5 Brand Campaigns That Haunted Our Feeds This Halloween

From zombie Santas to tailgate monsters, brands got into character this Halloween. But hot take: compared to last year's lineup, this spooky season felt a little tame.

2025 set a high bar. Our roundup had a jacket with a will stitched into the lining, a chair with 80% of its seat cut away, and Gushers' "Fruit Head," a long-form horror film starring Bradley Whitford that turned the candy's classic commercials into a twisted origin story.

This year, brands revived old characters, borrowed from horror movies and invented a few new monsters. There's fun work in the mix, but nothing had quite the bite of Fruit Head.

Here are five Halloween campaigns worth a look.

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1. Twix “Hallowmas”

Twix’s Hallowmas campaign is back for a second year, built around Zombie Claus: a Santa who’s been turned undead by a zombie bite. In the film, he blends Halloween and Christmas into one holiday, spreading scares and holiday cheer in equal measure. The idea plays off the brand’s “two is more than one” message.

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2. Rivian x Ghostbusters “Halloween Mode”

Rivian partnered with Sony Pictures to bring the Ghostbusters universe to its brand, with Bill Murray returning for a Ghostbusters reunion in the campaign’s spot. The campaign centers on “Halloween Mode,” which puts the franchise’s look and sound inside Rivian’s vehicles, and it’s paired with a full-scale Ecto-R1 inspired by the original Ecto-1.

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3. Credit One Bank “Credit Scaries”

Credit One brought back its Credit Wreckers for a horror movie parody. A group of credit cards with faces is trapped in a cabin in the woods, and the villains pick them off one by one: Cancelina grabs the scissors, Max Out runs one into the ground, and One Track Jack drags another off to his lair. The message underneath the scares is that people can bounce back from credit mistakes with the right tools and education.

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4. Liquid Death “Easy-Drinking Energy for People-Drinking Vampires”

Liquid Death’s Halloween campaign pitches its limited-edition raspberry cream energy drink to an unexpected audience: vampires. The spot positions it as a blood-free alternative and a gentler kind of energy drink. 

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5. Garage Beer x Kingsford “Terrors of the Tailgate”

Garage Beer and Kingsford recast familiar tailgate rituals as Halloween monsters, from the Table Smasher to the Cooler Raider. In the hero film, Garage Beer co-owner Jason Kelce plays the “King of the Tailgate” and leads the hunt, while Kingsford’s own creature, the Flamekeeper, rules the grill. The whole campaign is styled after ’90s sports marketing, down to a set of collectible trading cards.

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Most of this year's campaigns leaned on a character or cast, from Zombie Claus and the Credit Wreckers to vampires and tailgate monsters. Plenty of sequels and returning favorites, but no breakout like Fruit Head. Here's hoping next year brings back the scares. Happy Halloween from all of us at redpepper.