Halloween for Brands: All Treats, No Tricks

Halloween for Brands: All Treats, No Tricks

October 12, 2021

TikTok For Business, Editorial Team

TrendsSuccess StoriesInsights

What are you dressing up as for Halloween? That’s the question on the lips of Halloween lovers around the world right now as October waxes into the freakiest, fun-filled holiday on the calendar. Everybody comes out to play, from fantasycosplaycharacters to ghastly ghouls splattered with fake blood—and of course, sexy bumblebees. Halloween is a time for creativity to run wild. That makes the holiday a perfect fit for TikTok, because getting creative and having fun is what we’re all about.

Businesses that want to connect with their customers will discover 2021’s hottest Halloween trends on TikTok. When searching for Halloween inspiration, consumers turn to the internet above anything else, and 35% of them find ideas online.¹

This spooky season, cosplayers, trick-or-treaters and brands of all sizes are all flocking to our platform to unleash their Halloween marketing magic. Are you ready for TokTober?

October also delivers a sharp increase in #Halloween video views and conversations as the end of the month approaches. TikTokers are buzzing about Halloween, and brands that catch the same haunted hype can really make an impact on the community.⁴

Clothes and costumes top the product categories for Halloween spending, but food and beverage businesses can also see a sales bump during October. And TikTok is right in the middle of the fun, inspiring consumers to express their devilishly creative ambitions: TikTok influenced 59% of users’ Halloween costume purchases and 42% of their sweets and chocolate purchases.²

Hashtags are one of the easiest and quickest ways to tap into TikTok’s Halloween frenzy. By writing a sentence or two using a variety of Halloween-themed hashtags, you can boost your post’s visibility and engagement. Check out the view counts on these popular Halloween hashtags:⁴

Halloween is much more than an amazing costume—it’s an all-encompassing affair for many TikTok users, who consume a wide variety of Halloween-related content. Setting the right mood is everything, whether you’re going for eerie, fantastical, cute, or absolute nightmare. Our users count down the days to Halloween by sharing scary skits and flaunting their DIY decor. In October 2020, these were TikTok’s top content categories:³

Halloween consumer trends on TikTok allow brands to engage with users in otherworldly ways that make a lasting impression. Whether you want to start your own freaky fad or hop on board an existing trend, you can spark creativity and connect with your audience on a whole new level. Let’s take a look at three brands that have made Halloween their own:

In 2020, Mars Wrigley was facing a candy conundrum. The COVID-19 pandemic had squashed most children’s hopes for in-person trick-or-treating on Halloween. This meant that bulk sales of sweets were likely to take a nosedive: bad news for a candy company. Mars wanted to make sure that their fans could still celebrate the holiday from home, so they launched TREAT TOWN™—a new digital Halloween experience that lets users send candy virtually to their friends and family. The company turned to TikTok to boost awareness and drive app installs.
The results: The TikTok campaign prompted over 123 million video views and 70,000 app installs, along with a 13.4% increase in brand association.

Astérix is a hugely popular comic book character in France, a brave Gaulish warrior with multiple movies and his own amusement park: Parc Astérix. Parc Astérix wanted to launch its official TikTok account while spiking engagement for one of its biggest special events, Halloween. The company collaborated with two well-known TikTok creators to develop a fictional story around Parc Astérix’s Halloween-themed event, “Peur sur le Parc” (Fear at the Parc). The two creators released ‘episodes’ of their spooky adventure at Parc Astérix as In-Feed Ads, interacting with each other’s content and giving their fans a spine-tingling story to follow.
The results: The campaign reached over two million TikTok users and Parc Astérix gained 1,000 new followers in just seven days—a smashing success.

Chupa Chups lollipops are happily chomped by kids and adults around the world. The brand’s mission is to create “Forever Fun”—even during lockdown. So when COVID-19 kept Italy’s young people inside last year during Halloween, the company brought the fun to them with a little help from TikTok. Their plan was simple: Launch a Halloween-themed Branded Hashtag Challengecalled #Chupalloween that prompted users to dress up in a costume inspired by Chupa Chups character stickers. Their TikTok campaign didn’t just have a massive marketing impact, it brought a little bit of fun to the darkest days of the pandemic.
The results: Chupa Chups’ Branded Hashtag Challenge raked in over 295 million views in five days and more than 242,000 submissions with a 12.6% engagement rate.

Dedicated to joy, creativity, and having a howling good time—TikTok is the perfect haunt for businesses that want to electrify their audiences this Halloween. From the simple use of hashtags to In-Feed Ads and Branded Hashtag Challenges, you’ll find a wide variety of tools to help you connect with the TikTok community. Halloween video views are spiking and spending is only increasing, and businesses that join the fun can reap big rewards. You can learn more about consumer trends and brand opportunities in ourSmall Business Resource Centerorsign up todayand get started.

Sources:

1. National Retail Federation, Halloween Data Center, 2020, https://nrf.com/insights/holiday-and-seasonal-trends/halloween/halloween-data-center

2. TikTok Marketing Science US Holiday Shopping Custom Research conducted by Walnut, October 2020

3. TikTok Internal Data, Global, October 2020

4. TikTok Internal Data, Global, September – December 2020