What do you do to get excited for Halloween? Are you a costume maker, a movie binger, or a devilish partier? Whatever you do, these brands have been asking themselves the same question. To celebrate spooky season, see how these five brands got their audiences into the spirit of things in creatively scary ways. 

1) Burger King – “Scary Clown”

Burger King turns Ronald McDonald into a scary clown and promotes engagement by offering free burgers to customers that arrive dressed as a clown. 

McDonald’s Ronald is undeniably iconic, but no one can deny that a clown as your mascot has a bit of creep factor all its own. No one knew this better than Burger King who decided to make a little Halloween fun of their famous rival by encouraging guests to dress up in clown costumes for a free burger. 

It was a great idea, though I have to say, if I was the poor Burger King employee who had to see this out my window late at night, I might take my chances with Ronald.

2) TopShop – Stranger Things Collab

TopShop turns part of their store into an interactive walkthrough Stranger Things display 

Stranger Things turned the world on its head starting in 2016 and has been taking over and taking us on their journey around the shadowy realm of the “Upside Down” every few years since. In 2017, clothing store TopShop struck a deal to sell Stranger Things merch to eager fans for the Halloween season, but it didn’t stop there. To ensure a great fan experience, they turned part of their store into an interactive Upside Down for a few days coinciding with the release. Dedicated marketing draws dedicated fans, and TopShop did not disappoint

3) LG – “So Real It’s Scary”

LG covered the bottom of an elevator with high definition screens which showed a terrifyingly realistic display of the floor falling away into an endless elevator shaft.

What’s the greatest Halloween prank you’ve ever pulled? LG might have the best answer to this question. 

To show off the realistic look of their new monitors, LG decided to replace the bottom of an elevator with screens. What did they show? Not mountain views, peaceful forests or calming waters. They displayed the panels of the elevator bottom falling out from underneath the elevator’s riders into an endless elevator shaft. 

LG posted the best reactions in a YouTube compilation video so we can all see the results. While the people in the video might not have had the most relaxing elevator ride, at least they were wide awake for any meetings they might have been heading to.

4) Lush – Halloween Product Line

Lush launched a halloween-based product line of cute bath bombs showing monsters, eyeballs and other cute designs. 

What’s one thing to help us all unwind after a long cold fall day? Baths! And what’s one thing we can’t have Halloween without? Monsters! Definitely not a conventional combo, but Lush has never been one for convention. They launched a terrifyingly adorable line of spooky bath bombs to help us all get a little bit more emerald in the spirit of the season. With everything from little pink goblins to unblinking eyes, there was something for every boy and ghoul to enjoy here.

5) Netflix – Netflix and Chills

A funny play on “Netflix and Chill” in which Netflix grabs the attention of the viewer by the caption and then uses that attention to advertise the horror movies on their platform. 

Ah, Netflix and Chill — the most terrifying thing about that phrase was when I learned what it really meant after months of using it literally. But, it’s popularity didn’t escape Netflix’s notice and like many late night viewers, they decided to have a little fun. 

Netflix launched their “Netflix and Chills” collection of horror and thriller movies for all their more adventurous viewers to enjoy. Using the iconic phrase to grab attention, Netflix drew viewers into their vast library of spooks to spice up their movie night in more ways than one.

So, with these five terrifyingly great ideas in mind, do you have any inspiration for your next dastardly pitch? Tell us which ones you liked the best or any that we missed!
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By: Madison Aeling