Parties and trick or treating may be on hiatus this Halloween due to Covid-19, but that hasn’t stopped brands carving up inventive marketing campaigns. From virtual trick or treating to rancid smelling sweets that actively encourage social distancing, we take a look at some of the top spook-tacular contact-free ads of 2020.
Confectionary brand Reese’s have created a robotic door that dispenses king-size chocolate bars through the letterbox as part of a contact-free on Halloween. The Reese’s door is powered by three motors and directed via remote control from up to 5,000 feet away. It also gives off smoke and has flashing lights to grab attention, plus a Bluetooth-enabled speaker that plays music activates once ‘trick or treat’ is said. To boost the social conversation, Reese’s is inviting hopefuls to direct them on Instagram with the hashtag #ReesesDoor.
Back to its old tricks, Burger King is playing a Halloween stunt on its rival, McDonald’s. Burger King have also installed voice-recognition software in the bathrooms of select restaurants in Scandinavia that detect the phrase “canceled clown” repeated three times, it dims the lights and causes a vision of McDonald’s mascot Ronald McDonald to appear in the two-way smart mirror. The Halloween campaign, created by Swedish agency Ingo Stockholm, plays on the “Bloody Mary” urban legend, is one of many instances of marketing in which Burger King has featured its fast-food rival.
Skittles is giving away Zombie Skittles Halloween costumes that emit a ‘rotten’ smell to keep people six feet away. Zombie Skittles, which debuted last year, include a few ‘rotten’ Skittles in the bag for a gross-out moment. To celebrate their return, the brand is giving away six-foot-wide Zombie Skittles costumes — with a twist. They each come outfitted with a wrist button that releases a rotten smell designed to keep people six feet away.
Scotch whisky brand Ardbeg will be delivering an at-home cocktail experience for Halloween to introduce its new Ardbeg Wee Beastie dram. Three competition winners will receive the “Knocktail experience” and be visited by a crew of mummies, mutants and sea creatures, who will deliver a bottle of Ardbeg Wee Beastie, an Amazon Fire Stick, complimentary cocktails and a mixology session. A further 37 entrants will receive a delivery from a group of monsters and be given a “Monster night in” pack with a small bottle of Wee Beastie, cocktail recipe cards, a premixed cocktail and access to a spooky Ardbeg “B movie”, produced in collaboration with film magazine Little White Lies.
Mars Wrigley is hosting a Halloween portal that will feature virtual trick-or-treating, found at www.Treat-Town.com and individuals can sign up for more information. Per the website, the experience will include opportunities to win some free sweets.
If you’ve worked on a campaign that was cleverly crafted around the limitations of Covid-19 but sure to enter it into our new Best Response to Covid-19 category as part of this year’s APAC Awards, full details can be found here
