11 spooktacular Halloween marketing campaigns to boost engagement and enrich your database

Beware readers! As the moon rises and the shadows linger in the darkness, there is no doubt: the spooky season is upon us 😱 That’s right: Halloween is coming! And more than a perfect occasion for kids (or the young at heart) to eat their fair share of sweets, it’s also a golden opportunity for your brand to engage your audience and collect first-party and zero-party data with fun and creative Halloween marketing campaigns. 

Since Halloween is one of our favourite times of the year, and we’ve seen and created some spooktacular campaigns in the past, we decided to gather our best ideas into this article to spark your creativity for your upcoming campaign.

So grab your cauldron, and let’s dive into these hair-raising ideas!

8 fang-tastic Halloween marketing campaigns created by our Studio team

1. Photo contest: Halloween makeup 

Everyone loves to dress up and experiment with wild makeup for Halloween, making it the perfect time to engage your audience with a special contest! 

This year, take your Halloween marketing campaigns to the next level by launching a fun photo or video contest. The concept? Participants need to submit pictures of their makeup creations or costumes and encourage their friends to vote for the best one. The one with the most votes can then receive a fantastic prize! 

This format is an excellent way for your brand to engage your audience and increase your visibility, as user-generated content (UGC) has a high virality potential. If you’re in the beauty industry, it is also a powerful tool to boost your sales, as you can encourage participants to use your products while directing voters to your e-commerce or website.

2. Catcher: trick or treat  

Whether you love the fun costumes, the spooky makeup, or both, one thing is certain: Halloween wouldn’t be complete without sweets.  

In our example, we created an exciting catcher game where participants need to catch the falling sweets while dodging the bombs. 

This format is accessible via our “advanced formats” add-on, a collection of gamified formats that you can access on top of your Qualifio licence and create without any coding skills. And there’s more! It will also be an original way for your brand to collect data while increasing the time your audience spends on your digital channels. 

3. Personality test: will you survive?

Personality tests are becoming increasingly popular in digital marketing, and for good reason. They not only provide an engaging way for your brand to connect with your audience but also offer a powerful tool for collecting data on their preferences.

Another great advantage is that this format works for any occasion of the year — and Halloween marketing campaigns are no exception! 

Check out our example in which participants need to answer a series of questions in order to see if they would survive a zombie apocalypse 🧟‍♀️ And if your personality test involves your products, remember to add a compelling CTA on your exit screen redirecting participants to your e-commerce to boost your sales!

4. Wheel of fortune: the wheel of discounts

If you’re looking to boost sales or engage your audience in a user-friendly and effective manner, instant win formats are a perfect choice! Whether you want to treat your audience to some fantastic prizes and vouchers or even offer them the possibility to win amazing discounts, the possibilities are endless. 

Since this season offers prime opportunities for brands to increase both visibility and sales, we’ve created a special spooky-themed wheel of fortune to spark inspiration for your next Halloween marketing campaigns. Participants simply need to spin the wheel to find out if they won one of the discounts!

5. Rebus: guess the movie!

No Halloween celebration is complete without a good horror movie. Who doesn’t love gathering with friends to enjoy a good scare, whether it’s watching the latest thriller or a timeless classic?

If you feel like you already “saw” (couldn’t resist the pun) too many quizzes on this theme, what about launching your own rebus for the occasion?

In our example, participants must decipher the coded message hidden behind the emojis. Each emoji represents a word, and when combined, they reveal the complete title of the movie. And if you want to increase the number of participations, you can also give away some attractive prizes to a few lucky players!

6. Swiper: the survivors

Many horror movies and TV shows revolve around the concept of “survival”. Whether it involves a zombie apocalypse or another dystopian scenario, this recurring theme is often integrated into Halloween marketing campaigns.

A creative approach for your brand to leverage this theme is by launching a unique “survival” swiper. In this interactive quiz, participants need to “swipe” left or right to select their ideal team in case of a hypothetical “end of the world” scenario.

7. Calendar: countdown to death Halloween

Capturing and retaining your audience’s attention can be a challenge. That is why, this Halloween, keep your audience engaged with a digital calendar! 

How does it work? Choose the number of days you want for your calendar, select exciting content to reveal behind each door, and boost your traffic by encouraging customers to return to your channels each day for a new surprise. 

This format is engaging and provides more opportunities for your brand to collect valuable data and newsletter opt-ins, as you can include a campaign behind each door.

Explore our example in which we created a countdown to Halloween in the form of a chilling cemetery! 

8. Repeat it: the sound of monsters

Another advanced format to consider for your Halloween marketing campaigns is the “repeat it!” game. The concept is simple: players listen to a series of sounds and must reproduce them in the correct order until they lose all their lives or the time runs out. 

This will be another great opportunity for your brand to increase the time your audience spends on your digital channels while rewarding those with the best scores. 

Discover our family-friendly example in which players need to repeat the monster sounds — good luck! 

3 boo-tiful Halloween marketing campaigns launched by our users

1. Vocento’s haunted escape game

If you want to entertain your audience, an escape game is the way to go! This concept has gained immense popularity in recent years, with more people booking escape rooms than ever before. But what if we told you that you could launch your very own digital version? Even better, that it can be a fun inspiration for your upcoming Halloween marketing campaigns!

That’s exactly what Vocento, one of Spain’s largest media groups, accomplished. They launched an escape game on their website (using our instant answer check feature) where participants had to escape from an abandoned hospital in under three minutes.

This engaging campaign not only captivated their audience but also enabled the group to collect valuable data, as players were required to register with their existing credentials or create an account to participate.

3. Center Park’s monstrous shell game

Another effective way for your brand to engage its audience, boost sales and collect data is by launching a shell game. Participants will need to select the correct container to win, and you can reward them with exclusive vouchers, discounts or prizes to encourage purchases and participation.

Take a look at the example from Center Parcs, where participants had to choose the right door to win fantastic prizes! To participate, players needed to fill in a form with their information and also had the option to opt-in to their newsletter.

We hope our Halloween marketing campaigns have sparked your creativity and left you with a taste of the spookiness of the season! If you need more inspiration, check out our articles on the same topic. Do you have an amazing campaign idea but can’t find it in our catalogue? Reach out to us, and let’s bring it to life!