Spooky season is coming to an end and that means it's time to take a look at the most impactful Halloween ads from 2023.
Halloween has been growing in recent years, and now sits as the second-biggest retail holiday. Only the holiday season is a bigger income generator. This means that Halloween ads are more important, and more exciting than ever before.
This year advertisers aren’t shying away from creative and ghoulish ads – showing off their own Halloween spirit. Most 2023 Halloween ads are specifically for seasonal drinks or shows. However, there are also some major players in the candy sector showing off, looking to get themselves inside every trick-or-treater’s collection.
The top 5 Halloween ads of 2023
These are the top five ads from this year’s spooktacular Halloween lineup.
Reese’s ‘Halloween: Reese’s Season’
This catchy song from Breakwater announces the start of Reese’s Season. Between the great tunes and festive dancing skeletons, this ad does a great job of grabbing attention and getting its audience in the spirit. It’s also an ideal length, running long enough for the song to get stuck in the audience’s head, but not so long that they lose interest. While the ad sticks to using Reese’s signature brand colors, that’s perfect – after all, orange is the quintessential color of All Hallows’ Eve.
Google’s #BestPhonesForever: Scary Story
This ad hilariously harkens back to campfire traditions of telling scary stories. And what’s scarier than an outdated cell phone? The ad then turns to the future – showing off Google’s latest feature launch and sending a spooky message to smartphones everywhere: “Keep up or become tomorrow’s campfire story”.
Peacock Halloween 2023
Halloween is the perfect time of year to watch horror, and Peacock is front and center showing off their new and classic horror movie collection. Most television networks and streaming sites show Halloween ads, celebrating the movies and shows of the season. What Peacock has done well is create a coherent and memorable montage. The spot showcases their eye-catching collection for horror fans without overly scaring viewers who may be less inclined, (and not scare them away from the rest of Peacock’s fall lineup).
Pop Goes the Reese’s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pymzyZgUv18
One of the spookiest toys known to the human race, the jack-in-the-box, is front and center in Reese’s second Halloween ad this season. Instead of catchy tunes, this ad relies on anticipation to grab its audience’s attention. Just like the other Reese’s ad on this list, this ad has a brilliant use of color and the stop-motion look of the jack-in-the-box is reminiscent of some of the most famous Halloween movies, making it an ideal visual for such a spooky ad.
Dunkin Halloween 2023
This ad takes a different approach from the others on the list. Rather than using visuals, themes, and music to catch the audience’s attention, it uses narrative. Using a classic narrator, this ad asks the question: “why do we do it?” before exploring the fun and exciting things people do to get ready for Halloween. This makes for an easy setup to show off their fall drink lineup – a lineup that can be as refreshing after a hard afternoon setting up decorations as it is cozy in the latter days of autumn.
Key Takeaways
Halloween is continuing to grow in popularity (and profitability), making effective advertising more important than ever. Marketers can take advantage of this opportunity by being on theme and showing their spooky side.
- On theme – every ad from this Halloween is colorful, spooky, and fun. The ads carry a whimsical theme that fits the holiday in color scheme, imagery, and audio.
- More fun than scary – while spooky is the name of the game, the only ad on this list with any potential to scare is Peacock’s ad celebrating its horror collection. Most Halloween ads aren’t scary or frightening, after all, not everyone likes being frightened. Whether the ads are targeting kids or adults, they put fun at the center rather than fear.
Read more on the advertising trends from this Halloween and Fall season.
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