Halloween is probably the holiday period most underrated by digital marketers. With Black Friday following hot on its heels and Christmas campaigns already in development, it’s easy to gloss over this quintessentially autumnal event.
However, Halloween is actually one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the U.S., and the highest spending levels on this holiday come from 25-44 year olds.
This holiday has ancient roots, but shows no signs of declining in popularity. In fact, more and more brands are waking up to the potential that Halloween offers to engage with younger audiences in new and adventurous ways.
As always, social media influencers are the key ingredient in these innovative campaigns. So, if your Halloween cauldron is bubbling away and you’re looking for a dash of inspiration to complete your autumn spell, this article is for you.
Check out some of the latest and greatest Halloween campaigns we’ve collected below.
How have influencers become more involved in Halloween marketing campaigns
Halloween is an excellent opportunity for marketers to get creative – it’s silly, it’s spooky, and it’s a time for people to get out of their everyday comfort zone. That makes it absolutely ideal for limited edition product launches, special events, prize giveaways and interesting collaborations.
The changing face of Halloween
Over the past five years or so, this spooky holiday has undergone a transformation. The last vestiges of Halloween’s reputation as a children-only event have well and truly faded, making it an all-inclusive event involving so much more than just trick-or-treating.
As Millennials carry their passion for the season into adulthood, TikTok and Instagram have powered numerous adult trends for having fun on Halloween – whether it’s going to see the newest horror film release, costume parties, special events at entertainment venues, pumpkin picking or decorating the house.
Influencers have come to take centre stage in Halloween marketing campaigns over the last couple of years. As role models for your target audiences, they allow brands to demonstrate their products and experiences in a way that brings authenticity and real user experience to the forefront. Not only that, but the creative flair, humor and emotional range of influencers make them the perfect candidates for scary Halloween fun.
Top Halloween Influencer Marketing Campaigns
Temu
Temu has a huge range of Halloween products on offer, from kid’s costumes to pumpkin-shaped mugs and seasonal doormats – to name just a few.
They collaborated with an equally broad range of influencers, providing them all with hauls of this season’s hottest items. Temu selected influencers from across relevant verticals, including interiors, cleaning and home management personalities like @housetohomeatlast (476K followers) and @thehexagonalhouse (257K followers), children’s toys (@matilda_sparkles.toys, 10.6K followers) and lifestyle/home @zara.joiner (263K followers).
You’ll also notice that these influencers range from the micro-level, with small but dedicated followings, right up to major players tipping half a million followers. They speak to different audiences, whether that’s by age range, home owners, or parents to children.
By providing each influencer with Temu’s seasonal products, audiences are able to see products delivering those seasonal feelings in real, relatable circumstances. With the influencers posting codes of featured items in their caption, as well as link to exclusive £100 vouchers for new app users, it’s an incredibly powerful way to build both product sales and app subscribers, supporting stronger sales even after the holiday has ended.
Disney Plus
Nothing says Halloween more than supernatural, horror and other spooky films or TV shows. Disney Plus wanted to capitalize on that seasonal demand for particular programmes – they turned to influencers to help demonstrate the incredible range of content available through their platform.
Unlike physical products, you can’t do ‘unboxing’ or ‘haul’ type content when it comes to advertising streaming services. To get around this, influencers worked with Disney Plus to develop alternative approaches for their Halloween campaign.
Online personality @itssarahgordon (120K followers) dropped a hilarious sketch about turning the tables on a haunted house with a Gen Z attitude. Meanwhile, neurodiversity influencer @elliemidds (110K followers) and home/DIY/fashion content creator @jaglever (109K followers) got creative with their wardrobes and matched outfits with characters from shows on the platform – Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Halloweentown.
Together, these made a really fun way to get viewers into the spirit of the season while sidestepping any typical sales or advert talk. Audiences are more attuned to that kind of pitch than ever, and won’t hesitate to skip past ‘obvious’ ads. Now, when someone wants to get a fun Halloween watch on the TV, their mind will go to Disney Plus first.
Adobe
Adobe isn’t the first brand that springs to mind when we picture Halloween, but it’s campaign promoting Adobe Express, its AI image editing tool, is a great example of how niche brands can tap into seasonal moments.
Adobe partnered with TikTok creators from photography and fashion verticals including @chris_priestley_ (1.2M followers), @maebentleyx (20K followers), and @kierablog (14K followers). By partnering with a hero creator and micro creators, Adobe were able to cast a wider net, whilst creating more relevant content – it’s worth noting that they partnered with real students, where they added the incentive of a 6 month free trial for those who signed up via their student email.
In the content we see fashion creators using the tool to create a Halloween moodboard, filled with different outfit styles. Each creator highlighted how Adobe Express worked, playing around with the editing tools, and showing the seamlessness of dragging images from the web into the app to polish. The hero creator delved into the generative AI tools within Adobe Express, taking one of his photographs to a spookier level thanks to the app’s range of editing capabilities.
Sky Mobile
Sky Mobile wanted to advertise their 99% network coverage across the UK and a new Piggybank feature, which lets you roll over your unused data into the next month. While this might not immediately strike you as relevant to Halloween, working with talented influencers makes it easy to find natural, entertaining crossover points between service products like these and the spooky season.
As charismatic as ever, fashion label owner and internet personality @helenanderz (347K followers) did just that – making spoofs of classic horror movie tropes that are oh-so-easy to solve when you have mobile signal and data to spare. From slasher films to a Blair Witch Project knockoff, this creative approach is a surefire win with any horror movie fans among your audience.
“Comedy, Style, Travel & Life” influencer @ellenextdoor (163K followers) showed how Sky Mobile saves the day when confronted with a last-minute mission to find a Halloween costume. From a quick search of shops, facetiming mum for advice on the way, and blasting music to keep you motivated, Ellen demonstrated how the network helps you really nail your seasonal vibe – even if your boyfriend can’t keep up!
Sky’s choice of influencers was focused – by speaking to a younger, female audience through relevant influencer avatars, the brand could track their growth among strategically important demographics.
Tequila Rose
Tequila Rose wanted to be the Halloween drink of choice for women this season, so they partnered with a range of charismatic influencers to show all the potential events and occasions that the beverage could be a part of.
@demijones1 (1.2M followers) gave her loyal audience snapshots of her super-pink Tequila Rose Halloween Brunch, with high production quality paparazzi-style photos really setting it off in style. @meganowelsh (119K followers) takes a similar approach, bringing her audiences with her on an all-day brunch event sponsored by the brand.
Mind-bending makeup artist @beautybybelinda (258K followers) brought the beverage to life, creating a stunning half-skeleton, half Tequila Rose makeup look that creates an incredible visible representation of the drinking experience. By identifying this influencer as someone who’s likely to draw extra traffic around Halloween as people search for unusual makeup tutorials, the brand have smartly placed themselves in the organic browsing pathways of their target audiences.
Bailey’s
Another liqueur brand looking to claim a slice of the Halloween surge in business that results from parties, events and seasonal entertainments is Bailey’s.
They developed a pair of Bailey’s based martini cocktails – mint and orange – especially for the spooky season, teaming up with a variety of fun-loving influencers to show off just how easy they are to make.
By taking an influencer ‘how to’ approach to this campaign, Bailey’s ensured that the concept of making these special cocktails didn’t remain abstract. Each influencer video features a step by step journey of making the drink, with ingredients lists in the captions.
Combined with matching outfits or Halloween attire, influencers brought viewers into their kitchens and homes, and replicated the party atmosphere where these drinks will inevitably made.
Working with influencers such as drag queens @lawrencechaney (447K followers) and @itsvanitymilan (102K followers), as well as dancer and choreographer @austyn_farrell (118K followers), Bailey’s dialed in their target audience demographics to younger audiences who were lovers of style and creativity. The result was a glitzy campaign that landed with the perfect prospects for this product.
Samsung
Halloween got even spookier with Samsung’s Galaxy S24 FE campaign, highlighting the device’s AI features.
Samsung teamed up with creators on Instagram, @pop_sausage (84K followers) and @raisingislaelyse_ (31K followers). Both creators uploaded Reels content showcasing the Galaxy AI photo-editing options built into the device, creating spooky effects to elevate Halloween pics, and everyday moments.
By partnering with micro creators, Samsung created a campaign that felt relevant to everyday users. We got to see the full capabilities of Samsung’s product, through the lens of real people. Pop the sausage dog seamlessly turned into Pop the sausage witch thanks to the scope of the AI editing tools, where @raisingislaelyse_ put together the ultimate Halloween photo album with her daughter.
The campaign combined relatable, authentic content with the power of AI features, showcasing real-life applications of Samsung’s Galaxy S24 FE. By partnering with micro-influencers, Samsung reached engaged, everyday audiences, demonstrating the device’s capabilities through personalized, fun Halloween-themed content that resonated with a wide range of users.
McDonald’s
Ahead of Halloween, McDonald’s spookified one of its staple menu items, turning the Happy Meal upside down for some seasonal family fun.
McDonald’s partnered with family creators on Instagram and TikTok including @adventureswithaunty_ (14K followers) and @theldnfamily (1.5M followers), sending each creator to their local McDonald’s to experience the food chain’s Halloween experience.
In the content we see the creators enjoying the festivities at their local McDonald’s, showing off their best Thriller dance moves in spooky outfits, face painting, and unboxing Happy Meals to find Halloween-themed goodies.
Teaming up with a micro creator brought a personal, relevant touch, showcasing how families could enjoy the Halloween experience at McDonald’s, while the hero creator amplified reach with high engagement and visibility. Both creators provided relatable, fun content that resonated with diverse audiences, highlighting the seasonal offerings and generating excitement around the brand’s Halloween twist on the classic Happy Meal. The blend of family-oriented content and festive fun made the campaign feel inclusive and engaging for all ages.
NYX Cosmetics
NYX never misses when it comes to Halloween. Each year the brand sets out to create the spookiest looks, elevating its customers’ fancy dress outfits year after year.
This year, NYX Cosmetics challenged TikTok makeup artists to “clown around” with their products, and create the scariest clown themed looks. We couldn’t pick a winner between @makeup.lois (1M followers), @hollymurraymakeup (13.6M followers), and @ohmygeee (450K followers), they were equally as terrifying.
This campaign worked because NYX leveraged the creativity and influence of top TikTok makeup artists, engaging them in a fun, challenging theme—creating terrifying clown looks. By tapping into the viral, Halloween-themed content, NYX showcased its products through talented creators, generating buzz and excitement while targeting the platform’s beauty-focused audience.
Concluding thoughts / Key takeaways
Don’t sleep on this Halloween – not just because of what goes bump in the night, but because you could easily miss out on some truly special opportunities for unique and powerful campaigns. Here’s a top tip for making sure you get a treat rather than a trick this year:
Find natural touch points between your product and the holiday
Halloween is an atmosphere – an atmosphere that is almost entirely conjured up through holiday specific items and activities. Think pumpkins, spider webs, horror films and zombies – as well as parties, trick or treating, trips to the cinema, and spiced lattes.
Discovering your perfect trending Halloween items is easy if you’re selling pumpkin shaped mugs – but what about more generic products? You could take inspiration from brands like Bailey’s who incorporate their flagship product into special Halloween recipes, or follow in the footsteps of Disney Plus and highlight areas of your service that are relevant to the holiday (in this case – spooky films and TV!)
Play off the tropes and traditions of Halloween
Whatever your campaign is focusing on, it needs to tap into the real, authentic spirit of Halloween. These traditions, like wearing costumes, or tropes – like naïve teenagers wandering into the woods – are universally recognised and loved. Work with your influencers to see how they can be woven into the fabric of your messaging, and score those priceless feelings of agreement (“so true!”) or aspiration (“I could do that!”) in your audience.
Don’t be afraid to get silly
Halloween is an inherently goofy, spooky time. People love Halloween because it’s an occasion to become someone else, have an adventure, and get their heart racing in a safe environment.
Most importantly, as ever, people go on social media to be entertained. In consideration of the above, observe and lean into what your perfect influencers are already doing – expressing themselves, making jokes, playing roles, and having fun. How can your brand mesh with that to open up new interesting creative angles that channel the spirit of Halloween and reflect the value of your brand?
Goat is the leading global influencer marketing agency. Over the past nine years we’ve scaled some of the most exciting brands in the world. Find out more about our expertise, and how we can help your brand ahead of spooky season!
