{"id":39932,"date":"2026-10-29T14:33:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T21:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/?p=39932"},"modified":"2026-10-29T14:33:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T21:33:56","slug":"why-candy-brands-repeat-creatives-for-halloween","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/why-candy-brands-repeat-creatives-for-halloween\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Candy Brands Repeat Creatives For Halloween"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Halloween is one of the biggest times of year for candy brands. But this year, they\u2019re taking a more subdued approach to TV advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cross-platform spend figures show that last year, candy brands spent $71.9 million on streaming and linear TV ads from Oct. 1-25. That figure was just $39.2 million in 2026, with a larger share \u2013 58.6% vs. 55.8% \u2013 being allocated to streaming year-over-year as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The shift in spend doesn\u2019t mean that candy brands are avoiding advertising altogether, though. Rather, they\u2019re shifting to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/mars-says-era-hope-for-best-advertising-over-2026-5\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">targeted, outcomes-based approaches<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And for what\u2019s still appearing on TV, there\u2019s a healthy diet of creatives from previous years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of the 20 most-seen linear TV candy ads this October, five debuted in 2024 or earlier (including the No. 2 and No. 3 most-seen). Why the emphasis on older ads?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/sage-ai\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">iSpot SAGE<\/span><\/a> data reveals that older spots like \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/ad\/AkM3\/kitkat-halloween-sounds-of-kitkat\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Halloween Sounds of KitKat<\/span><\/a>\u201c or \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/ad\/5IBP\/reeses-they-will-get-you\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">They Will Get You<\/span><\/a>,\u201d\u00a0 which stay in Halloween rotations year-after-year, are there for a reason: They\u2019re effective with consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative; width:100%; padding-top:56.25%; padding-bottom:40px;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/share\/2dg3\" style=\"position:absolute; top:0; right:0; left:0; bottom:0; width:100%; height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The single highest-scoring theme for ads from brands like KitKat and Reese\u2019s, that have clear Halloween creatives, is brand affinity (coming from respondents that already love the brand).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At a baseline, SAGE shows that both KitKat and Reese\u2019s have high likeability and top-2 box purchase intent overall. But Halloween expands upon this inherent positivity about the brands, and draws out even more likeability from consumers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the case of Butterfinger, which added a new spot \u2013 \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/ad\/BKdJ\/butterfinger-headless-horseman-halloween\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Headless Horseman Halloween<\/span><\/a>\u201d \u2013 that also introduced a marshmallow flavor with the seasonal messaging, the ad scored top-2 box purchase intent of 70%, capitalizing on brand affinity, seasonality and a new product tie-in. After debuting in 2025, that ad is the No. 1 spot in rotation once again this year in advance of Halloween.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative; width:100%; padding-top:56.25%; padding-bottom:40px;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/share\/BKdJ\" style=\"position:absolute; top:0; right:0; left:0; bottom:0; width:100%; height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Honing in on the top 15 Halloween-themed candy ads for October 2026, all outperformed candy &amp; snack category likeability norms over the last 90 days. The most-seen of those (including ads from brands like Butterfinger, KitKat, Reese\u2019s and Nerds) saw spots score likeability 15% higher than the norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With favorable results like that, it\u2019s difficult to make the case that these brands should create many (or any) new Halloween ads at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Halloween Candy Ad Takeaways To Chew On<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Natural fit<\/strong>: Halloween ads\u2019 seasonal fit is not forced. Candy is intrinsic to Halloween, so the holiday tie-in requires no creative stretch. Audiences reward that relevance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Humor lowers resistance<\/strong>: Many Halloween (and candy, in general) ads use absurdist comedy \u2013 like family pranks, or vampires living inside candy bars \u2013 that make the product appear fun instead of promotional.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Repeatable format<\/strong>: These ads don\u2019t rely on a celebrity or a complex message. It\u2019s a simple Halloween scenario, with the product as the prize or punchline. That makes for low production risk and high seasonal payoff.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Halloween is one of the biggest times of year for candy brands. But this year, they\u2019re taking a more subdued approach to TV advertising. Cross-platform spend figures show that last year, candy brands spent $71.9 million on streaming and linear TV ads from Oct. 1-25. That figure was just $39.2 million in 2026, with a&#8230; Read More<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":39935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"ispot_product_categories":[],"class_list":["post-39932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-ad-insights"],"acf":{"expiration_date":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39932"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39945,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39932\/revisions\/39945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39932"},{"taxonomy":"ispot_product_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ispot_product_categories?post=39932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}