Halloween isn't just a holiday for kids looking for candy 🍬 It's also become a essential period for brands, who compete in creativity to offer campaigns that are as scary as they are memorable. The best Halloween ads stand out for their ability to mix horror, humor and innovation, while remaining true to the spirit of their brand. The We Are COM team has prepared a top 10…deliciously creepy 👻
🏠 Monoprix – Halloween at home (2020)
In the midst of a pandemic, Monoprix reinvented Halloween by offering to celebrate the holiday at home. The campaign invited families to transform their daily lives into fun horror scenes, such as a tomato “murder” in the fridge or a Frankenstein-style kitchen. With tutorials and visuals inspired by horror comics, the brand encouraged creativity while making the holiday accessible and friendly despite health restrictions.
🤖 Burger King – IA-loween (2023)
In 2023, Burger King hit the jackpot with “AI-lloween,” a campaign that used artificial intelligence to generate bizarre and absurd Halloween posters. With AI increasingly instilling fear, this initiative cleverly plays on modern fear while staying true to the brand’s quirky humor 🥴
🎙️ Wendy's – True Crime Podcast “Bad Burgers” (2023)
For Halloween 2023, Wendy's played on the True Crime trend by launching a parody podcast called "Bad Burgers". This podcast tells "investigations" on poorly prepared burgers, with a dramatic and absurd tone, diverting the codes of crime stories. Wendy's thus parodies a popular genre, while subtly reminding us that its burgers are always prepared to perfection. A fun campaign that combines dark humor and captivating storytelling 🕵🏽♀️
😱 Airbnb – Stay in the house of Scream (2023)
For Halloween 2023, Airbnb offered a unique experience: spending the night in the real house from the cult film Scream. Horror movie fans could book this spooky stay, with authentic settings and references to the film, recreating the terrifying atmosphere of Woodsboro. A perfect activation for thrill seekers, mixing total immersion and cinematic storytelling 🎬
👯♀️ IKEA – When the king of furniture parodies “The Shining” (2014)
For Halloween, IKEA revisited the famous scene from the movie The Shining where a child rides a tricycle through creepy corridors. In this immersive campaign, the bravest customers were invited to walk through the aisles of the store in a scary atmosphere, recreating the atmosphere of the movie. This original activation played on fear while highlighting the customer experience in an innovative way.
🧟♂️ Renault – La Easy “Zombie” Life (2019)
Renault has skillfully played on Halloween codes to promote its car model by showing that even zombies benefit from the simplicity of driving. This campaign, both humorous and scary, has left its mark with a dose of second degree while remaining very… “drive to action” 🚗
🍿Netflix – “Netflix and Chills” (2019-2024)
Netflix has not deviated from its habit of surfing on trends. Every year, the platform launches its special Halloween collection with a new slogan: " Netflix and Chills". Users can choose their horror movies based on their scare level thanks to a "scare-o-meter". An engaging concept that is sure to appeal 😈
🧛🏻 Coca-Cola – Dracula (1992)
Released in 1992 (!), this cult ad is still talked about. Coca-Cola transformed Dracula, the horror icon, into a human character after he drank a can of soda. The slogan "There's nothing like the real thing" made perfect sense in this clever commercial!
🐠 »Stop Plastic Horror » – Boomerang (2023)
In 2023, the Bommerang Communication agency hit hard with its “Stop Plastic Horror” campaign for Halloween. Diverting the codes of horror films, the organization created frightening visuals where marine creatures are monstrously deformed by plastic. The message is clear: the real nightmare is not fictional, but very real, and it concerns plastic pollution in our oceans. A powerful way to use fear to raise awareness of an urgent environmental cause.
Bonus: 🖊️ Pilot and the “nightmare” of spelling mistakes
In 2024, the pen brand Pilot launched an original Halloween campaign by playing on a very French "nightmare": spelling mistakes. Through creative visuals, Pilot transformed grammatical errors into real monsters, with a humorous but hard-hitting message! A perfect score?
Halloween is the perfect time for brands to push the boundaries of their creativity, while capturing consumers' attention through immersive and sometimes scary experiences. These campaigns show how humor and horror can go well together in COM' 🤓 Whether through digital activations or memorable TV spots, brand creativity continues to surprise us every year.
So what will be the next big campaign? 🎃
