DTC Halloween: Ad Tips, Campaigns & Trends

Hey there 👋

It’s almost time for the spooky season — Halloween 🎃

We’ve rounded up the top search trends, a few scary ad creatives, DTC insights that might send a chill down your spine, and a meme we can all relate to 😂

Let’s get straight to the value 🔥 

1. Halloween 2024 Trend Report 👻 

Pinterest’s trend report for this Halloween shows insane growth for some searches, especially those that are from shows & media — here are the top few:

1️⃣ Gothic Glam

• Searches for “Scary make-up looks” go up by 60%

• Soft vampire makeup +475%

• Romantic Goth makeup +710%

• Sukuna makeup +1655%

2️⃣ Halloween Food

• Ghost Pizza +850%

• Pumpkin s’mores cookies +390%

• Ghost Brownies +200%

3️⃣ Vintage Halloween Decor

• 90’s Halloween decorations +140%

• Hippie Halloween decor +190%

• Disco Halloween decor +175%

4️⃣ “it girl” Costumes & Makeup

• Charlie XCX Makeup +2345%

• Kesha Halloween Costume +510%

• Ariana Grande bunny costume +460%

• Jhene Aiko makeup +360%

Not surprised that makeup & costumes are dominating search trends, but I think it’s unfair that ghost pizza is less popular than some celebrity’s makeup 😭

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2. Spooky Ad Creatives 😨 

It’s always cool to see what brands can cook up during Halloween, and here are some of the top-performing ad creatives:

1️⃣ Fellow

Coffee brand Fellow’s jumping on the spooky bandwagon with a low-key ad, though I don’t know if I want a witch flying out of my cup of joe 😂

2️⃣ FitVine

The health-conscious alcoholic beverage brand FitVine started this email marketing campaign, and while it’s more cute than spooky, it definitely made their customers feel more “in-season”.

3️⃣ Anyday

Cookware brand Anyday posted this very simple ad for their Halloween sale.

Even if it seems low-effort — doing as much as adding cobwebs to a stock image of your product can make a good difference in sales 👻 

P.S. — BFCM is the next big event right after Halloween, why not be prepared ahead of time, too? Check out our BFCM Last Minute Customer Activation 😉 

3. DTC Insights & Something You Can Relate To 🕸️ 

Pilothouse sees a +60% in YoY Shopify sales with their clients pushing out Halloween sales & promos, even during last September — that’s a whole month early.

A lot of brick-and-mortar retailers in the U.S. are also seeing a similar shopping trend, with some reporting sales levels similar to those usually seen during the Christmas season.

Even despite forecasts of a 5% decline in overall Halloween spending (to $11.6 billion), certain retailers are capitalizing on early consumer interest and spending —

Another cool thing to note — nearly half of consumers have started their Halloween shopping earlier than in previous years, with many mentioning they’d like to avoid the stress that comes with last-minute purchases (and this trend is particularly strong among younger shoppers, aged 25-34).

Now, as for the relatable meme — would you rock this DTC costume on the 31st? 😂

🎧 ECORN Radio This Week:

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Daniil from ECORN