Metric Or Treat:
How To Measure The Success Of Your Halloween-Themed Advertising Campaign
Spooky season seems to come around earlier every year, and not just because of life’s relentless pace. One minute we’re breaking our New Year’s resolutions, the next we’re bemoaning a summer that’s already over. Then suddenly it’s October, and regardless of whether you partake in the holiday yourself, it’s a golden opportunity for your brand or business.
Cynics may argue that the spooky season is all year long these days, given the current crises we find ourselves deep in the midst of. But for many of us, Halloween is sacred. Even if we don’t have children, Halloween gives us an excuse to dress up and unwind. These days, we don’t get to do that too often.
What NOT to do…
Naturally, you won’t want to take things too far with your campaign, as some others have done. Always remember that you don’t actually want to disturb or terrify a prospective audience too much, especially if that audience includes children, or if the ad is something that will be visible to children.
Take Blackpool Pleasure Beach for instance, whose Halloween advertising in 2021 was deemed ‘likely to distress children’. Yes, Halloween is supposed to be a little bit scary, but you don’t want to traumatize anyone.
The same can be said of Tulleys’ Halloween campaign in 2013, which was investigated by the advertising watchdog following complaints. They say that any publicity is good publicity but try not to overstep the line onto the ‘bad publicity’ section if at all possible.
Conversely, it could be that these campaigns were successful in bringing additional publicity via news outlets like the BBC. Ultimately it depends on where this kind of tactic falls on the moral scale for you in the context of your business.
Keep it simple
There are countless ways you can get the best out of your advertising campaigns, and Clear Start offers the ideal opportunity to build upon a solid platform with its start-up acceleration program. After all, if you’ve got the ideas – Halloween-based or otherwise – you’re already one step ahead of the competition. The next step is showcasing these ideas and getting help from a third party could be hugely beneficial.
If you have a large social media presence, you may wish to look at some more simple things that you can do during the spooky season. Take for instance a Halloween themed quiz with a giveaway for any potential winners. Not only are you driving engagement, but you’re also providing prospective customers something to do during that post-lunchtime lull.
So a quiz could be great, but other competitions could also work incredibly well, like a ‘design your own Halloween costume’ one, or even a request for people to send their best Halloween costumes and picking an effort. If there’s one thing that’s true of Halloween, it’s that those who partake in it with great effort love to be noticed and subsequently rewarded.
Beyond this, however, consider offering freebies and discounts if you can. People love quizzes and competitions, but they love freebies and discounts even more, especially if you’re able to have a little fun with it in the process.
