As the last of the carefully carved pumpkins are thrown away and we recover from the sugar rush caused by the mass consumption of treats, we take a look at our favourite Halloween inspired PR stunts of 2013.
Pepsi Belgium took on its biggest rival by creating an advert featuring a can dressed up in a Coca-Cola cape! The cheeky campaign poked fun at the brand rivalry between the two drinks giants; a fun way to attract attention.
Kellogg’s Ireland went about promoting its ‘Malloween’ and ‘Totally Shocklately’ flavours of Rice Krispie Squares by unveiling a ‘haunted’ vending machine. The vending machine advertised ‘free Rice Krispie scares’ before a hand would reach out and grab the person as they went to collect their tasty treat. A video documenting the scares shows people jumping, running away and even trying to knock the snack out of the scary hand with an umbrella!
The remake of classic horror film Carrie was another reason for a scary PR stunt. A telekinetic coffee shop was set up to scare its customers. Secret cameras filmed a girl taking her anger out on a fellow customer by ‘magically’ sending him flying into a wall, pushing tables and making books and pictures fall from walls and shelves. The brilliantly executed stunt acts as a perfect advert for the film.
Our favourite Halloween PR stunt, however, has to be from Morphsuits. The prank, that is running until the end of November if you want to get in on the action, encourages people to nominate their friends for a scare via Twitter using #FrightMobMyMate . One such unlucky victim was Jason Oliver who was nominated by a friend for cancelling a night out. Morphsuits’ army of zombies, scary clowns and skeletons crept up on Jason and other unsuspecting victims at the gym with hilarious outcomes – as can be seen in the promotional video: https://bit.ly/1731z6Q
Halloween can provide great opportunities for fun PR stunts, whether they are simple like Pepsi playing dress-up or are interactive, allowing users to get involved like Morphsuits’ fright mobs.
We just can’t wait to see what brands will do to beat them next year!