The Halloween Industry Association (HIA) has launched its industry-wide consumer initiative to promote Halloween and year-round dress-up.
Following last year’s purchase of the Halloween & Party Expo, HIA has been able to establish a steady annual income which it will use to fund ongoing industry initiatives.
The focus is currently on a new consumer marketing initiative for 2018, with the goal of establishing HIA as the voice of Halloween for consumers and the general public while increasing sales for member companies.
“We have developed a specific plan for 2018 that includes several elements,” explained HIA marketing director Aneisha McMillan. “This includes a consumer-facing website featuring the top costumes for the year as well as the ‘big idea’, which will see us teaming up with an industry partner to promote celebrating Halloween on the last Saturday in October. These will be supported by year-round media pitches and a robust social media effort.”
In 2017 the HIA conducted a mini-campaign to learn more about the market. It secured a high-profile segment on Fox Business News featuring the top costumes for 2017, while the most popular Facebook post had 135,270 impressions.
Aneisha will be enlisting the help of a team of HIA volunteers to participate in the 2018 programme. If you’re currently an HIA member and would like to be involved, please get in touch at amcmillan@hiaonline.org.
