Love it or fear it, Halloween is more popular in the UK than ever before and it is one of the best excuses to get creative with your PR.
With things that go bump in the night and eerie goings on, this spooky time of year provides an ideal opportunity to pull off the perfect PR stunt. Get it right and you will increase brand awareness at the same time as having fun. Just pity the poor unsuspecting victims who get a scare along the way!
To celebrate the arrival of Halloween once again, here’s a round up of our favourite spooktacular PR stunts from recent years
Vending machine nightmare!
Kellogg’s added a spooky theme to their Rice Krispy Squares, releasing special Halloween flavours, ‘malloween’ and ‘totally shocklatey’. But offering these free in various vending machines across Dublin seems a little too good to be true, doesn’t it? Those who dived in to claim their free sweet treat were given a fright when a scary hand came out from the vending machine door to grab for them. Halloween or not, we will certainly be avoiding all free vending machines in future!
Carrie’s telekinetic cafe
To celebrate the movie remake of Stephen King’s famous novel, Carrie, the promotional stunt team, Thinkmodo, created a telekinetic coffee shop in New York to spook customers. Coffee lovers were left running for the door after tables and chairs mysteriously scraped across the floor, books fell from shelves, pictures smashed to the floor and even a ‘customer’ – we really mean actor here! – was thrown against the wall by another ‘customer’ after she flew into a telekinetic ‘Carrie-style’ rage. Almost as terrifying as the book itself!
Overnight stay in the world’s largest cemetery, anyone?
Airbnb are no strangers to quirky PR stunts and this Halloween is no exception. This year, to mark the spookiest night in the calendar, Airbnb is offering a haunted getaway in the Paris Catacombs. To be in a chance of winning this unforgettable experience, entrants must explain why they are brave enough to sleep amongst the bones and skulls of the French buried in the Catacombs in the 18th and 19th centuries. The lucky couple will win a free overnight stay in what is described as ‘the resting place of over 6 million souls’. Do you think you’re daring enough to handle it?
