Never ones to miss a trick (or treat) when it comes to mining popular culture for opportunities when it comes to riding the cultural zeitgeist, agencies across the globe have spent the best parts of the last week creating 'spooktastic' campaigns, one-off activations and more that tie into the season of the witch. Here, I've focused on the ones that raised my hackles this year, and added in a few neat little bonus pieces that caught my fancy too for good measure. Feel free to let me know in the comments below if I've missed any good ones! Happy haunting creativepoolers!

 

W+K Amsterdam Bring Psychedelic Haunted House To VR With Bitmap Banshees

Launching just in time for Halloween, Bitmap Banshees from Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam is a VR experience set inside a future dystopian Amsterdam, where a gang of biker banshees have taken over the city and are out for blood. Players navigate a psychedelic-science-fiction-slash-B-grade-horror-frogger reality, and try to survive the cursed banshees for as long as possible. Cycling around the virtual city players collect “Carrotty” secret weapon collectables in the form of supernatural carrots, to throw at advancing banshees to disable them and prolong one’s life in the game. The installation, which is housed in W+K Amsterdam’s public gallery space, includes a custom Mad-Max-style bike which acts as the gaming interface. Created from half an exercise bicycle, half an old Amsterdam bicycle and a load of wires and sensors, the physical bike allows users to cross dimensions and pedal inside the VR world. Wearing a modified VR headset, players sit on the interactive bike to pedal and steer inside the game world, and ring the bike’s special bell to unleash a defending carrotty’s blast. Created in the Unreal engine and experienced through the Oculus Rift, Bitmap Banshees was created and directed by Geoffrey Lillemon and Anita Fontaine, Creative Directors of the “Department of New Realities,” a new creative unit within W+K Amsterdam that focuses on gaming, VR and experiential installations. To align the installation’s launch with Halloween, Lillemon and Fontaine worked with a dedicated team to bring the creepy installation to life in just two months. Overflowing from digital into physical, the intense gaming experience is also accompanied by a print exhibition with the game’s characters and collectibles turned into icons and exhibited in the gallery space. The game will be exhibited until the end of the year, and for those unable to visit Amsterdam, the game will also be available online in the coming months.

 

Alphabet Club's Trumpkin Mask Is Truly Terrifying Fun

As Trumpkin pumpkin carving begins to take hold this Halloween (seriously, Google it, you won't be disappointed), Alphabet Club has made this paper cut-out version, providing all the satirical seasonal fun without the need for potato peelers, knives and spoons. The encouraging message that can be gleamed from this fun little activation?: “This Halloween, you can be a scary, empty headed, orange skinned vegetable too!”

 

AMV BBDO Help Sainsbury's Get Into The Spirit Of The Season

Renowned for his ability to extract natural and heartfelt performances from his cast, Director Ornette Spenceley from The Sweet Shop has partnered with AMV BBDO London to create a playful, unpredictable and visually remarkable film for Sainsbury’s. The simply titled “Scream” spot unearths the joy of a night at Halloween home with family and friends, complete with ghoulish costumes, accessories and food made to look like dismembered body parts. Through a combination of natural camera work, multiple points of view and angles, understated art direction full of subtle details and spontaneous character performances, Ornette creates a film that’s true-to-life and as unpredictable as any Halloween the audience will have experienced. The director said of his work: “The script was purely about fun, which allowed me to delve into those moments of dressing up and getting down. Honest and unguarded, and all the more memorable because of it.” Spencer Dodd, Managing Director at The Sweet Shop, added: “Creating something that feels natural and real, despite it’s being inescapably contrived is one the hardest skills in our industry and Ornette does that consistently.” It's not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but it is hopelessly charming, and it's honestly quite pleasant to see some Halloween work that isn't actively trying to frighten anyone with cheap scares and shock tactics.

 

BBH London Bring The Spooky Delivery Van To The Streets Of Britain

Not wanting to be outdone by their rivals, Tesco has also created a Halloween themed campaign aimed at helping families pimp out their Halloween celebrations with the “Spooky Delivery Van.” Created by BBH London, the van aims to build on Tesco’s reputation as a one-stop shop for Halloween, surprising unsuspecting customers outside their own homes with a ‘Spooktacular’ van full of Halloween frights and delights. The hero film is accompanied by lots of other little helps including a Facebook 360 video, in-store activations and digital out of home and display advertising. The new campaign plays on the concept of brits trying to outdo each other every year as Halloween becomes a bigger and bigger deal, and follows on from the success of the “Spookermarket” campaign from last year, which used hidden cameras capture the reactions of unsuspecting customers as they encountered a series of spooky situations in a supermarket. “Good clean fun” just about sums this one up I think.

 

Technology Will Save Us And The Literal Screaming Pumpkin

Whilst not an advertising activation in any real sense, I just couldn't help but mention this child-friendly idea by Technology Will Save Us (consider it a bonus), which uses four BBC Micro-bit chips to make a pumpkin that actually screams and flashes. You can find step-by-step instructions on how to hack your very own pumpkin in both the analogue and digital sense right HERE. It actually looks quite simple, and just think of all that pumpkin soup!

 

Barkley Prove You're Never Too Old for Trick-or-Treating

The worst moment of your adolescent life might well have been the year you were told you were too old to go trick-or-treating. The classic pastime is as much a part of Halloween as Santa Claus at Christmas or chocolate eggs at Easter, so it's a genuine shame that we have to miss out on it just because we have had the misfortune of living through puberty. Aiming to rectify this, Barkley have created a game for the Hershey's TAKE5 chocolate bar, which helps adults get back into the trick-or-treating game. “Take or Treat” is a mobile site that lets people knock on their phone for free sweets by turning their phones into a virtual door. It prompts the trick-or-treater to turn over their phone, knock on the back twice, then flip it over to reveal a trick or a treat. Treat winners receive a bag of TAKE5 Snack Size bars shipped to their door, IRL (in real life), before Halloween. The tricksters behind the door have their fun with gifs and puns, but they will eventually give up the treat if you keep knocking. A neat little activation I think, though sadly, it appears to be US only.

 

J. Walter Thompson Offer Halloween Recipes For Oxo

In a decidedly more subtle activation than most of the other pieces featured here (fitting given the nature of the product I think), J. Walter Thompson has launched a series of tactical press ads for Oxo, each featuring a 'spooky' recipe that will turn family favourite dishes into Halloween-themed treats for the family. With dishes on offer such as “Dragon’s Fire Pumpkin Soup,” “Newt Stew” and “Spicy Bat Wings,” the long copy ads feature a full recipe with added spooky puns and seasonal jokes to bring them to life. Naz Nazli, Creative at J. Walter Thompson London, said: “Halloween is the perfect time to put some show stoppers on the family table, and these recipes add some hubble, bubble boil and trouble to an ordinary dinner plate.”

 

DDB New York Subvert Horror Movie Clichés For State Farm

DDB New York has created two ads fraught with suspense for State Farm. The ads, which promote the hashtag #heretohelp, are in sync with the new State Farm tagline and positioning “Here to Help Life Go Right.” Shot by Jaime Travis, the director of MTV’s Scream TV series (yes, apparently that's actually a thing), Scary Right is an all-digital campaign comprised of social media and online video. 30 and 60 second spots have been rolling out all week across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other pre-roll placements, and witty posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have been supporting the two videos. They build on phase 1 of the brand's Scary Right campaign, which promoted and sold the Jake the State Farm agent costume via various horror movie poster treatments on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The spots play on generic horror movies clichés in a pretty fun way, and whilst neither are particularly scary, they are certainly unique, and the “Jumper” spot involves a pretty dynamite pun!

 

Blue Stag Ask: Lordie Or Zombie?

Having observed that the mumbles and heckles of MPs sound a bit like the brainless moans of the undead, Blue Stag has created an interactive game to celebrate Halloween. In the aptly titled “Lordie Or Zombie,” you simply have to listen carefully and identify whether the sounds you are hearing are those of a member of parliament or a zombie. It's actually harder than it looks!

 

DDB Hong Kong use Power Of Sound At Haunted House Experience

Haunted house live experiences have become incredibly popular in recent years. Hoping to monopolise on this popularity, DDB Group Hong Kong has given visitors to Hang Lung Properties’ Peak Galleria shopping mall in Hong Kong an earful with a terrifying new take on a Halloween classic. The agency tapped into the power of sound to dial up the horror for the mall’s haunted house experience, which is set in a dark and twisted clown’s playground. Very on-trend considering the recent 'killer clowns' craze. The auditory “Halloween Haunted Playground” dares visitors to brave a horror maze that is based around what you hear more than what you can see. Three teaser videos kicked off the campaign driving awareness, visitors and sales at The Peak Galleria. Demonstrating the power of sound to inspire fear, the videos released on Facebook appear innocent at first glance but take on a whole new meaning when a mixture of spine-chilling sounds are introduced. A WhatsApp audio recording featuring a run-of-the-mill conversation mixed with unsettling clown voices further intensified the fear factor in the lead up to the launch. The campaign is supported by a photo booth installation, mall decorations, OOH visuals, a launch event and street activation. The agency is also charged with bringing to life a more family-friendly Halloween experience at Hang Lung Properties’ Kornhill Plaza, where young visitors can enjoy themselves in a playground installation beset with a gang of mischievous red-nosed ghosts. I'd probably prefer that one myself to be completely honest! Carol Lam, Chief Creative Officer and Managing Director at DDB Group Hong Kong, said: “Sound has the ability to alter any experience for the better or worse. It has the potential to completely strip a horror movie of its terror, making it almost laughable. Inspired by this insight, we’re turning ‘scary’ into ‘absolutely terrifying’ this Halloween.”

Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from Kidderminster in the UK.