Coca-Cola Claimed Christmas. Now Fanta Wants Halloween.

Move over, pumpkin spice. Orange soda is here to claim its spot as the true drink of spooky season.

“Halloween should be to Fanta what Christmas is to Coke,” Ibrahim Khan, global vice president of marketing for Fanta at The Coca-Cola Company, told ADWEEK as the brand launched its biggest-ever global promotion around the occasion.

In partnership with Universal Pictures and indie horror production shop Blumhouse, Fanta will bring four horror icons, including Chucky, Freddy Fazbear, and M3gan, to cans in more than 50 markets, including the U.K., U.S, and India, in the run-up to Oct. 31.

In honor of the holiday, a new flavor, “Chucky’s Punch,” has also been introduced to Fanta’s line-up. QR codes on the side of the cans offer fans access to exclusive content and experiences themed around the characters, stopping at nothing to get their hands on Fanta.

The tie-up will be amplified through retail marketing and a mix of paid, organic, and influencer campaigns on platforms including TikTok. Broadcast will feature in some markets, with a live event planned in New York City.

Bringing Fanta back to life

The Universal partnership follows Fanta’s Halloween 2024 Beetlejuice collab with Warner Bros.

Khan said Fanta has activated around spooky season for almost a decade, but in a “very fragmented way.” Last year’s effort marked the first time the brand ran a global campaign.

“It was hugely successful, it didn’t just bring the dead back to life, it brought our business back too,” he said. “So it’s no surprise we wanted to build on that this year.”

“Halloween as a festival is becoming insanely big and global,” added Khan, even in markets where it is not a traditional moment in the calendar.

Per data from the National Retail Federation, Halloween spending in the U.S. hit $11.6 billion in 2024.

Khan said the “teen-centric” holiday was becoming “very big and very core” to Fanta’s brand strategy.