Brands + Halloween-Themed Content

With summer coming to an end, kids are now back in school, Disneyland transforms back into Halloween Town and Holiday-related content begins filling our social feeds. I started looking back at some of the more groundbreaking Halloween-themed Ads of recent memory and how the right Holiday content can lead to successful business results.

Does anyone remember the Mars Bite-Sized Horror advertisements that took over a few years ago? Mars and Fox Networks teamed up with up-and-coming horror directors to make disturbing short films for Halloween. Adweek stated that the "‘Bite Size Horror’ Films, From Mars Candy Brands, Are the Best Halloween Ads in Years."

Several of those filmmakers are colleagues who, like myself, also directed horror-related content for "The Marvel of Monsters", Crypt TV, an entertainment company focused on developing premium horror themed digital content, founded by Jack Davis and Eli Roth in 2015 and backed by Jason Blum and Blumhouse Productions. Unless you've been living under a rock, you would know "HORROR" IS IN FASHION.

A few other standout campaigns emerged the same year. Burger King trolled McDonald’s with their #ScaryClownNight where BK offered a free Whopper to the first 500 people to visit select Burger King stores in a clown costume. It was promoted with a chilling YouTube video. Snapchat brought a dancing Hot Dog meme to life with $80 Halloween costume and M&M's told an interactive ghost story across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Last Halloween, my friend and frequent horror collaborator Jason Zada (Elf Yourself, Take This Lollipop, The Forest) created the first ever live-streamed paranormal thriller for Xfinity. Hell, a simple twitter tale done right can go viral and lead to a Hollywood Film Deal!

Fast forward to today, I find myself using my filmmaking, director, and creative director brain to come up with compelling concepts for Global consumer brands specific to the holidays. So of course I want to try and relish the opportunity and leverage my love for all things scary with unique Halloween brand advertising ideas. Many companies have already created and came up with campaigns for the major Holidays, but I can't help but think they will probably miss a great opportunity for October 31st.

You don't have to be one of the world's biggest candy companies to take advantage of Halloween marketing, you just have to be clever. I'm currently in the midst of creating digital marketing content for the upcoming Gravitas Ventures release of my first horror feature film "After She Wakes" and keep thinking that some of these same storytelling techniques and ideas can work as engaging Halloween content for any type of b2b or b2c brand. Mars was very successful several years ago with compelling horror-styled short films, so why not do the same for your technology, beauty, apparel, spirit or automotive brand?

Let me know your thoughts on Holiday-related content, and if you're a brand or agency looking for some ideas on how to enhance your presence during Halloween, drop me a line. It's not too late to scare up a great idea or two. #HorrorisinFashion