BOO’ING - Boo (bo?o) v. the act of neighbors secretly leaving bundles of treats on each other’s doorsteps in the weeks leading up to Halloween.

Mars/Wrigley and Walmart came together to introduce shoppers to this brand-new Halloween tradition (Booing), a do-it-yourself Halloween activity for the entire family.

Shoppers first created their Booing bundles online or in-store. Then they dropped off those bundles at their neighbor’s homes, creating a chain-reaction of neighbors ‘Booing’ each other throughout the community. Because the idea was to ‘Boo’ your friends and family multiple times leading up to Halloween night, the activity reinforced the need to buy candy and other Booing supplies early and often.

With Mars/Wrigley brands fueling the engagement and Walmart positioned as the official Boo’ing headquarters, other categories and entertainment partners like American Greetings and Sony also joined in. In-store demos, product promotions, inspirational social content and ‘Build-Your-Boo’ing’ kits fed the Booing excitement.

Since the idea centered around shoppers ‘Booing’ multiple times throughout the weeks leading up to Halloween night, we activated the program nationally in mid-September with displays, POS and merchandising. Activating with partner brands like American Greetings and Sony’s ‘Ghostbusters ’ gave us additional displays out of the candy category.

In-store demonstrations featuring ‘Build-Your-Booing Kit’ stations created an awareness of the new Booing tradition, while engaging shoppers with entertaining ways to build bundles.

Walmart.com shoppers created and shipped customized Booing bundles, allowing them to ‘Boo’ people near and far.

Social content drove commerce with influencers creating inspirational Booing thought-starters. #BooitForward featured brand, UGC and influencer Booing content and showcased the many ways people were Booing each other. Content created awareness and drove shoppers to their nearby Walmart for Booing supplies.

Earned media and PR amplified the idea through national press outlets, driving further activation at the national and local level.

Commercialized an emerging seasonal trend and brought it to America’s largest retailer, ultimately delivering Mars’ largest Halloween sales in Walmart history.

“Boo’ing” delivered a 91.46% sell-through of Mars and Wrigley candy, exceeding Mars/Wrigley’s total sell-through target goal.

Mars chocolate sales were up +7.1% and Wrigley sales up +4% vs. YAG.

And, Mars and Wrigley led the category at Walmart, gaining +0.8 share points to lead Halloween

Over 6-weeks, the program garnered 317.4MM online impressions with 237MM through social influencer content.

Engagement rates across targeted mobile media and YouTube exceeded the benchmarks with an amazing 27% VCR (video click-through rate) on YouTube.

Mars sales on Walmart.com doubled from 2015 to 2016.