Going Full-Goth

Happy Friday, Sippers,

How was your week? Mine was already great, but now that the annual ritual of costume negotiations and candy heists is upon us, I'm honestly in my element. 

As a brand builder, this is my favourite time of year because everyone, from consumers to clients, gives brands a permission slip to be playful. It's the one day we can all stop being so serious.

The new Ad Age Insider Halloween Marketing Awards just dropped, and they confirmed a fantastic trend: the industry is finally going full-goth.  The days of cute, funny-scary campaigns are out. Genuinely edgy commitment is in.

🔙 Last Year's Vibe: Clever and Light

If 2024 was about showcasing personality through clever, low-cost stunts, 2025 is about commitment. Last year, we saw great, fun work that aimed to be part of the cultural conversation:

• Annabelle having fun theme collections like Are You Anna Or Belle? 

• Heinz turned their ketchup into Tomato Blood for vegan vampires.

• Liquid Death rolling out a Yeti casket stunt.

• CarMax giving off Beetlejuice vibes to sell cars.

• Boost Mobile with a clever copy of their Hell phone bill

These were brilliant, quick-hit examples that kept brands top-of-mind. 

This year, the shift is toward taking the fun of these ideas and coupling it with serious, high-production execution.

🏆 Commitment Over Costumes: The New April Fools' Day

The most successful brands didn't just put on a quick costume; they fully committed to the experience. The energy previously reserved for April Fools' Day has migrated here, where the industry sees greater reward in craft and commitment than in a quick hoax.

• Gushers' 'Fruithead' won the top spot for its nine-minute, legitimately scary horror film. Gushers didn't just run a social ad; they went full Hollywood, proving they are serious about their fun.

The lesson is simple: if you're going to play, play to win. Treating the seasonal moment as a major tentpole campaign is the new standard.

☠️ The Strategic Alignment: Your Costume Must Be On-Brand

The biggest insight is that even in a costume, your brand must still reinforce its year-round, non-Halloween strategy. The trick isn't just being scary; it's being authentically scary for your brand.

• Columbia Sportswear, whose core campaign is "Engineered for Whatever," used the Grim Reaper to take over their social, asking people to share their near-death experiences. It's a perfect tie-in to their product's promise of surviving the "extreme" elements.

• Yahoo created a comedy-horror film called "Reply All is Scary" to promote their email product, perfectly tying a universal office horror (the reply-all nightmare) to their technology.

• Mini is even dressing up as Waymo for a San Francisco stunt, declaring that being a driverless car is "the scariest thing you can be."

The costume must make sense for your brand's personality and values. If you're known for humour, use it. If you're known for performance, test the limits of what that means.

🔪 Product Innovation: The Horror of the Mundane

The most provocative campaigns are those willing to go "scary scary" over just "funny scary." They are using limited-edition products to tap into universal frustrations—what I call the Horror of the Mundane.

• Capri Sun introduced "Trick & Treat Pouches," making some "impossible to open" that perfectly captured the frustrating horror of a kid trying to get to their juice.

• Disney+ and Fyrn created a chair with no back support to keep you "on the edge of your seat" for Huluween.

This shows a willingness to take a chance on genuinely edgy content and a realization that product-as-prank is a high-engagement way to bring your personality to life.

🤖 The Ultimate Costume: AI Agility

Finally, the biggest cheat code this Halloween? Generative AI. Google recently showcased how its tools, such as Gemini, Nano Banana, and Veo, can instantly generate spooky content: from transforming your selfie into a "skeletal translucent Victorian ghost" to creating short, custom, scary videos.

This allows you to prototype a dozen "scary scary" campaigns in an afternoon. GenAI makes the cost of testing edgy creativity zero, empowering your brand to be incredibly agile and culturally relevant without the massive risk of production or inventory overhead.

🍷 The Sip Takeaway

The biggest shift this year is a willingness among brands to take a chance on genuinely scary content, moving beyond the "funny scary" of years past. This reflects a general trend of brands appealing to a smaller, more specific group to get an even bigger reaction.

This Halloween, your job as a brand builder is to recognize that:

• Edginess can be a brand asset: If you're targeting an audience that values authenticity (like Gen Z), taking a risk shows you understand the cultural conversation.

• Product Innovation in a Costume Wins: Creating a temporary, limited-edition product is a fantastic, high-engagement way to bring your brand's personality to life.

So grab your favourite spooky snack (hmm Nerd Cluster), steal your kids candy’s  and remember: Halloween is your chance to experiment with edge, commitment, and fun.

Happy Halloween!

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