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- 'Tis the [Spirit Halloween] Season
Brand: Spirit Halloween
Campaign: Halloween Push
Read time: 7 minutes
💬 Overview 💬
‘Tis the season.
And no, it’s not Christmas yet despite every retailers dream to start bring in Q4 sales during Q3.
Every vacant real estate place in your city is being taken over by the one, the only Spirit Halloween.
In this edition of The Branded Moment, we’ll be dissecting Spirit Halloween’s business model and how the retailer uses 1 big quarterly push to drive all revenue and reduce unnecessary costs.
Let’s get into it…
💙 The Branded Moment 💙
Every year, Spirit Halloween takes over vacant retail spaces in your neighborhood, transforming old Sears, J.C. Penney, or Macy’s stores into spooky wonderlands.
By late August, their banners are up, inflatables are out, and the store is stocked with costumes and decorations.
The setup is simple but effective. The interiors are cordoned off with vinyl banners and freestanding slatwall panels, and the merchandise is displayed in a straightforward, standardized, scalable way.
During the Halloween season, Spirit operates over 1,400 of these store locations in North America….
But the true genius of Spirit Halloween's model lies in its temporary nature.
Instead, Spirit Halloween swoops in, sets up shop for JUST two months, maximizes sales during the Halloween season, and then vanishes like a ghost by early November, mitigating all full-time labor, 12-month lease, and utility costs.
The business hinges on:
Occupying spaces that would otherwise remain vacant, securing short-term leases at favorable rates.
Decorations are easy to assemble and break down, which allows them to efficiently enter and exit markets while maintaining high profitability.
Capturing demand at just the right moment—when Halloween shopping is at its peak—without getting stuck with the costs of operating year-round.
Speaking of its marketing… the brand has millions of followers across their social channels and leverages them to drop new costumes and inspo.
They also post coupons to smooth demand and drive people to their stores earlier.
They’ve started to leverage their IP and capabilities in unique ways like a co-branded Chipotle partnership and even through a full-length Hollywood film.
It’s all so genius.
💡 Results 💡
10% of US Halloween Spending
Spirit Halloween manages to capture about 10% of all Halloween spending in the US.
In 2021, Halloween spending reached $10.1 billion, with the average household spending over $100…
When you break it down, about 35% of Halloween spending goes to specialty stores like Spirit Halloween.
This means Spirit Halloween owns nearly 30% of the entire market for costumes and decorations.
INSANE.
Unsurprisingly, the retailers most popular day is none other than October 31, BUT did you know the next most popular day?
It’s rumored to be November 1.
The only thing Spirit Halloween-goers love more than a costume is a good deal.
🎬 Take Action 🎬
The Halloween businesses relies heavily on FOMO marketing, using LTO messaging to encourage customers to act quickly.
Their marketing is heavily focused on the Halloween experience, with fun, spooky themes and a sense of nostalgia.
They also are not afraid to lean into the tropes around their business.
My takeaways?
Weaponize seasonality. Don’t be afraid to create anticipation & FOMO around any events or seasons that are heavily tied to your business.
Leverage FOMO. Let customers know that time is running out, and encourage them to be a part of something bigger.
Own your niche: Spirit Halloween DOMINATES their space. Is there a holiday, date, season, that you can own?
What’s New This Week
One new product I tried this week 👉 Sweet Loren’s Sugar Cookie (Dough) - It’s branded as better-for-you cookie dough. Is is actually better on a macro-stand point? No. But are they delicious and you feel better eating them? Hard yes.
One new campaign I’m loving 👉 I wrote about the U.S. Open last week. Big fan of the activations I had been seeing trickle in across social.
One new show/piece of content/podcast to watch 👉 Sir Kensington How I Built This - It’s about a year old, but there are a lot of challenger CPG brand nuggets in there.
Brandkeeping
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it on to 3 marketers you know!
And if you have a brand or campaign you want to spotlight, please reply directly to this newsletter.
Let’s chat!
See ya!
Ali
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