October marketing has been terrifying this year. No, not because of delightful goblins and ghouls flitting through ads, but because the agonizing blade of Christmas campaigns has stabbed deep into spooky season, trading horrors for ho ho hos. Remember: for every holly jolly campaign launched before Halloween, a ghost loses its boo.

Don’t scream just yet — some brands escaped the sinister clutches of Kris Kringle. Many scared up creative campaigns tailored to health-conscious festivities as the pandemic continues to haunt life. Others transformed familiar products with scary rebrands and a few managed the most haunting: venturing into the eerie realm of the metaverse.

As All Hallows Eve looms closer, we peek through our fingers back at the best Halloween campaigns we observed this year.

At-home Hauntings

Looking for a thrill in the safety of your own home? Seattle-based brewery Elysian Brewing teamed with local haunted house Georgetown Morgue for a scary beer delivery service. The “Scary Good Delivery Service” terrorized Seattle this week as scare actors from the haunt took to the streets with the beer brand’s Pumpkin Variety Pack for residents 21 and older. Elysian Brewing is a maven of the now-ubiquitous fall flavor, brewing its first pumpkin beer in 1997, the world’s first Imperial Pumpkin Ale in 2004 and hosting the annual Great Pumpkin Beer Festival.

Uber is another brand delivering frights to fans with its Halloween ride service. Taxi-hailers in Miami, Los Angeles and Atlanta can order a lift from iconic automobiles such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Party Wagon, Spongebob Squarepants’ Patty Wagon and Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Machine. Lucky trick-or-treaters who snag an excursion in these Ubers will also receive themed masks for their car’s character.

For candy distributors trapped at home, canned water brand Liquid Death has a more gruesome offering: a steaming plate from Vegan Cannibal Steakhouse. Human flesh has never tasted so ethical with plant-based meals such as Manless Meatballs and New Yorkerless Strip Steak, available today to residents of New York City and Los Angeles through the Postmates app, for $18.99, before fees.

Who are you wearing

What is Halloween without a Halloween costume? But with the prices Halloween stores are charging, maybe DIY is the way to go. Heinz ketchup is a blood-and-guts staple of costume-making and can turn any look spooky with just a squirt. This year, the condiment brand and agency Wieden+Kennedy NY did what we’re all thinking and rebranded its ketchup bottle as tomato blood. Still stumped on what bloody spook to dress as? Heinz went one step further with costume kits featuring its new tomato blood bottle. A standard kit includes a bottle of tomato blood and an array of cosmetic accessories like a makeup palette and vampire teeth. Heinz also offers full costumes for purchase, such as a pirate, mummy, scientist or corpse bride, all available in adult and children's sizes and waiting to be doused in viscera.

Kit Kat also made a splash with a costume campaign on social media this year. The Hershey brand posted a group costume for four, each donning a rectangular suit resembling the chocolate that can be connected together with a wrapper-like skirt or broken apart for individual wear. Participants needed to tag three friends that would join their group costume to be entered to win the suit. The activation was created out of Droga5.

Panic! in the Metaverse

In “Scream 4,” Gale Weathers, in hot pursuit of the Ghostface killer, says to her investigative partner, “How meta can you get?” She was definitely referring to the metaverse, which has ripped through the marketing industry this year faster than a chainsaw through flesh. That’s definitely what she was referring to. 

Appropriately, one franchise barrelling straight into the tech world this Halloween is “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” The brand is launching its first line of NFTs this Sunday with more than just a digital art auction in store (never heard of non-fungible tokens? Brush up with Ad Age’s guide). The “Leatherfaces” project is an invitation to an exclusive fan community for those able to snag NFTs from the collection, each depicting the legendary, flesh-wearing villain in various garb. Owners of a Leatherface NFT will gain access to community events, discounts on licensed merchandise, chances to buy memorabilia and film screenings with Kim Henkel, screenwriter of the original film. On Oct. 31, 666 mint passes go on sale on the campaign’s landing page.

Chipotle took an even more digital route this season by launching a store and event in the online game world Roblox, offering digital costumes like a chip bag ghost or burrito mummy for player avatars. The first 30,000 entrants into the Roblox “Boorito” event each day received a coupon for a free burrito in physical stores. Read more about the campaign here.

Ads from the crypt

Not every ad needs to be a tech innovation. Some brands chose to resurrect classic videos in ad form this year. Inspired by an uptick in popularity for “The Sopranos” during the pandemic as well as the release of the new spinoff film “The Many Saints of Newark,” snack brand Dietz & Watson teamed with RTO+P, its its agency of record, for a campaign starring Vincent Pastore, who played Salvatore 'Big Pussy' Bonpensiero in the series. The ad series reworks Tony Soprano’s favorite snack, gabagool, into a monster: The Gabaghoul, who shows off the brand’s ingredients in recipes for hoagies, weenies and Dietz Nuts.

Burger King and David Madrid took a turn into the terrifying with their Halloween collaboration. The ad is like a scene from “Paranormal Activity” as night-vision cams pick up footage of objects flying across rooms and doors slamming around sleeping residents. “According to experts,” reads text in the film, “3 AM is the time when most paranormal activity happens.” That’s the inspiration for the fast-food chain’s international campaign that posts free meals on the BK app at 3 a.m. The offer is available in Spain, Portugal, China, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Dominican Republic.

The Halloween Agency Massacre

Why should brands get to have all of the fun? Agencies should get to celebrate, too! The brand experience team at McKinney conjured up a digital activation this year inspired by the house on every block that hands out the worst candy. “The Worst House on the Internet” is an ode to apples, raisins and dental floss that takes the form of a minimalist design depicting a house surrounded by dead trees and a cat. A large button labeled “ding dong” reveals each visitor’s prize, which ranges from a bottle of treadmill lubricant to 80% off a quarantine-themed tree ornament. This reporter lucked out with a digital roll of animated toilet paper.

BBDO Singapore got in on the terror with a campaign exploiting the horrors of working from home. A barrage of midnight texts from the boss has been transformed into a vampiric face, a tangle of chords into a frightful, tentacled beast, and a beaten and broken wall outlet looks uncannily like the mask from “Scream.”