Millions of Americans (over 176 million) celebrate Halloween. It's candy's biggest day of the year. The streets are alive and in costume with trick-or-treaters. But many of those trick-or-treaters return home with candy they don't want. In fact, according to a MediaGenic study, 90% of Americans have traded or wish they could trade their unwanted candy on Halloween, with 4 out of 5 of those Americans either trading or wanting to trade for a Reese’s. Reese's is America's most-wanted candy that literally never disappoints. So, we set out to disrupt trick-or-treaters on Halloween at two of its biggest events: the Sleepy Hollow Halloween Parade and the New York City Halloween Day Parade.

Who better to solve the only real problem with Halloween (bad candy) than America's most loved candy. And since we know everyone always prefers a Reese's, we created "The Candy Converter," a one-of-a kind machine that allowed trick-or-treaters to "convert" their unwanted candy into candy they actually want– Reese's. Free to use, we intercepted trick-or-treaters and gave let them unload their unwanted candy.

Reese's target audience was candy-hungry trick-or-treaters. Based on the insight that most people are dissatisfied with their candy haul on Halloween, we proposed a solution that only Reese's could promise - a trade for something better. And, in doing so, Reese's unapologetically stole shares from our competitors, and defiantly staked our claim as the king of Halloween.

We constructed one custom Reese's Halloween vending machine. Users would deposit their unwanted candy into a slot. Once in the machine, proprietary candy technology would convert the unwanted candy into Reese's, then dispose the Reese's through a second slot on the machine. The Converter debuted in the heart of American Halloween history, in the New York town of Sleepy Hollow, during their Halloween Parade on October 28. Then on Halloween Day, we positioned the Candy Converter in the middle of New York City’s Halloween Day Parade.

Media Impressions: 2,830,000,000+

Social Impressions: 7,000,000+

Social Engagements: 247,700+

Media Spend: $0

Earned Media Stories: 1,500 (within 72-hour window)

600% increase in brand mentions vs. daily average

Reese's was the most talked-about candy brand on Halloween, owning 45% of the overall category conversation volume.