2025 PackPower Awards: Halloween Edition

Celebrating 10 Designs That Cast A Spell

Halloween has long been one of the most creative times of the year for brands. Packaging isn’t just a wrapper; it tells a story, evokes nostalgia, and inspires shoppers to buy.

At Behaviorally, we celebrate the insights that bring great packaging to life through our PackPower Awards, powered by our PackPower Score™, the industry’s leading behavioral benchmark for predicting a pack’s ability to drive sales at the most important moment of marketing: the purchase transaction.

This is our first Halloween edition, which celebrates the 10 seasonal packaging designs that captured shoppers’ attention with a mix of eerie charm, delightful design, and purchase-driving power.

The 2025 PackPower Awards: Halloween Edition

The winning lineup spans the sweets category to showcase how brands balance creativity with pack design effectiveness around this spooky season.

Here are our 10 most effective Halloween packs:

1.  Jolly Rancher Halloween Flat Lollipops (The Hershey Company) – The bold purple background and jack-o’-lantern iconography instantly connects to the season, and clear flavor labels make it easy for parents and trick-or-treaters to find their favorites. PackPower Score - 71
2.  Ghirardelli Jack O’Lanterns Chocolate Assortment (Lindt) – This limited-edition design strikes the perfect balance: festive enough for Halloween, yet unmistakably Ghirardelli with its rich colors and premium look. PackPower Score – 70
3.  Sour Patch Kids Monster Heads (Mondelēz) – Sour Patch leans into its playful brand personality with monster-shaped gummies and bold purple-and-green design that instantly grabs attention on shelf. PackPower Score – 70
4.  Mars Minis Variety Mix of 3 Musketeers, Milky Way, Snickers, Twix (Mars Inc.) – The witch-themed window design cleverly showcases the variety inside while reinforcing brand block impact, which drives recognition and multi-brand appeal. PackPower Score – 68
5.  Maynards Bassetts Spooky Gums (Mondelēz) – This European favorite perfectly balances playfulness with appetite appeal. The haunted mansion backdrop and graveyard imagery set the tone, while the vibrant gummies pop against a moody green sky, balancing brand familiarity with Halloween excitement. PackPower Score – 68
6.  Peeps Marshmallow Pumpkins (Just Born Quality Confections) – Iconic simplicity at its best. Peeps proves that recognizable shapes and vibrant seasonal color can evoke nostalgia and drive repeat seasonal purchase. PackPower Score - 67
7.  Tic Tac Trick-or-Treat Sour Cherry (Ferrero) – Minimal yet bold, this Halloween Tic Tac design turns the iconic mints into a seasonal novelty through the simple black-and-orange cat visual, tapping into impulse purchase behavior. PackPower Score - 67
8.  Pocky Chocolate Halloween Edition (Glico) – This fun limited-edition design from Asia brings a touch of kawaii charm, with playful bats and cartoon vampires appealing to a younger audience. PackPower Score - 66
9.  PEZ Dispensers (Hass Family) – Bold, playful, and unmistakably festive, this Halloween pack turns classic PEZ dispensers into a seasonal treat. With a smiling pumpkin on the bag and a variety of themed dispensers, the design grabs attention while appealing to both kids and evoking nostalgia for adults. PackPower Score - 66
10.  Favorite Day Gummy Brains (Target Corp.) – A playful Frankenstein design that puts the product front-and-center through a “mouth window.” It’s a clever blend of character and transparency to engage shoppers while signaling freshness and fun. PackPower Score - 65

What Makes a Great Halloween Pack Design?

What makes a Halloween pack work? Our analysis reveals four key themes:

• Instant Recognition and Seasonal Cueing: Great Halloween packs mix familiar brand equities (color, logo, form) with seasonal cues of pumpkins, bats, witches, and monsters that immediately evoke “Halloween.”

• Emotional Connection: Seasonal packaging should make shoppers feel something, whether that be nostalgia, excitement, or delight, all within seconds at the shelf. The most powerful designs tap into both childlike fun and adult nostalgia.

• Shopper Ease: Amid the seasonal chaos of store aisles, recognition still wins. Packs that communicate flavor, type, and brand identity quickly outperform those that sacrifice clarity for novelty.

• Impulse Appeal: The best Halloween designs create “got to have it” moments that are driven by bold colors, character illustrations, and limited-edition framing that make the product feel fun and collectible.

In essence, seasonal packaging is more than decoration — it’s a behavioral trigger. The PackPower Score helps quantify that impact, predicting which designs are most likely to convert visibility into sales.

Why Seasonal Design Testing Matters

Seasonal packaging is a high-stakes opportunity for brands, but with limited shelf time, there’s little room for guesswork. Whether launching a new holiday SKU or updating a perennial favorite, testing designs before launch ensures you’re maximizing both creative resonance and conversion power.

With the PackPower Score, you can evaluate your seasonal packs quickly and reliably, using behavioral science and AI to predict shopper response in real-world contexts.

Ready to make your next seasonal pack a winner?

Test your Halloween, holiday, or limited-edition designs with Behaviorally and harness the PackPower Score to drive sales when it matters most. Contact us now to start testing today!

THE AUTHOR

Based in Chicago, Alaina Runkel is an Insights Analyst in the Center of Excellence at Behaviorally. She is part of the insights team, helping brands turn behavioral data into actionable strategies that drive growth and impact.

Connect with her on LinkedIn!