Halloween is a critical time for confectionery, leading to intense competition as numerous brands vie for attention. To seize this high-sales opportunity, Sour Patch Kids aimed to own the season and outshine competitors. The key was to engage with our primary target audience, Gen Z, a demographic highly coveted by all brands.

With 48% of Gen Z associating social media to feelings of anxiety and depression, Sour Patch Kids opted to tackle TikTok terror instead of addressing typical Halloween tropes. We sought out an individual who resonated with the dark side of social more than anyone - pop icon Rebecca Black. After releasing her viral hit song "Friday" at just 13-years old, critics quickly labelled it as the "worst song ever made," and countless haters created parodies of her debut song. However, Black persevered and continued her music career. She was the perfect choice to record and interpret an original TikTok song called "Can’t Outrun The Ghost" telling Gen Z to not be embarrassed of who they are, or were. On the contrary. The message was clear - one decision does not define you, and nor does what they say about it online.

Aware that Gen Z has outgrown trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving, Sour Patch Kids chose to take a different approach this year, unlike most competitors. Instead of being spooked by typical Halloween ghosts, Gen Z is often kept awake by their personal insecurities. Even though this generation finds a lot of joy, connectivity, and self-expression in using social media, it was also negatively affecting their self-image more than any other generation.

Often, Gen Z feel embarrassed about certain awkward teenage phases, such as the infamous emo phase. To cast these cringe-worthy memories in a more positive light, Sour Patch Kids turned to TikTok, Gen Z's preferred platform. Not only does this platform reach over 70% of this demographic in the US, but it's also where Gen Z embraces their quirky past selves in playful ways - perfectly aligning with the brand's ethos.

First, Rebecca Black launched the original TikTok track called "Can't Outrun The Ghost". The song was the perfect blend of spooky Halloween sounds, hints to Rebecca’s iconic debut song and subtle brand cues. The accompanying TikTok music video, that saw her transform back into the "Friday" era, served as the launch of our TikTok hashtag challenge #GhostsFromYourPast. With the help of premium ad placement, Branded Mission (used for the first time by SPK), we were able to activate hundreds of TikTok creators and have them create content, putting their own twist on the challenge. Top-performing creator videos were then turned into paid ads that inspired our audience to follow suit.

#GhostsFromYourPast took over TikTok feeds and earned 25% of TikTok confectionary impressions during Halloween, surpassing 6 key competitors. Moreover, our campaign impressions exceeded the TikTok norms by nearly 20%.

We outpaced the category significantly (25% for Sour Patch Kids vs 3% for the category) resulting in outsized market share gains of +1.42pts. Additionally, distribution grew by +19%.

Our campaign garnered hundreds of creator participations and 2.5M engagements, resulting in a 16% engagement rate that exceeded the TikTok median by 17%. The engagement rate of Rebecca Black’s music video outperformed the TikTok category benchmark by 80% and the Sour Patch YTD TikTok average by 220%.

Last but not least, fans praised Black's comeback and streamed her original TikTok song more than 25 million times.