I remember a year ago I went to my sister’s (small) Halloween party, full of young kids who were excited to finally see some of their friends again after not being able to due to COVID-19 restrictions. What is usually a very fun and exciting Halloween party was quite sad and depressing – no trick or treating, no bobbing for apples. I felt bad for my niece and nephew that they had to miss out a year on all of the fun Halloween traditions.
Halloween is Back
Well this year, Halloween is back, and it’s not just my nieces and nephews who are excited about it, but it seems like a lot of consumer companies are VERY excited about it as well.
- Sales of candy, costumes and décor are at an all-time high of $10.14 billion this October, an increase of over 20% from last year’s sales.
While the usual candy brands such as M&Ms and Twix are still bringing their A-games to the candy commercials this year, there are some new yet familiar faces entering the scene in 2021. One of those is Nike with a Halloween-themed special edition sneaker. The seasonal shoe is sporting black, cream and orange colors with a glow in the dark overlay, illuminated outsole and even has a spider pattern on the insole. I’m sure “shoeheads” are ready for this one as they have been highly anticipating the release, but I’m not so sure how it will sell with the rest of the consumers.
Butterfinger Gets it Right
My personal favorite Halloween campaign this year is the “Butterfingers Case Files” commercials. The campaign is a sweepstake that gives consumers the chance to win $25,000. All they must do is snap a selfie with a Butterfinger and submit it to the contest’s website. The commercials make it fun and engaging with people stealing the candy bars from other people, prompting them to call the “BFI” who will investigate the crime. Each video ends with the catch phrase “Steal a Butterfinger? Turn yourself in.” Suddenly I want to go out and buy a Butterfinger for the chance to deposit some extra money into my bank account.
To be honest, I haven’t noticed many seasonal commercials recently, but I have noticed this one; which, as I was just discussing with my hairdresser the other night, is the sign of a good advertisement. Speaking of what else I’ve noticed this past month is a lot of makeup companies advertising their products shown on monsters, vampires, witches, etc. I am not quite sure I would buy a lipstick color that was modeled by a female Dracula on Instagram, but I guess since dressing up is back this year, people will want to dress to the nines.
We will soak all these traditional and not quite so traditional advertisements for just a few more days until we start hearing about all of the Black Friday sales on repeat for the next few weeks.
This post was written by Media Coordinator, Abby Schrum.
