Fanta is treating Halloween less like a seasonal promotion and more like a recurring entertainment property. The Coca-Cola Company brand has spent nearly a decade trying to make its orange soda synonymous with the holiday, and its latest move is to build that association around original characters and creators.
The reported centerpiece is the Haunted Fanta Universe, brought to life by social creators Max Norman, Payton King and Jordan Huxhold. Adweek reports that the work is part of a longer strategy that began with regional activations across North America, Europe and Latin America before becoming a global platform.
From seasonal ad to repeatable world
The shift matters because Fanta is not relying on one Halloween commercial to do all the work. In 2024, its first global Halloween campaign, “Wanta Fanta,” included a 60-second hero ad and a collaboration with Skydance, then known as Warner Bros. The newer focus on recurring characters gives the brand more material to reuse, extend and adapt across social content.
That is a familiar creator-era logic: a campaign becomes more useful when it can behave like a world rather than a single asset. Characters offer continuity. Creators provide a native way into that world. Halloween supplies the annual cultural moment, but the audience relationship can begin earlier and return each year.
Why the characters matter
The challenge for a seasonal brand platform is avoiding a reset every October. A recognizable cast can make the campaign easier to identify, while creators can help translate the idea into the language and formats people already use online.
The approach also gives Fanta a clearer job than simply attaching orange packaging to Halloween. The brand is trying to own a piece of the occasion through stories, personalities and repeatable codes. That is a bigger commitment than a themed ad, and it creates a higher standard: the characters need to become worth following, not just useful campaign decoration.
For marketers, the useful signal is straightforward. Seasonal relevance becomes more durable when a brand builds memory between tentpole moments. Fanta’s next test is whether the Haunted Fanta Universe can become an audience habit, rather than another campaign that disappears when Halloween is over.