Target is marking Halloween with a YouTube virtual reality series and a mobile site that helps trick-or-treaters’ parents find the best houses.
The virtual reality series, “The House on Hallow Hill,” was created in-house and will be available on YouTube.
The campaign includes six videos, starting with an introductory scene to set the tone.
In the introduction, a viewer will see a haunted house. As a hand grasps a phone to photograph the house, a raven swoops in and takes the phone.
YouTube cards pop up, prompting the viewer for a next action such as exploring one of the mansion’s rooms: “The Ghoulish Graveyard,” “The Candy Carnival,” “Dinner with Ghosts” and “Day of the Dead.”
The ads display and links to its Halloween decor in immersive interactive videos set in a haunted house.
In each room, they’re prompted to try to find the pesky raven that stole their phone.
Kristi Argyilan, senior VP-media, guest engagement and measurement at Target, said the video series is targeted at Halloween enthusiasts. “There’s a particular group that’s just fanatical around Halloween,” she said. “There’s a lot of pressure for them to decorate in what we call an epic sort of way. They also are incredibly busy, so their ability to execute Halloween in a way they’d want to is difficult.”
In naddition, Target has launched a mo0bile app dubbed that helps parents find the best trick-or-treat spots in their neighborhood.
The site was created with 360i. Using Google Maps’ API, the mobile website will crowdsource information from parents, who can use it to up-vote the best areas by tagging their locations as a “treat.” The more “treats” a location has, the larger its pumpkin will appear.
The mobile site won’t use specific addresses, and people can’t get a “street view” on the mobile site; the site is meant to be more of a general reference. People can only vote on a house once.