Autumn marketing campaigns to engage your audience for back-to-school, Halloween, Black Friday & more
As autumn approaches, it’s the perfect time to refresh your marketing strategy with campaigns designed to engage your audience around key seasonal moments like back-to-school, Halloween, and Black Friday.
This article presents 12 interactive campaign ideas — quizzes, jackpots, tournaments, and more — that will help you:
- Boost audience engagement with fun, seasonal formats
- Collect valuable first-party data in a compliant and interactive way
- Drive traffic and sales during key commercial periods
- Stand out from the competition with creative, memorable experiences
Whether you’re in retail, FMCG, tourism or other sectors, these formats are tailored to help your brand shine this autumn.
The countdown to autumn is on! And do you know what that means? It’s time to embrace the season of fresh starts and refresh your strategy with creative autumn marketing campaigns. From the back-to-school rush to Halloween and Black Friday, there are countless opportunities to make your brand stand out.
Whether you’re aiming to collect first-party or zero-party data, increase brand visibility, engage your audience, or boost your sales, interactive formats like quizzes, tournament brackets, and jackpots can make all the difference.
To help you make the most of the upcoming season, we’ve designed 12 campaign ideas that will inspire you to create experiences your audience won’t want to miss. These fun, flexible formats are perfect for driving engagement and reaching your marketing goals.
Ready to fall into inspiration? Let’s dive in!
Autumn marketing campaigns: drive engagement around the season’s top events
1. A back-to-school tournament bracket to crown your favourite subject
Kick off the back-to-school season by sparking some friendly competition with an engaging tournament brackets that lets your audience vote for their favourite school subject.
How does it work? Users need to pick their favourites round by round in order to reach the end (so one becomes the champion). This interactive format encourages ongoing participation and helps you build a deeper connection with your audience during the busy season, allowing you to boost your data collection.
Drive daily participation by offering a prize to users who complete every voting round and giving them the option to share the campaign on social media on the exit screen.
Thanks to our advanced formats add-on, you can launch this campaign quickly and effortlessly, no technical skills required.
💡 Use this format to leverage the upcoming fashion weeks! Swap out school subjects for iconic catwalk looks and let your audience vote to crown the best of the season.
2. A mushroom picking quiz to educate your audience
Celebrate the arrival of autumn with a fun and educational sudden death quiz that’s perfect for nature lovers! This game invites your audience to step into the forest and test their knowledge of wild mushrooms.
The goal? Click only on the edible varieties while recognising and avoiding dangerous lookalikes. But be careful: one wrong choice, and it’s game over! Competitive and addictive, it’s an original approach to audience education. Add a prize for high scores, include fun facts about each mushroom or offer a downloadable mushroom guide to boost participation!
Are you ready to put your knowledge to the test and discover the world of forest mushrooms? Let’s go!
3. A pumpkin piñata to treat your audience
This Halloween, tap into the playful spirit of the season to create unforgettable brand experiences. Whether your audience is young or young at heart, everyone deserves their fair share of sweets, and what better way to deliver them than with a discount?
Check out our example in which participants are invited to break open a virtual pumpkin piñata to reveal what’s inside! Lucky participants unlock a 50% discount on your Halloween selection while others are still encouraged to check out your online promotions. Either way, they leave with a smile… and maybe a cart full of candy 👻
💡 Easy to set up and quick to play, instant-win formats are ideal for seasonal moments like Halloween. It will help you boost participation and will allow you to collect valuable data by adding a form to access the campaign. This format is exclusively available via our Studio team: contact them now if you’re interested!
4. A spooky catcher game for Halloween
We love a spooky Halloween! And what better way to celebrate than with a monster who literally lost his mind? This year, launch a catcher game in which players need to help a monster catch as many brains as possible in order to get the best score and reward the best scorers with a prize!
This format is available through our advanced formats add-on and is excellent for increasing the time users spend with your digital channels.
💡 If you’re not a fan of the brains but love the catcher game, a smart way to promote your product is to turn them into the falling objects. It’s a creative opportunity to boost brand awareness and leave a lasting impression.
5. A before-and-after photo contest for Movember
Looking for meaningful autumn marketing campaigns that engage your audience? Launch a Movember photo contest where participants upload before-and-after photos of their moustache transformation!
Encourage your audience to vote, and reward the top pictures with a beard grooming kit to help maintain their new style. Perfect for men’s skincare or grooming brands, this type of user-generated content brings authenticity, boosts visibility, and helps build trust. These real transformations are also content that can be reused for future campaigns.
6. A Black Friday discount shell game
Get your customers into the Black Friday spirit with a playful and interactive shell game game that offers a chance to unlock early deals or surprise rewards. The concept is simple: participants need to choose and click on one of the gifts in order to find out if they’ve won.
This experience fosters a sense of exclusivity, making your audience feel like insiders with early access to exclusive promotions. And if luck was not on their side on the first try, don’t let them walk away empty-handed! Encourage them to visit your store on Black Friday for even more exclusive deals. Or to take advantage of your online pre-sales available now by adding a CTA redirecting them to your e-commerce in the exit screen.
This approach not only drives interaction but also builds anticipation and loyalty, helping your brand stand out during the autumn marketing campaign season.
🎨 This instant-win format is available via our talented Studio team, filled with project managers and professional graphic designers who know our tool inside out. They will work with you to build standout, tailored campaigns without the need for extended internal resources.
Autumn marketing campaigns to boost interactions and collect valuable data around international days
1. An e-card for Positive Thinking Day
On Positive Thinking Day, why not encourage your audience to send good vibes someone’s way? This interactive e-card campaign makes it easy to spread kindness with just a few clicks.
Participants can choose from a selection of templates, write their note, and share it with a friend, colleague, or loved one who could use a smile.
Ideal for both external campaigns and internal communication, this experience will engage and strengthen emotional connections while showcasing your brand’s values.
2. A tailored quiz for World Tourism Day
It’s not because summer is finished that you can’t take a little late holiday… With World Tourism Day coming up, it’s the perfect time to start dreaming about your next getaway.
Seize this opportunity to boost engagement and collect data about your audience’s travel preferences with a smart quiz! By answering a few questions, participants activate variables and receive tailored recommendations for an unforgettable road trip through Italy. This format is ideal for travel agencies, transportation companies, or any brand seeking to engage their audience on social media or via email.
3. A fun wheel of fortune for International Coffee Day
Warm up your autumn marketing campaigns and engage coffee lovers with a fun wheel of fortune. How does it work? Participants need to spin the wheel for a chance to win exclusive discounts or a limited-edition autumn box.
This interactive marketing format not only creates excitement but also strengthens customer loyalty by offering meaningful rewards. Maximise your results by adding a compelling CTA on the exit screen to redirect users to your e-commerce.
It’s a great initiative to boost sales, drive traffic, and make your autumn promotions truly unforgettable.
4. A beer jackpot for Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest is the perfect excuse to launch a festive campaign! And what better format than a jackpot to get the party started?
For the following example, we designed a beer keg jackpot that participants need to activate to try to win a 12-pack of beer to share with their friends on that special day.
This format is quick to set up, easy to customise, and highly effective for boosting engagement, driving traffic, and collecting valuable data. Whether you’re in FMCG, retail, or hospitality, this playful activation is a great way to stand out during one of autumn’s busiest moments 🍻
5. A revisited catcher for World Sandwich Day
Did you know there’s a whole day dedicated to sandwiches? Celebrated every year on November 3rd, World Sandwich Day is the ideal excuse to create a tasty game for your audience. What about launching a catcher in which participants earn points catching ingredients to make the ultimate club sandwich?
Designed for FMCG and retail companies, this original game helps them stand out with their autumn marketing campaigns while collecting valuable data and boosting engagement.
6. A swiper quiz for World Pasta Day
Make the most of World Pasta Day by launching a captivating swiper quiz designed to engage food and retail’s audiences. This interactive format invites users to swipe through a series of questions about their pasta preferences.
Beyond engagement, it’s a valuable tool to collect consumer data that can inform your product development and help you personalise your future communications.
Don’t forget that autumn also marks the kickoff of fashion weeks around the world! It’s time to prepare your marketing campaigns. Looking for inspiration? Discover our latest article with creative ideas and tips to help you make the most of this stylish season.
We hope that you enjoyed this autumn marketing campaigns inspirational article and that you are now ready for the upcoming season. If you’d like expert help to bring your campaign ideas to life, contact us!
Are you interested in reading more about some topics?
Check out our previous articles about:
🧑🏫 Back-to-school
🎃 Halloween
🛍️ Black Friday
