Trick or treat! Here are the five best Halloween ads ever made …

WE LOVE SPOOKY SEASON! EVERYTHING IS HAUNTED! HOUSES. CORN MAZES. HAY RIDES. DOLLS. IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!!

October dazzles. October bewitches. October puts on a show.

To celebrate the objectively greatest month of all time, we’re rating the best Halloween ads of all time! And by “all time,” we mean the past decade or so. Also? This is not the SRH Vibes Marketing Dispatch. We’re using an utterly empirical methodology devised by our fiendishly clever crack team of mad marketing scientists.

On a scale of 1–10, how entertaining are these ads? Are they fun? Do we enjoy watching them? Is the brand putting on a show?
On a scale of 1–10, how well do these ads use emotion? Do the ads make us feel things?
On a scale of 1–10, how good is the branding? Can we tell what brand the ad is for within the first few seconds?

We’re also giving a 5-point bonus to any Halloween ad that is part of a larger, multi-year brand campaign. Because creative consistency over time is, to put it empirically, super-duper good.

Ready? Let’s do this! In no particular order …

“Horror Movie: Poor Decisions” from GEICO

Playing with horror movie tropes is our jam, and we love this 2014 ad so, so very much. Also? It was part of GEICO’s long-running (at the time) “It’s what you do” campaign, so it gets our nifty five bonus points.

For entertainment value, we give it a 10. People love this ad. Wait, for reals? Yes, read the YouTube comments. Ads absolutely can entertain. We believe they should. GEICO is definitely putting on a show.

For emotion, we give it an 8. THIS AD MAKES US FEEL FEELINGS! Mostly glee, excitement and the joy of being in on the joke. “Let’s hide behind the chainsaws” is a supremely funny line. The follow-up line, “Smart,” is the perfect tag. And the befuddled look on the chainsaw murderer’s face is the cherry on top.

For branding, we give it a 5. We don’t hear, “If you’re in a horror movie, you make poor decisions. It’s what you do,” until 17 seconds in. “It’s what you do” is obviously the refrain of the campaign, but that assumes most people have already seen the other ads. It also assumes people are going to watch all the way through. Of course, we certainly did. So did a lot of people. Over and over again. The ad is entertaining as hell.

Let’s add up the scores: 10 + 8 + 5 + 5 = 28. Not too shabby.

Next up …

“Ghosted” from M&M’s

This M&Ms ad from 2018 is delightful. It’s nowhere near as good as their iconic Christmas ad (“They do exist!”). Then again, not much is. We give it a 7 for entertainment.

For emotion, we give it a 7. M&Ms tend to make the same cute joke every year — Halloween is a dangerous time for sentient, anthropomorphic candy. None of us laughed out loud or anything, but there were plenty of smiles.

For branding, we give it a 10 out of 10. As far as mascots go, these guys are about as unique and famous as you can get. So you’d have to try really hard to mistake this for anything other than an M&M’s ad.

Of course, it’s also part of a long-running campaign, so it, too, gets our nifty five-point bonus.

Let’s add up the scores: 7 + 7 + 10 + 5 = 29. Do we love that this ad beats out the GEICO spot? No. It’s objectively less entertaining (to us), but branding matters.

Okay, onto the next Halloween ad …

“Horseless Headsman” from Snickers

This ad rules so damn hard. Back in 2010, Snickers turned a universal human truth into one of the funniest and most profitable ad campaigns of all time. It plays across celebrities, occasions and seasons.

Entertainment factor? 10 out of 10. The Horseless Headsman is one of those ideas that is so good we’re mad at it. The entire campaign is genius, and this is perfect.

Emotion? 10 out of 10. Surprising. Wildly funny. Incredibly clever. It’s great. Even though we’ve seen this ad a million times, we laughed. It’s so good.

Branding? A 5, sadly. Like the GEICO spot, we don’t know exactly what this ad is for until more than halfway through. The payoff is fantastic, and it’s entertaining enough to hold our attention, but that’s a lot of time.

Of course, it does get our nifty five bonus points for being part of a long-running campaign, so there’s that.

Adding up the scores, we get: 10 + 10 + 5 + 5 = 30.

Next up …

“Witch” from Skittles

Skittles has come up with some glorious Halloween ads over the years. Our favorite might be this deeply weird take on the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale. The spot, called “Witch,” even contains an ad within an ad. Yes, like “Hamlet” but way funnier.

To be clear, we don’t love it because it’s weird. We love it because Skittles created this bizarro world of “Taste the Rainbow,” and they’ve been playing in it for a very long time.

Entertainment. We give it a 9. It is a lot of things, including wildly absurd and darkly funny. Want to stand out from absolutely everyone else in the category? This is one way to do it.

Emotion. We give it a 10. “Witch” is disturbing, baffling, surprising and hilarious. Not all of us loved it, but it made us feel feelings, including disgust, which can be a short-term driver of sales. The only thing you don’t want people to feel is bored.

Branding. 8 out of 10. The word “Skittles” is said twice in the first few seconds. We see the packaging up close within seven seconds. Also, we hear and see the tagline twice, thanks to an ad within the ad.

And it gets our five nifty bonus points for being part of their much larger and long-running “Taste the Rainbow” campaign.

Total Score: 9 + 10 + 8 + 5 = 31.

Have we saved the best for last? Maybe.

“Jack O’ Lantern” from KitKat

This 2018 ad is an absolute treat. That’s partly because of the relatable scenario (carving pumpkins can be hard, y’all), but mostly because of the incredible Meredith Bishop (‘90s kids will remember her as Annie from Nickelodeon’s “The Secret Life of Alex Mack”). Her reactions and facial expressions are perfect. She’s amazing, and the Jack O’ Lantern is doing some good work here, too. And shout out to the editor. So let’s rate this …

Entertainment. A solid 8. It’s a super fun, artfully constructed ad based on a neat little insight — all holidays come with a little pressure, but take a break and you’ve got this. The script is clever. The acting really sells it.

Emotion. 9, for sure. The ad left us feeling surprised, delighted and oddly inspired.

Branding. A 6. Normally, KitKat gets nothing less than a 10, because they are incredibly disciplined and relentless with their Distinctive Brand Assets. However, this spot doesn’t quite live up to that. Yes, there is a bowl of KitKat bars off to the side at the beginning of the ad, but it’s out of focus and easy to miss. We don’t actually see or hear KitKat (or get the distinctive snap of the bar) until about halfway through the spot.

And yes, this ad also gets our five nifty bonus points because KitKat has been running some version of the “Have a break. Have a KitKat.” campaign for around five decades.

Total score: 8 + 9 + 6 + 5 = 28.

All of these ads are great. What does this mean for you?

As you already know, branding is obviously important. Emotion is critical because marketing is a memory game, and emotion drives both memory and action. Also, these ads are really fun to watch, and the more someone wants to watch your ad, the more likely they are to remember your brand. Which? Is why branding is important. It’s a virtuous cycle!

Every one of these ads works within a larger, long-running campaign universe. So they’re better able to build long-lasting brand memories while driving immediate sales.

The best part? All of these ads put on a show.

You could argue that candy brands should sing for their supper, especially at Halloween. We 100% agree. As an insurance brand, though, GEICO doesn’t really need to embrace Halloween, but they do. Why? To connect emotionally with the audience, to have fun, to entertain, to stay culturally relevant, to show off … and to keep the brand top of mind.

It’s not necessarily efficient … but it is effective.

So which brand wins? Each of us has a favorite. What’s your take?

Happy October, everyone! We’ll see you next week!

Sources!

Advertising with Feeling: The Important Role of Emotion in Advertising – System1 Group
Why Does the Pedlar Sing? – Paul Feldwick
The Long & the Short of It – Les Binet & Peter Field