created a game in which players retrieved candy to save Halloween. Meet the Creeps Game.

Image Credit- Chupa Chups.

6. Time-Specific Promotions- Additionally, creating a discount code or offer that is only valid for Halloween pushes people to make a purchase. Just Eat offered money off vouchers for anyone who ordered on Halloween night. As a result, the consumer purchases to retrieve the discount and comes back to utilise their reward.

Image Credit- Just Eat

7. Halloween Themed QR Codes- There are loads of ways brands can use QR codes around Halloween. Fanta added a QR code to their bottles allowing consumers to access a game. Within this game, was the opportunity to win prizes. QR codes are versatile and an easy way to create excitement for your brand around Halloween. Fanta Haunted Mansion

Image Credit- UNIT 9

8. Online Challenges- A fantastic idea for a Halloween promotion is to create a scarily fun Halloween challenge. For example,  Little Caeser’s Pizza challenged fans to use their spooky Instagram filter and say the word ‘Pizza’ three times. In return, they gave every brave user a free soft drink.

9. AR Portals- Another way to capture the power of AR is to create an AR experience that leans into Halloween. AR portals allow users to discover an immersive experience through their phone camera. Mountain Dew created the Halloween emporium. Users entered at their own risk to unlock prizes and discover Mountain Dew recipes. Check it out here ! https://youtu.be/eHCcTZCl7fI

Image credit- Mtn Dew

10. Collaborations- Many brands come together to create a festive promotion. For example, Mr Kipling made The Witches by Roald Dahl- inspired packaging. Thus people associate the cakes with Halloween and add them to their baskets. This appealed to parents who fondly remembered these books and also children due to the fun packaging and Halloween theme. Similarly the book also got a boost. As a result, both consumer and audience were included in the promotion. Furthermore, prizes were offered for those who entered the unique code found on the packaging. Mr Kipling X Roald Dahl.

Photo Credit- Good Housekeeping

Those are our Top Ten Ideas for Halloween Promotions this year! The most important thing is to incorporate the excitement and fun of Halloween into your promotions. At Return2Sender, we specialise in AR experiences, On-Pack-Promotions and other tech-led campaigns. So please get in touch with us if you would like to create an exciting Halloween promotion for your brand.