Top Halloween-Embracing Brands
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, I’m not talking about the Christmas season, I’m talking about Halloween! Since my birthday is November 1st, I have always held October 31st close to my heart and expressed my enthusiasm for All Hallows Eve with costumes, parties and seasonal treats. This year I am focusing my ghostly efforts on compiling a list of brands that have embraced all things spooky by creating products, hosting contests or running marketing campaigns that were all inspired by Halloween.
So why do brands bother to spend money, time and effort on holiday-themed campaigns and products? The holidays, Halloween included, offers brands a way to infuse their personalities into these joyous times and remind customers why they chose that brand in the first place. Brittany Burdoine-Lewis of leapfroginteractive says, “Embracing the holidays your audience enjoys establishes an understanding of your target customers and presents your fans with something fun to keep them engaged with your brand.” Take a look below and check out how brands like Kraft, Progressive and Honda are showing their love for Halloween this year!
Kraft:
Nothing says Halloween like brains, blood and green goo. Food and beverage giant Kraft has embraced all of these ghoulish traditions and packaged them up for sale. The beloved Kraft Cadbury eggs take a turn for the rotten during the Halloween season- the white cream filling of a traditional Cadbury Creme egg is replaced with green and white creamy goo for the Cadbury Screme Eggs (what a witty play on words!) To engage the more DIY crowd, Kraft gave away brain-shaped gelatin molds, complete with an 8-page recipe book, for only the cost of shipping and handling in 2011. If vampire tendencies are more of your speed during Halloween, be sure to pick up some Kool-Aid Ghoul-Aid. This dark red, “scary blackberry” flavored beverage is sure to provide your kids with enough of a sugar rush to trick-or-treat until the sun comes up!
Progressive:
For the past two years, Progressive has endorsed a “Dress like Flo” campaign, encouraging customers everywhere to don their best red lipstick and perky brunette hair styles. Progressive has even created a microsite that describes Flo’s wardrobe, down to the exact shade of lipstick for her infamous red smile. Of course the microsite doesn’t fail to deliver on ways to engage with the Progressive brand including Facebook “Like” buttons, customer service phone numbers and pop-up ads highlighting promotional insurance rates.
Honda:
Not all Halloween promotions are just about the brand; some companies go the extra mile to shine the candlelight on their fans. In 2010, Honda ran a Jack- o’-Lantern Facebook contest where fans carved Honda-inspired pumpkins. To share these carvings with the world , Honda created a specific Facebook photo album so any Facebook fan could comment on which pumpkin was their favorite and share with own Honda stories.
What are some of your favorite Halloween-embracing brands? Or do you say bah-humbug to the commercialization of Halloween? We want to know your thoughts!
Contributed by Lily Brock
Candy Brands: Cadbury Daydream
Can you guess which company is the parent company for the following brands: Chiclets, Sour Patch Kids, Mentos, Trident, Swedish Fish and Halls cough drops?
It’s Cadbury. Yes, that Cadbury – the Cadbury that makes the crème eggs which fly off the shelves around Easter each year. Cadbury’s vast portfolio includes chocolate, gum and candy, and approximately 200 brands.
Day dream: I wonder if a visit to the Cadbury factory would involve a milk chocolate river with Swedish Fish swimming along as well as Sour Patch Kids playing pranks on visitors then making amends. That would be funny. Note to self – don’t sample any Chiclets that might taste like blueberry pie and ice cream. Do you think the four dentists that always pick Trident get to visit the factory any time they want. That’s what you get fifth dentist. Wait, what was I doing?
So as you can see, it’s no wonder that Cadbury is a beloved brand worldwide.
Candy Brands: Tootsie
All I want is a piece of chocolate candy that won't melt easily in the heat ... lucky for me, and millions of other candy consumers, Leo Hirshfield had the same idea! Hirshfield founded Tootsie Roll Industries in a small shop in New York City. The Tootsie Roll candy got its name after the nickname of his daughter, Clara "Tootsie" Hirshfield.
Originating in 1896, The Tootsie Roll Industries is now based in Chicago, Illinois as one of the country's largest candy companies. Among some of Tootsie's most popular candy names are:Read more
Candy Brands: Brach's
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What would Halloween be without candy corn? It has been enjoyed for over 100 years. According to Brach's, the top branded maker of candy corn, each year Americans buy enough Brach's candy corn that if the kernels were laid end to end, they would circle around the Earth 4.5 times. Brach's candy pumpkin, known by the trademark name "Mellow Cream" is the most popular candy pumpkin. They are popular both for their unique texture and for being fat free. Candy pumpkins are made using the same process used to make candy corn. The ingredients include corn syrup, real honey, and sugar.
Amusingly, candy pumpkins played a role in the U.S. Implementation of Daylight Saving Time. Since the 1960s, candy makers had wanted to get the trick-or-treat period covered by Daylight Saving. They believed if children had an extra hour of daylight, they would have more time to collect candy, which would boost candy sales. During the 1985 U.S. Congressional hearings on Daylight Saving, the candy industry went so far as to put candy pumpkins on the seat of every senator, hoping to win a little favor. Soon, Daylight Saving Time was extended through the first Sunday in November.
By: Ashley Popham
Candy Brands: The Foreign Candy Company
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From the creators of Rips Licorice, Eiffel Bon Bons, Big Fat Hissee Fit, and many more, I present to you… The Foreign Candy Company, Inc. This brand thrives on delivering fun, flavorful, and unique candies that are loved by both kids and adults.
The story behind this brand is one that began in 1976 when Peter W. De Yager stumbled onto an overnight success. Yager, who was a high school German teacher at the time this adventure began, started taking his students on trips abroad. After one trip to a gummy bear factory in Germany, the students decided to sell their candy as a fundraiser to raise money for the next year’s trip. It turns out that selling foreign candy was a huge success, so Yager decided to begin selling the candy across the country.Read more
Candy Brands: Ferrara Pan
Friends and family will likely remember "Paula's Red Hot Marathon of 2006." No, it wasn't a fiery run; it was my shamless order of three cases of Red Hots direct from the manufacturer to be shipped to my door, and the consumption that ensued. I'm blaming the new baby hormones.
Red Hots have always been my candy of choice. There's something about that hot flavor getting stuck in my teeth that epitomizes how a candy should behave. And let me clarify: Red Hots are the BRAND; the generics are called cinnamon imperials. I've had the knock-offs, and believe me, there is only one Red Hot.
Ferrara Pan is the creator of the Red Hot, and the company brand has an interesting history. Created as a namesake for the founder, Salvatore Ferrara, Ferrara Pan was founded in 1908 in Chicago, Illinois. The word "pan" in the company name indicates that some of the candy they make is "panned". This process involves building candy pieces from single units, such as grains of sugar, nuts or candy centers, tossing them in revolving pans while adding the flavor, color and other candy ingredients. This process continues until the pieces become the desired size. Finally, the candy gets a high polish with an edible vegetable wax, which gives it an attractive appearance.
In terms of branding, the company has retained a functional, yet personality-infused continuity with its line of products: Red Hots, LemonHead, Atomic FireBall, Jaw Busters, Boston Baked Beans, Black Forest Gummies, and Ferrara Chocolates. With the exception of the Boston Baked Beans, I can look at their candy lineup and know exactly what I'm getting.
Check out the company's virtual tours of "How Panned Candy Is Made." And if you see a box (or bag) of Red Hots at the convenience store, pick one up for me.
Candy Brands: HARIBO
Maybe it's our sense of whimsy ... Maybe it's our roots as hunter/gatherers ... whatever the explanation, whether you prefer a handful of cheesy goldfish or a fresh box of animal crackers, there is no denying the fun in biting into something that could bite you back.
The gummi bear is arguably the king of critter-shaped snacks, and HARIBO, a German confectionary company founded in 1920, proudly distinguishes itself from the candy masses as the original creator of these malleable mammals. Today, HARIBO is the biggest manufacturer of gummy and jelly candies in the world.
The gummi bear, (known as Gummibar or rubber bear in German), was created after World War II and introduced in the 1960s under the brand Gold-Bears. An instant success, the product has since seen several flavor and shape variations, with brand extensions such as Snack-packs, Roulettes, and Happy Cola. More intriguing sub-brands like Starmix, Tangfastics, Kiddies Supermix, Maoam and Strawbs can be found abroad. The candy even inspired a late 80s television show, Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (though I personally found that to be the least palatable of the brand's many extensions).
Although Trolli and many others have created formidable gummi competition, the original Gold Bears, with their iconic gold, red and black packaging, have dominated their space for a half-century and show no signs of slowing down. After all, as the tagline says, "kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of HARIBO."
And if you were wondering, there is a reason why HARIBO appears in all-caps; the name is an acronym--borrowing the first two letters of the founder's first and last name, Hans Riegel, as well as the first two letters of the location of the corporate headquarters in Bonn, Germany.
Contributed by: Maghan Cook
Trick or Treat?
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Reading one article after another about parents and schools taking extra precautions to try to prevent the spread of the swine flu among kids got me thinking: with Halloween just around the corner, will the swine flu pandemic affect how parents feel about their kids trick-or-treating?
Halloween was one of my personal favorite holidays growing up. I can’t imagine missing the crucial candy stocking day of the year because my mom thought that I might get sick. On the other hand, let’s just visualize for a minute a person putting candy into a bowl and kid, after kid, AFTER KID putting their hands into that bowl…. seems like quite the set-up for a germ haven, don’t you think?
Well, I was surprised to discover that there aren’t many flu fear articles written specifically about Halloween. Hopefully parents’ fears are subsiding, but I won’t be shocked one bit if I answer my door to a few trick-or-treaters wearing gloves this year or some other form of protective wear. I did find one article that offers a Halloween checklist for parents. Here’s step number 9: “Pack hand sanitizer. Your little one should sanitize his or her hands between houses.” This led me to my next thought that the upcoming holiday will only continue to increase the already high sanitizer sales.Read more
2008 Addison Whitney Pumpkin Carving Contest
After much rivalry, smack-talk, and closed-door sessions, the 2008 pumpkin line-up was revealed yesterday for AW's Third Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest.
Each year, the competition gets more fierce, and this year was no exception. Teams pulled out all the stops ... giving their pumpkins personalites, acting out skits, and even injecting a little multi-media into their presentations.
Check out the amazing entries below.
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Spooktastic Events
Branders and marketers take full advantage of creating names for holiday events, as evidenced by the plethora of Halloween-inspired names this year. Take a peek at some examples in the Queen City:
Scarowinds
Adding one letter to the original brand offers instant brand recognition
Boo at the Zoo
Rhyming adds memorability
The Amazing Maize Maze
Not necessarily Halloween-related, but homonyms are always fun
In other areas, you can find:
Halloween Spooktacular (SeaWorld)
MetroBoo (Miami Metro Zoo)
Monster Splash (Miami Seaquarium)
Howl-o-Ween (various canine-inspired Halloween parties)
What are some other Halloween-inspired brands or event names you’ve seen this year?