Nostalgia Drives Halloween as Brands Revive Classic Ads

Treasure trove

The message of the callbacks is clear: Nostalgia still sells, and it’s as hot as ever in adland. And because the industry continues to trot out past winners, expect to see more familiar ads during the upcoming end-of-year holiday rush. 

Reese’s “Skeleton Dance” is the best-performing spot of the Halloween season so far, per research from System1, which found that it helped “break away from typical product-focused ads, proving the power of consistency and distinctive brand assets.”

Culling the archives is smart marketing, especially in the current belt-tightening environment, the researcher said.

“Re-running successful ads allows brands to allocate more budget toward media spend rather than production costs,” Vanessa Chin, System1’s senior vice president of marketing, told ADWEEK. Such ads “can create a strong emotional bond with consumers, making them more likely to engage” while reinforcing brand identity and trust.

It may be impossible to predict a hit, but once consumers latch onto a piece of work, “it’s already validated,” Marcus said, “which gives you a blanket of comfort.”

With major fourth-quarter holidays on the horizon, brands may follow suit, with Chin noting that “ads do not wear out as quickly as marketers may think.”

Spending sweet spot

With a few weeks to go until Halloween, inflation is expected to take a toll on consumer spending, while shrinkflation could mean trick-or-treating kids need to add more houses to their route to end up with the same haul (in ounces and pounds) as in previous years.

Candy shoppers tend to wait until the last minute—with sales spiking shortly before the holiday and peaking the day-of—though 37% of consumers say they may cut back on sweets spending this year, per an 84.51º study.

Overall consumers are expected to shell out $11.6 billion on the holiday, slightly less than 2023’s record-smashing $12.2 billion.