Scaring Up HalLoween Marketing Ideas - Column

Brandweek, Oct 12, 1998 by John Hopper

John Hopper is senior partner at Einson Freeman Partners, Paramus, NJ. He can be reached at 201226 0300.

No one ever complains that Halloween has become commercialized to the point where its true meaning risks becoming obscured. In fact, if there ever was a holiday that is just howling to become over-commercialized, it's Halloween.

Halloween is hot, of course, as any savvy marketing person will tell you. With $2.5 billion in sales, Halloween has become more than just a candy event (candy actually represents just one-third of Halloween's total sales). It's grown to become retail's second-highest income-generating season after Christmas. It is the third largest party occasion, after New Year's and The Super Bowl. Some $500 million are spent on costumes alone.

But other than the predictable run of promotion and advertising efforts behind the usual product category suspects (candy, beer, snacks, etc.), there's been a relative lack of effort to make Halloween more of a marketing monster. So here are some marketing tricks and treats to get you thinking about the possibilities:

Sports marketing. Get the crowds booing for their home teams! Stadium sponsors could go wild with orange beer, chicken "bat" wings, and more. Imagine refs in black and white skeleton shirts and giveaways of mascot masks to the kids. Hey, how about a Bill Gates mask day at Yankee Stadium, brought to you by Microsoft? Tennis players in Pete Sampras masks could chill-and-thrill Halloween revelers by flinging their rackets directly into the faces of random spectators. The Smashing Pumpkins or Marilyn Manson could entertain during halftime!

Cause marketing. Unicef has, of course, become synonymous with Halloween with its long-standing penny-drive. More recently, Coors has raised funds for St. Jude's Children's Hospital when consumers purchase a pumpkin pin-up card. There's plenty of room left, though, for other good causes. Why not have the Boys Scouts take a cue from Girl Scout cookies and sell Halloween candy door-to-door for charity? The WCW draws thousands of viewers into its annual "Halloween Havoc" wrestling match; they should have viewers call into a 900 number during the match and pledge a charity-focused dollar for every second Macho Man Savage can stay in the ring!

Solutions marketing. Pillsbury already floods the shelves with bat and pumpkin cookie rolls. Oreo fillings turn "halloween orange." We've got candy displays up the wazoo. But, as usual, the Halloween theme is randomly scattered throughout the store. Halloween is a tremendous opportunity for retailers and brand marketers to co-market Halloween destination categories at retail. They can pull together Halloween solutions centers that fully integrate a spectrum of Halloween needs--candy, cookies, baking, decorations, greeting cards/party invitations, costumes, videos, music, etc.

No need to stop with the obvious. A truly innovative solution center would include things like safety gear for Halloween night, such as creepy, scary--but functional--reflective strips, costume accessories and flashlights. Given that Halloween ushers in the cough and cold season, it is a great opportunity for a "scare off the flu" display. While we're thinking HBC, imagine a couple of pumpkin-faced Alka Seltzer tablets fizzing away after a long night of trick or treating! Or a discount on Rogaine to help make "more" of your hair stand on end when those scary goblins come ringing at your door!

Gift marketing. Some retailers have already discovered that items emulating traditional Christmas "trimmings" have taken off for Halloween too. They're not just selling plug-in Jack 0 Lanterns (like the flame-resistant Christmas trees), but also Halloween wreaths for your front door and lights to decorate the homestead inside and out. Why stop there with the Christmas-like spirit? Why not promote Halloween as an alternative gift-giving season? Hey, the holiday catalogs are on our doorsteps by late September anyway. Plenty of consumers would welcome the opportunity to take care of some of their gift-giving obligations a little early, maybe with gag gifts for those special friends who enjoy a good "trick."

That's not to say that Santa won't retain his status as the Babe Ruth of sales and marketing seasons. But Halloween has a big chance to step up to the plate as the Mark McGwire sultan of swing. If marketers jump on this rapidly escalating trend with the right amount of energy and innovation, they will soon see sales skyrocketing like a witch on a broom and brands shining as brightly as the pumpkin on your doorstep on Halloween night.