Halloween packaging’s spooky interactivity lifts spirits amid COVID-19 trick-or-treating restrictions

30 Oct 2020 --- Halloween is genuinely scary this year with COVID-19's second wave striking hard in many European countries. This Halloween season, F&B arrives in interactive packaging to brighten the spirits – especially those of younger children who may be disappointed by the COVID-19 pandemic’s grave trick-or-treating restrictions.

PackagingInsights looks at how F&B brands are making packaging interactive for consumers embracing at-home purchases under lockdown.

Glow-in-the-dark galore
Raisin brand Sun-Maid is swapping its traditional red box garb for “bat-tastic” glow-in-the-dark packs containing sour and yogurt-covered raisins. The packs’ bats glow when held up to a UV or smartphone light.

“While the pandemic has interrupted many annual traditions, it seems many families remain optimistic about celebrating Halloween in the midst of COVID-19,” Sun-Maid Growers of California president and CEO Harry Overly tells PackagingInsights.

“Also, ‘COVID-19 fatigue’ is real and families are looking for the things they can do which provides some sense of ‘normal’ while being safe.”

The Sun-Maid packages feature bats that glow against a UV or smartphone light.Overly adds that sales for the limited edition products started in mid-August and sold through quickly. “Isn’t Sun-Maid everyone’s favorite Halloween treat?” he muses.

Simple tweaks to existing designs
Hershey’s Kisses, Reese’s peanut butter cups and chocolate KitKats are staples of any Halloween goer’s haul.

KitKat traded its signature red packaging for a green and purple twist, featuring a witch and cauldron. Meanwhile, Hershey’s Kisses played up its vampire theme on-pack, associating the red creme filling with blood and adding small red bats on each aluminum wrapping.

Reese’s pieced together a Frankenstein-esque resemblance with a half-green peanut butter cup, zapping to life the flavor fusion with electro-pulse conductors on-pack.

Hershey’s further incentivizes product interaction on its Cookies-n-Creme Fangs packaging. On pack, a blue vampire holds up one of the fangs bar in front of his mouth, inviting consumers to take “a scary Halloween selfie.”

These small but meaningful packaging details were added to bring “a little normalcy, tradition and a reason to have fun” to the 2020 Halloween season, says Erica Norton, senior director of consumer insights at Hershey’s.Traditional trick-or-treat candy take on a Halloween spin.

“I think back to a few months ago, in the thick of the pandemic, when we were faced with an important decision. It was time to start producing our Halloween candy and packaging,” Norton recalls.

“We had no idea what lay ahead, but we knew this: People were going to need Halloween this year and we wanted to be there for them to make these special moments possible.”

Fanta is back on TV
Coca Cola European Partners (CCEP) ramped up its Halloween-themed digital marketing this year by returning its soft drink brand Fanta to TV. This marks Fanta’s first TV appearance in five years.

The campaign showcases “the quirky ways” consumers are embracing the annual calendar event at home this year – being spooked by mundane household chores like ironing. The TV advert is supported by video-on-demand, interactive digital experiences on Instagram and Snapchat, and out-of-home advertising.CCEP brings Fanta back to TV screens after a five-year hiatus.

Those who have seen the TV ad will recognize the ironing ghoul on Fanta’s aluminum cans. “As Halloween is an iconic moment of the year, we still want to bring playfulness and hopefully provide people with a bit of welcome relief from the current situation,” says Stephen Lusk, vice president of commercial development at CCEP.

“Over the last few weeks, our teams have been busy transforming customer outlets across Western Europe with ghostly displays, product sampling to drive impulse buying, temporary themed displays driving footfall to aisles and promotional packaging to aid shelf appeal.”

Our sister platform FoodIngredientsFirst also took a whiff at what’s cooking in the cauldron, spotlighting major F&B brands reimagining conventional flavors by providing a “spooky” twist, while others position their offerings as a “healthy treat.”

By Anni Schleicher

To contact our editorial team please email us at editorial@cnsmedia.com