How Haribo and Edelman's Partnership is Helping Kids and Parents at Halloween

Trick or treating at Halloween is a growing tradition for Brits. This year,  £776 million in retail spend has been forecast around spooky season, up from £474 million in 2019.

But not everyone is prepared for gangs of disguised kids arriving on their doorstep. Many have to raid the cupboards for a packet of old stale biscuits, leaving the kids disappointed and the homeowner wishing they’d just switched the lights out and pretended not to be home instead.

A new survey from confectionary-maker Haribo has discovered that 70 per cent of families agree that it’s important to get Halloween right for children, although 60 per cent of grown-ups also confessed to hiding behind the curtains instead of answering the door when the bell rings that evening.

In response, the brand wanted to find a solution to support the children who put a lot of work into their costumes, leading to a creative solution that exemplifies the partnership that it has formed with agency Edelman.

“Halloween has bags of potential to become a bigger and bigger event in the UK,” Phil Murphy, VP of marketing at Haribo UK and Ireland tells Creative Salon.  “The Halloween occasion is one where everyone can get involved, and no doubt will continue to grow as grown-ups share the Halloween fun in the future!”

A campaign that is 'Monsters Approved'

Having been appointed Haribo’s strategic partner in May 2023, this is the second campaign for Halloween that Edelman has produced for the brand. It is a continuation of last year’s ‘Monster’s Approved’ concept but in a much expanded form.

The initial social media campaign acted as a Public Service Announcement where Halloween monsters put their foot down against the poor quality of sweet treats they were receiving on doorsteps. This year, things have gone up a notch with the addition of the ‘emergency service’ Treatline adults can call to provide an ultrafast delivery of sweets, formed in partnership with GoPuff.

Additional creative assets have also been developed for this year, including glow-in-the-dark OOH displays in Manchester and Peckham, online video, paid social, creators and earned media activity.

And it is that mindset and experience around earned media that has led the Edelman team to develop a concept that focuses on a social truth, underlining an issue with a solution that may drive consumer interest and conversation to grow awareness.

“We had a strategic line that we jumped from which was: ‘There’s nothing scarier at Halloween than getting the wrong sweets.' That was the one thing we kept coming back to – whatever the reaction, it’s the looks on those kids' faces,” reveals James Woods, executive creative director for Edelman.

Both parents and children are the audience for this campaign that aims to generate “fair reward” for the efforts being made in preparation.

Behind the partnership

Haribo is one of the biggest brands activating around Halloween in the UK currently. To capitalise on the evident opportunity, it was looking for a point of view that consumers would respond to and a campaign that would do more than promote its range of sweets but support parents too.

Edelman began researching, speaking to children about what they felt and were excited by on Halloween and the amount of time they put into their costumes. Some admitted to spending weeks in advance getting ready. The team then spoke with parents about the items they had given away, only to discover embarrassment from their responses. That was something Haribo could play a role in and support, helping it to stand out from everyone else during the season.

“Last year, we always thought we could go bigger,” states Woods of the potential. And having heard the stories from adults, “we felt like we’d only scratched the surface and that we could go for a broader and wider approach.”

Woods continues to discuss the background and the development of the campaign, describing Haribo and its UK and Ireland marketing leader Phil Murphy as “great partners” right from the pitching process onwards.

He reveals that Murphy, when running the initial pitch process for the account, wanted to write an individual brief alongside each agency, meaning that every competitor would be working with a different challenge - an unusual approach.

“’I'm as interested in how we can work with you on writing a brief as I am the end result. I want to see how you work. I want to see how you think. I want to be in the room.’ And that's very much how we've worked since the first,” Wood says of Murphy’s appointment process.

It was the amount of effort that kids put into their costumes that most excited the marketer who was looking for insights on culture and the audience. “That’s where we always start,” Woods adds. So, the Edelman team ideated from there.

So powerful was that first insight that instead of seeking a new concept, this year saw Haribo build on what could yet be a long-running brand platform with 'Monsters Approved'.

Woods adds that, like himself, the account's planning lead also has a background in advertising - creative strategy director Alex Sullivan having also worked at Fallon.

“What we're interested in are insights that are really human, which is what interests us with PR and earned and with Edelman. We start somewhere human and cultural and earned and we think then, if you start there, you should, you could, go into pure earned or social, digital, above the line. And that’s what Phil meant when he told us ‘I think this is bigger than you think.;”

The rest of the creative department also has above-the-line backgrounds, with experience that has evolved across digital and earned media. There are also Earned and Social Media teams that work with each campaign and build out the potential of their ideas and insights.

The insights they seek to generate earned media always begin with the question “Why would anyone care?” before developing a point of view for the client that aims to be both interesting and true. And Woods believes that if a campaign is built around that, it can run across any medium effectively.

And with Haribo, especially around the season of Halloween, it appears that the partnership has begun to focus on an occasion that may run and run. Certainly, Murphy sees further potential, not just for his own brand but for others, to make more of the monsterous moment.

"Seasonal occasions fly by and are particularly crowded and competitive presenting a challenge for any marketers looking to make investment choices, and I think the jury is still out on how long you can really elongate seasons,” claims Murphy.

“Haribo and Halloween synchronise particularly well given the product relevancy and shared values making it a great way to engage with our target consumer. Our goal is always to have a distinctive point of view to enhance the experience rather than simply badging the occasion, which will always feel a little generic,” he continues. “For Haribo it is all about creating a little more happiness in the world for kids and grown-ups alike,  encouraging participation by asking grown-ups to reappraise their level of participation in the Halloween seasonal event makes a lot of sense for us.”