Fanta turns Halloween into its own brand IP – after 7 billion earned impressions

Fanta is turning Halloween into a lasting brand project. After two years of licensed horror characters, the Coca-Cola brand 2026 is building its own world for the first time with Fanta's Haunted Universe, made up of characters, stories, packaging and digital experiences. The move is especially interesting because Fanta has already shown how strongly a seasonal occasion can scale on social media.

In a recent conversation with ADWEEK, Fanta marketing chief Ibrahim Khan put the reach of the previous Halloween activation at more than 7 billion impressions from fan-generated content without paid media spend. The figure comes from Fanta and is therefore a company statement. It cannot be read as an independently audited reach value. Nevertheless, it explains why the brand no longer treats Halloween merely as a campaign window.

From licensed characters to an own brand world

2025 Fanta worked worldwide with Universal Pictures and Blumhouse. Chucky, Freddy Fazbear, M3gan, The Grabber and other horror figures appeared on cans and in digital activations. QR codes on the packaging led to additional content and experiences.

2026 Fanta is changing the logic. The Haunted Universe consists of four original characters based on classic horror archetypes such as vampires, werewolves and ghosts. The world was developed together with the entertainment studio GRAiL. In parallel, licensed IP remains part of the system: Ghost Face is integrated into the new universe as the first external horror character.

In doing so, Fanta shifts the value of the campaign. A licensing partnership ends with the contract. An original character, story world or recurring seasonal narrative, on the other hand, can be developed further over years.

Why social media here is more than distribution

The 7 billion figure from the ADWEEK conversation is mainly interesting as a signal of the mechanism behind the strategy. Fanta is not trying to run a single spot as often as possible. The brand is building assets that users can carry forward: characters, collectible packaging, horror codes, memes, TikTok formats and recurring seasonal motifs.

Exactly this logic is currently appearing more often in brand marketing. Cadbury, for example, combines a classic campaign with an episodic social series and fashion activations. CAKES Body even builds its own entertainment division from TikTok reach. And Chili's now explicitly measures cultural relevance via TikTok buzz and earned views.

For Fanta, Halloween is therefore less a media plan than a recurring content system.

Germany: what is actually visible on the official campaign page

The German Fanta Halloween page shows four original characters with stories: Howlie, Haystacks, FRNX and Drayk. It lists Forest Berries, Orange, Orange Zero Sugar and Exotic as German limited-edition variants. This means there is a concretely accessible brand world in Germany – not just a global campaign announcement. Ghost Face is listed as a licensed character in the international concept; the Ghost Face Punch flavour announced for North America must not automatically be treated as a German product offer.

In the ADWEEK podcast of 27 October, marketing chief Ibrahim Khan also describes the selection criterion: not every cultural event suits every brand. For Fanta, Halloween fits the product and the usage situation. That is a strategic statement by the company, not evidence of additional sales.

From social buzz to the shelf: what can be measured

How a brand world can be put to work in retail is documented by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners for Great Britain. There, the 2026 activation supports limited-edition packaging with paid social, influencer content, digital advertising, out-of-home advertising and experiences. For Halloween 2025, the bottler, citing Nielsen, reports a Fanta share of 17,4 percent of flavoured carbonated drinks sold in the British market. This market-share figure measures neither the success of the new characters nor the additional purchases driven by social media.

For reliable campaign reporting, at least the product sales of participating retailers, QR code usage and repeat participation would need to be analysed separately from reach, organic fan content and paid impressions. The 7 billion earned impressions figure from the previous campaign, in particular, is no proof of sales or ROI without methodology, time period and comparison group.

Owned IP does not automatically cut costs

The strategy still has limits. Owned characters first have to build awareness. Licensed characters bring existing fandoms along immediately. Fanta addresses this 2026 with a hybrid model: its own characters for long-term brand value and Ghost Face as a well-known cultural shorthand.

For marketing teams, this is an important distinction. Anyone who wants to build their own brand world needs a longer horizon than a single seasonal campaign. Recognisable characters, clear visual codes and recurring formats must stay consistent across several activations.

The relevant metric is therefore not just the impression count of a single peak. More interesting is whether Fanta can activate the Haunted Universe 2027 and beyond again, and whether its own characters can generate enough attention without large licensed IP.

From licensed characters to an own brand world

Why social media here is more than distribution

Germany: what is actually visible on the official campaign page

From social buzz to the shelf: what can be measured

Owned IP does not automatically cut costs

Sources