HalloweenInsights for digital marketers

• Pooja Madaan, Insights Manager

Agenda

Halloween Market Research Trends

Bing Ads Audience Bing Ads Marketplace

Insights

•Halloween Market Research•Trends

Halloween trends in 2015

SOURCE: National Retail Federation, Monthly Consumer Survey, September 2015.

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2/3Of American adults celebrated Halloween in 2015.

$74Average spent by shoppers.

$6.9 billionTotal spent on Halloween in 2015.

1/3 of Halloween shoppers begin before October, while 1/4 don’t start until 2 weeks or less before the holiday.

Shoppers begin early…or late

• SOURCE: National Retail Federation, Monthly Consumer Survey, September 2015.

•

Before Sep-tember

September First 2 weeks of October

Last 2 weeks of October

6%

28%41%

25%

When people will begin shopping for Halloween:

Items Halloween shoppers planned to buy and average spend:

The spookiest shopping list of the year

• SOURCE: National Retail Federation, Monthly Consumer Survey, September 2015.

10%

23%

28%

39%

Candy

Decorations

Costumes

Cards

$43

$25

$31

$11

TIP• Ensure your Halloween

items are easy to find and buy—consider adding Sitelink ad extensions to make it easy for Halloween shoppers to go straight to your Halloween items on your site. Product Ads via Bing Shopping Campaigns are also an effective way to showcase your Halloween products in an engaging ad format.

70% of people say chocolate is their favorite Halloween treat, followed by candy corn (13%), chewy candy (6%), and gummy candy (5%).2

$2.1 billion will be spent on Halloween candy.1

• SOURCE: 1. National Confectioners Association, September 2015.

• 2. National Confectioners Association, Americans Stay Sweet on Halloween by Embracing Moderation, September 2015.

How people plan to celebrate Halloween:

Passing out candy is the sweetest way to celebrate

• SOURCE: National Retail Federation, Monthly Consumer Survey, September 2015.

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13%18%

28%31%

41%43%45%

68%Hand out candyDecorate your home/yard

Dress in costumeCarve a pumpkin

Throw or attend a partyTake children trick-or-treating

Visit a haunted houseDress your pet in a costume

TIP• Shoppers search online

and visit brick-and-mortar stores, likely participating in webrooming and showrooming, or checking out costumes online and buying in store or vice-versa. Ensure it’s easy to find your online items via Sitelink ad extensions and physical store via location extensions.

In search of a killer costumeHalloween shoppers choose search as a top tool.

• SOURCE: National Retail Federation, Monthly Consumer Survey, September 2015.

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Where people look for Halloween costumes for themselves, kids—or even pets:

Print mediaFacebook

Pinterest

Current events

Twitter

YouTube

Habit/Wear the same costume each yearOther

Blogs

Online search

Friends/familyPop culture

Within a retail store or costume shop

Instagram

0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35

And Star Wars costumes saw 1.7 million sales.

The most popular costumes are timeless classics

• SOURCE: National Retail Federation, Halloween Consumer Spending Survey, September 2015.

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TIP• Include top costumes as part of

your Halloween ad copy and keywords if you offer costumes and décor around these themes.

Top 10 costumesAdults Kids1. Witch 1. Princess2. Animal 2. Batman Character3. Batman Character 3. Action/Super Hero4. Zombie 4. Animal5. Star Wars Character

5. Disney's Frozen Characters

6. Pirate 6. Star Wars Characters

7. Vampire 7. Zombie8. Action/Super Hero 8. Witch9. Doctor/Nurse 9. Pumpkin10. Slasher Mobie Character/Political/Wentch

10. Minion

1. Pumpkin2. Hot Dog3. Batman Character4. Devil5. Bumble Bee

Shoppers spent $350 million on pet Halloween costumes in 2015.

Even pets celebrate “Howl”oween

• SOURCE: National Retail Federation, Halloween Consumer Spending Survey, September 2015.

•

TIP• Consider adding

Sitelink ad extensions to to make it easy for Halloween shoppers to go straight to your webpages for pet costumes and other Halloween items.

Top pet costumes in 2015

Mobile visitors spend half the time on a website as those coming from a PC

•

TIP• You have half the time to get

the same information to mobile visitors as PC visitors. Design and organize your Halloween webpages accordingly.

A rule of thumb: • Try navigating your mobile site

with just your thumb, and put your most important content in the middle of the screen for maximum engagement.

Halloween fun facts

• SOURCE: National Retail Federation, Halloween Overview, Monthly Consumer Survey, September 2015.

157M162 million people celebrated Halloween in 2015.

$6.9B$6.9 billion spent on Halloween products in 2015.

31%About 1/3 of shoppers will search online for costume inspiration.

1/31/3 of people start their Halloween shopping before October.

$350M$350 million will be spent on pets costumes.

Bing AdsAudience

Compared to Google,

the Bing Ads audience is:

More likely to spend on gum & candy

• SOURCE: comScore Plan Metrix, US, September 2015, custom measure created using comScore indices and duplication. September data was used to reflect the month before Halloween.

5% more likely to have spent $25-$49 on gum or candy in the last 30 days.

34% more likely to have spent $50–$99 on gum or candy in the last 30 days.

Compared to Google, the Bing Ads audience is:

More likely to be decoration influencers

• SOURCE: comScore Plan Metrix, US, September 2015, custom measure created using comScore indices and duplication. September data was used to reflect the month before Halloween.

5% more likely to have been the first among friends to own/buy/use party decoration materials.

Bing AdsSearch Trends

Halloween searches grow steadily until the big day

• SOURCE: Microsoft internal data, PC/Tablet, 8/31/15 to 10/31/15.

HALLOWEEN WEEKHalloween

5-SEP 12-SEP 19-SEP 26-SEP 3-OCT 10-OCT 17-OCT 24-OCTWEEK ENDING

31-OCT

Search Volume

*Data is for Bing O&O core only and representative of Bing network, to normalize for categorization changes for syndication network.

Halloween Costume Searches on PC/ Tablet start picking up Mid-Sep and Peak at Halloween WeekPC/ Tablet

• SOURCE: Microsoft internal data, PC/Tablet, 8/30/15 to 10/31/15.

TIPLeverage higher CTR and lower CPCs early before competition intensifies by Early Oct.

Search VolumeCTRCPC

*Data is for Bing O&O core only and representative of Bing network, to normalize for categorization changes for syndication network.

5-SEP 12-SEP 19-SEP 26-SEP 3-OCT 10-OCT 17-OCT 24-OCT

WEEK ENDING

31-OCT 5-SEP 12-SEP 19-SEP 26-SEP 3-OCT 10-OCT 17-OCT 24-OCT

WEEK ENDING

31-OCT

Search Volume

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

$- $0.05 $0.10 $0.15 $0.20 $0.25 $0.30 $0.35 $0.40 $0.45

CTR vs CPC

• SOURCE: Microsoft internal data, Mobile, 8/30/15 to 10/31/15.

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Halloween Costume Searches on Mobile start picking up Early Sep and Peak at HalloweenMobile

TIPLeverage steadily rising Click Volumes and low CPCs in Sep/ Early Oct before competition intensifies driving up CPCs. Research Intent on Mobile causes higher CTRs in Sep.

Search VolumeCTRCPC

*Data is for Bing O&O core only and representative of Bing network, to normalize for categorization changes for syndication network.

5-SEP 12-SEP 19-SEP 26-SEP 3-OCT 10-OCT 17-OCT 24-OCTWEEK ENDING

31-OCT 5-SEP 12-SEP 19-SEP 26-SEP 3-OCT 10-OCT 17-OCT 24-OCT

WEEK ENDING

31-OCT

Search Volume

• SOURCE: Microsoft internal data, PC/Tablet, 8/30/15 to 10/31/15.

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Halloween Decoration Searches on PC/ Tablet start picking up Early Sep and hit a last minute peak during Halloween WeekPC/ Tablet

TIPLeverage higher Click Volumes and low CPCs in Sep before competition intensifies driving up CPCs. Decoration purchases for families happen early driving up CTRs from Mid Sep- Early Oct.

Search VolumeCTRCPC

*Data is for Bing O&O core only and representative of Bing network, to normalize for categorization changes for syndication network.

5-SEP 12-SEP 19-SEP 26-SEP 3-OCT 10-OCT 17-OCT 24-OCT

WEEK ENDING

31-OCT 5-SEP 12-SEP 19-SEP 26-SEP 3-OCT 10-OCT 17-OCT 24-OCT

WEEK ENDING

31-OCT

Search Volume

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

$- $0.10 $0.20 $0.30 $0.40 $0.50 $0.60 $0.70 $0.80 $0.90

CTR vs CPC

• SOURCE: Microsoft internal data, Mobile, 8/30/15 to 10/31/15.

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Halloween Decoration Searches on Mobile start picking up Early Sep and hit a last minute peak during Halloween WeekMobile

TIPLeverage higher Click Volumes and low CPCs in Sep before competition intensifies driving up CPCs. Last minute searches for Halloween Parties drives up CTR and CPC during Halloween Week.

Search VolumeCTRCPC

*Data is for Bing O&O core only and representative of Bing network, to normalize for categorization changes for syndication network.

5-SEP 12-SEP 19-SEP 26-SEP 3-OCT 10-OCT 17-OCT 24-OCT

WEEK ENDING

31-OCT 5-SEP 12-SEP 19-SEP 26-SEP 3-OCT 10-OCT 17-OCT 24-OCT

WEEK ENDING

31-OCT

Search Volume

• SOURCE: Microsoft internal data, All Devices, 8/23/15 to 10/31/15.

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TIPPrepare early for ‘Pumpkin’ related searches for both PC/ Tablet and Mobile since they keep trending up till Halloween day.

Pumpkin Searches on all devices start trending up steadily and grow until the big day; PC/ Tablet + Mobile

*Data is for Bing O&O core only and representative of Bing network, to normalize for categorization changes for syndication network.

29-AUG 5-SEP 12-SEP 19-SEP 26-SEP 3-OCT 10-OCT 17-OCT24-OCT

WEEK ENDING

31-OCT 29-AUG 5-SEP 12-SEP19-SEP26-SEP 3-OCT10-OCT17-OCT24-OCT

WEEK ENDING

31-OCT

PC + Tablet Search Volume Mobile Search Volume

Top searches during the Halloween season 2015Searches // across all devices

halloween coloring pageshalloween costumes girls

halloween picturesharley quinn costume

day deadheadless horseman

pumpkin carving ideashalloween express

halloween citybaby costumes

pumpkinhalloween costume ideas

costumespumpkin carving patterns

halloween costumes womenhalloween decorations

party city halloween costumesspirit halloween

halloweenhalloween costumes

• *Brand indicates a brand term was used, represented by multiple brand names in this category• SOURCE:• Microsoft internal data, all devices, 8/23/15 to 10/31/15.

Top 25 Halloween costume searches of 2015

SOURCE:Microsoft internal data, 8/31/15 to 10/31/15.

kids halloween costumeswomens halloween costumes

halloween costumes menwonder woman costume

halloween costumecouples costumes

halloween storehomemade halloween costumes

infant halloween costumessexy halloween costumes women

minion costumetoddler halloween costumes

adult halloween costumesboys costumes

halloween costumes kidscosplay

couples halloween costumeshalloween costumes girls

harley quinn costumebaby costumes

halloween costume ideascostumes

halloween costumes womenparty city halloween costumes

halloween costumes

Thank You

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