• by Larissa Faw , October 27, 2020

Agencies may not be able to celebrate Halloween as they have in past years with in-person costume parties and parties, but several agencies are still conjuring up the holiday spirit with various initiatives.

This year, Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (BSSP) is introducing a special Instagram filter later this week to reveal a person’s inner monster via options that include skeletons, witches and werewolves.

The filter concept builds on a unique piece of the agency’s culture through its unusual in-house Monster Museum, home to hundreds of pieces of Monster memorabilia and collectables including posters, figures, and masks. The collection was started by BSSP Co-Founder John Butler when he was nine years old and has grown to be an iconic part of the agency, including having its own Instagram account.

Chemistry tested its staff members sculpting skills via a virtual pumpkin carving event in its Atlanta office, hosted by the shop’s culture series, “Off The Rails.” The event featured 3D artist and pumpkin carver, Thomas Satcher who showed off his pumpkin-carving skills for the group.
Further north, the agency’s Pittsburgh office is focusing on tricks and treats. Each Pittsburgh staffer will receive remote Halloween goodies as they enter into a virtual haunted house, complete with scary story readings and cauldrons. Staffers will then be invited to share and discuss classic, modern and ancient spooky stories. To close out the day, a virtual costume (and background) contest will take place where all ghouls and goblins are encouraged to dress up and get down, all with the chance to win fun prizes.

The Known agency hosted its first-ever Halloween contest through a virtual competition. Employees were invited to send in Halloween pictures of themselves, family, and even their furry companions were invited to participate for a chance to win prizes. Winners are selected after a week of voting by their peers.

Mirriad’s labor of love is designed to serve as a promotional video to highlight the AI shop’s ability to integrate content in any video. The clip subtly inserts ”zombie” dead brands, such as Tower Records and Polaroid, into George Romero’s classic zombie flick, updated with the title “Night of the Living Dead Brands.”

The clip appears across Mirriad’s social media channels, including Twitter and Instagram.

Zambezi is combining advocacy with its love for the holiday through an amusing PSA to remind people to wear masks. Helmed by director Gina Kelly with Nick Castle playing Michael Myers in Halloween, the :30-second “Screamfest” opens with a trick-or-treater approaching an ominous house at twilight. As the suspense builds, a terrified person inside the house lets out a blood curdling scream when seeing the visitor on the doorstep. This pattern repeats throughout the spot, and ends with the message of “This Halloween...please wear a mask.”

This marks Zambezi’s third Covid-19 PSA campaign effort. Earlier this year the agency launched an in-store “Clean Out Coronavirus, Not Shelves” campaign which discouraged panic buying and hoarding of supplies. This was soon followed by an outdoor effort that humorously encouraged people to stay home and stop the spread of COVID-19.