Halloween Goes Political and Starbucks Launches Free Coffee Promo

Halloween in now over and Election Day is around the corner. The election played a big role in the choice of American's Halloween costumes with an estimated 574,000 adults dressing up to resemble a political figure. Along with the candidates Batman was also a very popular costumes due to this year's blockbuster hit The Dark Knight according to the National Retail Federation’s 2008 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions survey, conducted by BIGresearch. Batman came in at No. 6 for adults, No. 8 for children and No. 16 for pets.

The survey also estimated 2008 Halloween spending was to reach $5.77 billion, despite the economy. “Halloween is serving as a nice reprieve for many Americans this year,” said Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy at BIGresearch. “Whether they hosted their own party or hit the streets trick-or-treating with their children, consumers want Halloween costumes to reflect their creativity.”

Sarah Palin costumes were very popular among females this year and Tina Fey of course takes the prize as the No.1 best impersonation of the VP Candidate. Here's the spoof she did on Saturday Night Live last night with John McCain. It's just too funny. You have to give McCain some credit for being such a good sport, even when the script has "Palin" going rouge and promoting a Palin in 2012 t-shirt for sale!

NBC developed this widget with the video which was very easy to find online this morning and it encourages viral marketing by providing several options to easily embed into your favorite social media sites. I put it on my Facebook profile as well.

Starbucks teamed up with NBC on this widget and used the SNL hype last night to launch their Election Day promotion which they will be giving away coffee on Nov. 4th.  Voters simply need to cast a vote, then tell the barista at their local Starbucks and they'll receive a tall cup of brewed coffee at no charge. Starbucks says "In the best tradition of democracy, we are using the honor system for proof of voting. "All consumers need to do is visit a participating Starbucks on Election Day and say that they voted. The Starbucks TV ad automatically runs at the end of the SNL skit.

So we have a bit of pop culture working into both our Halloween and our Election Day this year. Google also got in on the Halloween fun this year and sent us at the agency this Halloween greeting created by their new Ad Display Builder. I haven't tried it yet, but they claim they made this ad in two minutes.

Lastly, before Halloween '08 is a faint memory, you have up until Nov. 7th to enter your pet in the Better Homes and Gardens Halloween Pet Costume Photo Contest. Judges will vote on round 1 on Nov. 14th and select 20 finalists who will be posted online. The public can vote on their favorite up until Nov. 23rd. The winner will receive a Flip Video Mino Series Camcorder, a Philips 9-Inch Digital Picture Frame and a $200 VISA gift card. Four runners-up will each receive a $75 VISA gift card. So get those pet photos in now. As of today there are 246 photo uploaded. I'm a golden retriever lover, so this is my favorite.

Happy Belated Halloween. I hope you had a good one. And don't forget to vote on Tuesday!

Comments

[Bihter]

Hi Donna,

Just wanted to say that I've started reading your blog. I'm wondering if you have heard about the book, "What Men Don't Tell Women About Business". I heard the guy (Chris Flett) on the Today Show and thought you probably have already heard of him. I'm wondering what your thoughts were. He seems to be really taking on the 'Old Boys Club". I just emailed him, but haven't heard back.

Anyway, keep up the great writing.

Best,

Bihter.

[Donna DeClemente]

Hi Bihter,
Welcome to my blog and glad to have you on board. I'm not familiar with Chris Flett and the book he's written. I just looked it up on Amazon and it sounds interesting. I'll have to ask my friend Yvonne DiVita who's the lead blogger on Lipsticking.com that I guest blog on. This blog is about Marketing to Women Online and Yvonne's an expert in this area - she also wrote a book titled "Dickless Marketing".

I'd love to learn more so if you hear back from Chris please let me know.

[Yvonne DiVita]

Hi Donna. You are right, I do know about Chris Flett and his book. I wrote about it on my blog in May [ http://www.lipsticking.com/2008/05/the-alpha-woman.html ] I had some positive reactions to his book, and some negative ones. His view of Alpha Women and how women don't 'get' networking is worth discussion.

I wonder what the mainstream media would be doing if a woman had written this book??? (they'd be calling her a poor sport and labeling her with the "witch" word, IMHO)

[Yvonne DiVita]

Oh, I forgot to mention how much I enjoyed this post. And, I got my free coffee at Starbucks. It was great! LOVE the dog pic. A treasure.

[Donna DeClemente]

Thanks Yvonne for your insights into Chris Flett's book. I've got to read this now. I agree with your comment that if you or another women wrote the book it may have been interpreted much more differently.

Glad you got your Starbucks yesterday. I didn't make it there. My daughter did though.
What a great last 24 hours it has been!

[Bihter]

Hi Donna,

I've been doing some additional research on the author, Chris Flett, that I talked about on my last comment. His company is "GhostCEO" (www.GhostCEO.com) and his book is a bestseller. I found it on Amazon here. Anyway, he was in the NY Times last Sunday under the "Career Couch" and he makes reference to women's blogs like yours so I thought you might like to connect. I'd like to see you interview him and see what he's all about. I saw on another blog he was a guest blogger. His email is: chris@ghostceo.com

Best wishes,

Bihter.

[Donna DeClemente]

Thanks Bihter for the info on Chris Flett. I'll look into it and see if I can get an interview with him. I'll have to read his book first though.