SIX IDEAS FOR A "SCARY" ONLINE MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR HALLOWEEN

 

Halloween is an Anglo-Saxon tradition established in Spain. Like other dates, it is used to execute marketing campaigns or strategies. Depending on what the advertising agency offers, getting involved in a Halloween marketing campaign can be fun or not. The word Halloween is an acronym of the English expression "All Hallow's Eve", which literally means "All Hallow's Eve", which is why it is celebrated on October 31.

This festivity is a prelude to our traditionally religious feast in honor of the dead. On Halloween night the dead are other people, and they are the bad guys, the ones that seem to terrorize us, the ones that will be the protagonists of our worst nightmares...

In short, although Halloween is not a traditional Spanish holiday, we receive it with great enthusiasm. On this festivity, children usually go from “door to door” asking for candy and if they don't receive it, they make a joke of those who opened the door (although in Spanish, the expression 'Trick or Treat', does not mean 'Truco o Trato' as we want to sell, but rather 'Gamberrada o Regalo'). Of course, gifts always come in the form of candy.

Nowadays, many companies take advantage of this date to decorate their stores and launch promotions, and now those who work their business through the Internet also take advantage of Halloween to carry out marketing campaigns focused exclusively on this celebration that help them to relate to their audience, improve their engagement and increase sales.

The issue at hand, however, is another one: Marketing, and more specifically ‘Fear Marketing’ because humans are unconsciously attracted to extreme situations.

Below, we list the six best marketing ideas with the aim of helping online businesses develop the most creative Halloween campaigns with which to impress audiences:

1.- Trile game: escape the killer

First of all, we have the trile game that consists of being trapped in an elevator that already scares the user, but, in addition, you have to escape from a murderer, something that creates even more tension. In this terrifying proposal your users have to find the right way out of the elevator to avoid being killed and win the prize. Participants have to choose between three options to save their lives:

1) push the elevator buttons,

2) climb up the escape hatch

3) try to close the door.

Only one option is correct, so tension is high.

2.- Terror at the amusement park

In the case of terror in the amusement park what the company wants to achieve is to know the tastes of users through a personality test with which they can offer your users the amusement park that best suits each of them on Halloween. The test consists of a short questionnaire in which you can find out which amusement park they should not miss, during the spookiest night of the year, to have a real fright.

3.- Escape room: run away from the sharks

Nowadays, escape rooms have become a very well known and popular activity among the population. They consist of trying to escape from a room that you have entered with your group of friends and do it in less than a defined time. In order to achieve it you must solve a series of games that inside the room are prepared to be solved by you thanks to observation, ingenuity, team play... but never with force.

This activity is performed both in person and online. After the pandemic, online activities were performed more frequently, making them one of the most fun activities, as users must use all their ingenuity to get out of them. This is why it is one of the most creative campaigns in which participants have to escape from a cage, in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by sharks. To reach the end and thus achieve freedom, players must answer a series of questions of different types: instant answers, open questions or face puzzles. Although they could also be set in other places such as a haunted hospital or a cemetery with zombies.  

4.- Sudden death contest

At Halloween time it is very common to hold sudden death contests in which players are challenged to answer all the questions correctly in order to reach the final question. The moment one of the answers is wrong, the participant is disqualified, the game is demanding so players are encouraged to stop playing until they get all the questions right.

5.- The wheel of Halloween discounts

It is very common for businesses to carry out campaigns and promotions on Halloween, so many companies with online business offer discounts to celebrate this day. These companies take advantage of this date to make a marketing campaign with a wheel of fortune in which participants get discounts or gifts.

6.- Guess the horror movie

During Halloween night it has become a tradition to watch scary movies and play a game to guess what movie they are watching. Knowing this tradition many companies have carried it out in their businesses to get their audience to interact and try to guess the title of different horror movies, offering them, just a few clues. They can be: emojis, music, a scene, etc. Another option is to use emojis to represent each of the words in the title of the movie. With this initiative you get the participants to put all their creativity to work to guess the title and get to know your brand.

 

 

References (All last accessed 31 Oct 2022 - 12:00):

·         Carleth Morales (18 Oct 2022) “Halloween: Seis propuestas para hacer una “terrorífica” campaña de marketing online)

Recovery of https://prnoticias.com/2022/10/18/halloween-seis-propuestas-para-hacer-una-terrorifica-campana-de-marketing-online/

·         Elpublicista.es (25 oct 2022) “6 terroríficas ideas de marketing para anunciantes en Halloween”

Recovery of https://www.elpublicista.es/anunciantes/n-6-terrorificas-ideas-marketing-para-anunciantes-halloween

·         maldon.es (30 Oct 2022) “HALLOWEEN: UNA GRAN OPORTUNIDAD PARA EL MARKETING”

Recovery of https://maldon.es/blog/marketing-halloween/

·         La Factoria (30 Oct 2022) “Marketing para Halloween; una estrategia “de miedo”

Recovery of https://www.lafactoriacreativa.com/blog/marketing-online/marketing-para-halloween-una-estrategia-de-miedo/