Have you ever needed to pick a costume for a Halloween party, but wanted to look like yourself? Marketers can face a similar dilemma when changing packaging or dressing up their limited-time offers during the spooky season. But consistently utilising Distinctive Assets could be the difference between a trick or a treat this Halloween, writes Jordan White, William Caruso and Carlos Villanueva from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute.
The need to be selectively spooky
In the US, Halloween spending is predicted to reach $13.1 billion this year, with around a third of this figure ($3.9 billion) from candy sales alone. Festive seasons such as Halloween present opportunities for brands to exercise their spooky and creative flair, updating packaging or introducing limited-time offers that align with the season to capture attention and drive short-term sales. But marketers should remember they needn’t kill their branding this Halloween.
Several brands are joining the craze, adapting packaging or introducing spooky limited-time offers. From pumpkin pie M&Ms to luminescent monsters on 19 Crimes wine bottles, the Halloween spirit is everywhere*. But it takes more than spirit to stand out when dressing your product in a new costume.
Brand managers are more likely to redesign limited-time only products
Research from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute reveals that brand managers adapting limited-time only products are more likely to change a larger proportion of packaging when compared to long-term changes.
Ehrenberg-Bass Institute senior marketing scientist, Caruso, found limited-time redesigns had 43 per cent similarity compared to the original packaging, whereas long-term redesigns had 70 per cent similarity. This suggests, for the short-term, managers are more willing to make larger design changes.
In particular, design images and colours were among the elements significantly more likely to be changed. Thus, seasonal offerings or limited-edition changes, such as those introduced during Halloween, often increase the likelihood of unnecessary alterations to branding. While these short-term updates may be engaging for marketers, it is important to keep customers and the long-term integrity of the brand in mind.
Are you sending your brand assets to the graveyard?
Consumers live distracted lives. They have costumes to plan, candy to stock up on, and much else on their minds. It might frighten some marketers, but consumers simply don’t have the time or mental space to think about brands.
Instead, shopping is largely habitual. Consumers rely on visual cues (or heuristics) to navigate cluttered retail environments easily and save time. These visual shortcuts are Distinctive Assets: non-brand-name assets that trigger the brand in consumer memory.
Hence, sudden or short-term branding changes risk confusing customers. For instance, shoppers may come looking for your usual packaging, but risk switching to a competitor if they cannot easily find their usual option.
Don’t let seasonal branding be a horror story
Halloween and other seasonal events don’t have to lead to branding nightmares. You can still join in the fun while staying recognisably you. When planning any seasonal or limited-edition branding change, think long-term. Updates should be strategic and subtle – an evolution, not a revolution.
Be cautious about matching the theme too literally. Turning your entire pack orange to “fit Halloween” might seem clever, but it can easily backfire. If shoppers can’t quickly spot your usual pack on shelf, they may grab a competitor instead. The goal is to participate in the season without losing your brand’s recognisable identity.
Instead, create within your brand. Use your existing Distinctive Assets as anchors and layer in seasonal cues around them. Small design tweaks (not complete redesigns) allow you to look relevant while still looking like you.
Distinctive Assets to the rescue!
The long-term goal of branding should be to develop Distinctive Assets. These elements include audio and visual branding devices such as logos, packaging, taglines, characters, fonts, jingles, and more.
Distinctive Assets are learned over time and stored in memory, helping buyers make quick mental links between a branding cue and your brand. When strong, they allow you to participate in events like Halloween without losing recognition, because your assets, not your colours or short-term themes, do the heavy lifting.
How to design seasonal or limited-edition pack
A shared name should always mean a shared brand identity. When a seasonal pack looks disconnected from the core range, it risks confusing buyers and weakening brand memory cues. Ideally, shoppers should be able to tell immediately that your seasonal pack belongs to your brand family – even when the brand name itself isn’t visible.
What you can vary depends on how strong your Distinctive Assets are. To make confident design choices, first ask yourself: Do I know my Distinctive Assets’ Fame and Uniqueness? You need to be clear about what each element on pack is doing – whether it’s acting as a Distinctive Asset or a Messaging Device.
Understanding this difference helps ensure your seasonal creativity supports recognition rather than replacing it.
Beware the potential downsides of seasonality
Even the most successful limited-editions can create long-term risks. If the event overshadows your brand, shoppers may remember the theme more than you. And if a seasonal campaign becomes a “big” success, yearly sales may start depending on it, forcing you to keep producing new limited editions just to maintain results. Seasonal design should celebrate the moment without sacrificing what makes your brand famous. Keep your Distinctive Assets front and centre, and make sure even your Halloween pack still looks unmistakably like you.
Remember, Distinctive Assets make the brand easier to find, standing out in cluttered environments, and provide creative options. Brands with Distinctive Assets can match the season while still looking like themselves. Take the famous McDonald’s arches, for example, which make a scary yet distinctive advertisement (below).
