Trick or treats? The Best Halloween Innovations to Hit the Shelves This Year
Halloween is fast approaching, and ahead of every spooky season our favorite brands release their limited-edition Halloween products. Whether it’s seasonal flavors, creepy new textures, spookier packaging or an entirely new product launch, brands are consistently bringing their all to make the shopping aisles a little more haunted year after year.
And this year at System1, we put these products to the test.
Our team of innovation experts used System1’s Test Your Innovation to test the latest Halloween product releases, to find out which ones shoppers most wanted to drop into their trick-or-treat bags.
So, without further ado, here are System1’s top seven Halloween innovations from the US:
7. Skittles Pop’d Creepy Crunch 3.2 Stars
Starting off at number 7, we have Skittles Pop’d Creepy Crunch, with a . The average for product launches is a 2.0 Star Rating out of a possible 5.9, putting Skittles Pop’d in the top 75-84th quartile of innovations on System1’s database of over 60,000 ideas!
The limited-edition candy plays with Halloween-themed packaging and flavor names, with freeze-dried Skittles inside the bag. This product had one of the highest levels of surprise at 19%, down to its “unique” flavor, but there is some concern about the freeze-dried texture, so it may take trial to truly win over audiences.
That being said, freeze-dried candy is having a moment as shoppers continue to hunt for variety in fun textures as well as just flavors – perhaps it just takes some getting used to. All in all, it’s the perfect sharing bag for settling in on the sofa for a Halloween movie night.
6. Jolly Rancher Trickies Minis – 4.0 Stars
Next up is Jolly Rancher, with their Gummies Trickies Minis, which scored a Strong 4.0 Star Rating. These gummies have colors that don’t match their flavors, which is the perfect “trick” for Halloween. The treat though, is it’s ‘minis’ format: individually wrapped mini bags that are ideal for trick-or-treaters or parties. 58% of respondents thought that this product’s target appeal was for children aged 7-12, showing that this is clearly a child friendly snack. This is why more people are likely to invest in the idea – they get it, it’s familiar, it makes sense for the occasion and the size is more appropriate for children.
5. Skippy Peanut Butter Shapes – 4.5 Stars
Now we enter our top five, with a Strong 4.5 Star Rating from Skippy, with new Peanut Butter Halloween Shapes. Skippy’s Peanut Butter is filled inside these milk chocolate bites, a pairing that’s hard to resist. The spooky seasonal shapes really make this product stand out, as 35% of respondents thought that the unique and festive shapes were a main advantage of the product, and 42% thought that the product couldn’t be improved. Definitely a treat, not a trick!
4. KitKat Count & Witch – 5.8 Stars
We’re now heading into ‘Exceptional’ Star Rating territory – representing the top 5% of all ideas tested by System1 – with KitKat Count & Witch bars scoring 5.8 Stars. These bars consist of KitKat’s classic crisp wafer coated in milk chocolate, but in the shape of two Halloween figures: a count and a witch. They also take the top spot for Buy Shares Rating, at 84%, the highest of any product we tested. A high Buy Shares Rating means an idea is more likely to be accepted in the real world, and this fits what we know at System1: even if people don’t like the product themselves, they can understand that it appeals to others.
Familiar flavors and festive shapes appeal the most to consumers. It’s a playful twist on a familiar classic, a theme that continues to resonate as we creep up the podium: fluent innovation. The principle whereby ideas are easier to buy if they skew towards something we already know and understand, rather than shock us. Too much surprise can present a “risk” to customers, so fluent innovations tend to balance happiness with surprise by the ratio of 80:20.
3. Snickers Pumpkins Fun Size – 5.9 Stars
A podium-placer at number three is Snickers Pumpkins Fun Size, with an Exceptional 5.9 Star Rating. It takes the classic Snickers bar and reshapes it into a seasonal pumpkin. With the highest level of happiness at 60%, Snickers Pumpkins must be a seasonal favorite. Add the added Halloween-readiness of a fun-size bag and Snickers really couldn’t go wrong.
2. Twix Skulls – 5.9 Stars
Taking the silver medal with another Exceptional 5.9 Star Rating, Twix Skulls. Just like Snickers Pumpkins, Twix kept it simple, serving up the iconic cookie, caramel and chocolate combination in the shape of a skull. And simple is clearly effective, since 93% of respondents found Twix Skulls recognizable. When the taste is already iconic, a spooky new twist is all it takes to bring shoppers back for more.
1. Oreo Filled Ghosts – 5.9 Stars
Our gold medal for Halloween innovations this year goes to Oreo Filled Ghosts. These ghost-shaped bars are filled with Oreo cookie pieces and a crème filling and coated with a dark chocolate shell. They scored Exceptional ratings across the board, with a 5.9 Star Rating, 80% Buy Shares Rating, and an Emotion-into-Action score of 83. This product is truly the “crème” of the crop, ticking every Halloween box: a much-loved flavor, a seasonal design with still-recognizable packaging, and individually wrapped for trick-or-treaters. Way to go, Oreo!
Create with Confidence®
If this year’s line-up teaches us anything, it’s that an iconic taste remixed into a seasonal design wins shoppers over time and again. It’s the 80% familiar, 20% new recipe for innovations that actually get accepted. But how do you know you’ve got the balance right before your product hits the shelves?
That’s where System1’s Test Your Innovation comes in. It shows how consumers will feel about a new idea, and how they’re likely to behave in-market, before you commit to launch.
Already brewing up your treats for next year? Speak to our innovation team today to find out how your ideas could score, and how to get the mix of familiar and new just right.