A BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE HALLOWEEN 2016
2 GROWN UP HALLOWEEN Across the pond in New York, overtly Halloween messaging surprisingly seemed to pass retailers and brands by despite customers getting into the spirit of things. In the UK, it was a different picture. Retailers really went to town on Halloween, with a more grown-up theme than we ve seen previously think glamorous rather than gruesome, more spiritual than spooky. As well as beauty, fashion and food & drink, unexpected sectors like flowers got involved. For example, online florist Wild & Bloom created a stranger bloom, the Winona, which was a Limited Edition for the seasonal event. Here, we present our pick of dastardly doings and fiendish finds.
3 GETTING INTO THE SPIRIT Certain retailers took a more sophisticated approach to Halloween this year, turning to spiritualism, witchcraft and fortune-telling to spin their story and pique customers curiosity. This sophisticated theme spanned both premium and mainstream sectors and also crossed over categories, with Liberty, TopShop and Veuve Cliquot, to name but a few. following this route. More of a generic theme, not only did this allow brands and retailers to extend their campaigns beyond a single weekend, this approach also lent itself to experiential workshops and events that were arguably more memorable for example, Veuve Cliquot held glamorously gothic events where guests could meet Widow Cliquot who died 120 years ago.
4 DIA DE MUERTOS Inspired by the 2015 James Bond film, Spectre, Mexico City held its first official Day of the Dead festival in 2016 and it seems retailers were influenced in a similar fashion. Striking visuals were used in fashion and beauty and also across the board in window displays, giving Halloween a brighter, more celebratory feel. Selfridges created colourful skulls decorated with flowers for their Spook-tacular campaign, while fashion brand Cheap Mondays used skeletons wearing colourful floral headwear and make-up in place of its usual mannequins. However, not everyone approved both the Mexican government and several retailers faced criticism on social for trying to make a traditionally private family celebration a popular attraction.
5 BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE The UK beauty industry really embraced the traditions of their US counterparts this year, with elaborate ghoulish makeovers shared both in-store and on social. We loved the intricacy and inspiration of the Mac campaign; some of its seasonal artists started a friendly rivalry, with each creating a Halloween look and sharing it via Instagram with the hashtag #seniorartistsslayhalloween. Customers voted for their favourite via social, with the looks used in windows and VM, plus customers had the chance of recreating the looks in-store. NYX harnessed social for a variety of Halloween events, most noticeably a tie-up with Feel Unique for Facebook Live Halloween Party, with online tutorials to create three different looks plus competitions to win products. YouCam, the make-up selfie app, created eight Halloween looks that could be tried on virtually. Each one featured Ardell lashes that could then be bought in-app. Superdrug created a range of glamorous Halloween palettes, for example The Black Swan and The Vamp Noir, as well as providing value to customers with bundles of make-up that would help them create Halloween looks. It also did a Snapchat takeover filter with its looks. Benefit used the event to reinforce its expertise in brow products; it revisited POS featuring a werewolf brow and the strapline Transforming Brows since 1976.
6 BACK TO BLACK On the other end of the spectrum, fashion had a gothic moment in the autumn which lent itself beautifully to Halloween both in terms of products and display aids. While for some this meant simply using fashion imagery with a distinctly gothic look and feel, others translated it a little more literally for Halloween. Intimissimi showcased its lace bodysuits on distinctly vampire-esque mannequins while Miss Selfridges mannequins had covered eyes and slightly Victorian funereal headgear. We particularly liked the language of Dr. Marten s Devil in the Detail campaign, which both captured the sentiment of the occasion as well as communicating a key attribute of the brand.
7 FOODIE HEAVEN OR HELL Trick or treating means big business for food retailers and brands, but this year we saw them let their imaginations run riot with all kinds of food and drink that raised both a smile and a grimace. While there was a wealth of new and different products around, this is where we saw the more traditional Halloween orange play out in POS and packaging. Haunted houses appeared in several places, both as product and as window dressing. We particularly liked Hotel Chocolat s VM that saw its Halloween range hiding behind doors and windows, as well as the M&S Haunted House party pack. Fortnum & Mason used lovely language with its Something Wicked campaign. As expected, its food range was a visual and tasty treat, but names like Pick Your Poison and Things That Go Pop were the icing on the cake. As well as the quirky, fun and downright childish, we also saw some sophisticated food offerings; for example Selfridges had a Death by Hot Chocolate drink and Fortnum & Mason a Ideall sinfully good Lucifer s Pudding. Just as a surprising bit of VM, we loved Tesco s homage to Ghostbusters with its display of Coca-Cola cans.
We work on Halloween campaigns for many of our clients. If you d like some truly gruesome thinking for a fiendishly good Halloween 2017, get in touch. 0115 984 4200 carrie.eames@truestory.uk.com