Summerween: Why Michaels, Home Depot and General Mills are launching fall campaigns earlier than ever

General Mills chief communications officer Jano Cabrera was walking around a store in August when his son asked him why Halloween displays were already up. 

He certainly wasn’t the only one asking that question. Many companies are jumping on the Summerween phenomenon, marketing Halloween products earlier in the year than ever before. 

Cabrera calls it the “PSL rule.” 

“Starbucks sells Pumpkin Spice Lattes in August because Pumpkin Spice Lattes sell well in August,” he says. “If successful brands meet consumers where they are, we have to accept that sometimes that means meeting them a month or two before some holidays.”

Cabrera is right: Starbucks launched its fall menu earlier than ever this year. 

“We find this time of year is when customers are ready to start getting back into fall routines and excited for our beverages and food options, not the least of which is the Pumpkin Spice Latte,” says a Starbucks spokesperson, adding that the menu item is back for its 21st year. The spokesperson declined to comment further. 

So where did the term “Summerween” come from? Michaels is taking credit, says the arts and crafts store’s CMO, Mandy Rassi. 

It launched the first of its four Halloween decor collections, Hippie Hallow, in late June. 

“We’ve gradually moved this date up over the last two years in response to growing consumer demand since many of our customers start decorating as soon as Independence Day passes,” says Rassi. 

Michaels timed its Halloween marketing to coincide with earlier product releases and extended its lead time, launching a holistic campaign three weeks before last year. That allowed the team to build anticipation and engage customers well before the collections hit stores. This year, Michaels Rewards members received an exclusive sneak peek of its Halloween assortment (pictured above, used with permission) a month in advance.  

Michaels debuted its Hippie Hallow collection by offering a sneak peek to key lifestyle and consumer media, emphasizing the uniqueness of the ‘70s-inspired collection — and that Halloween was arriving earlier than ever at Michaels this year. 

Once it hit stores, Rassi says her team pitched widely across lifestyle, consumer, design and entertainment outlets, highlighting the collection’s “unconventional summer-forward color palette and retro aesthetic.” The brand offered product samples and leveraged expert insights from its trend and design team to secure substantive coverage.  

Michaels’ Instagram post announcing Hippie Hallow quickly became its best-performing post on the platform to date.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Michaels Stores (@michaelsstores)

“This was an early indicator that our decision to set Halloween earlier than ever this year was spot on,” says Rassi.

In July, Michaels launched its second-annual 100 Days to Halloween campaign, strategically incorporating Summerween into its messaging for SEO and to reinforce its “trendsetting authority,” Rassi explains.

Michaels customers have also posted on social media to show their support for the collections, informing Michaels’ Halloween planning for next year. 

Hippie Hallow sales have outpaced Michaels’ internal expectations week-after-week, Rassi says. She attributes the collection’s success to the fact that it blends nicely with summertime aesthetics, incorporating sunset hues, as well as 70s-inspired floral patterns and motifs.

“It transitions nicely from summer to fall, which helps customers get into the Halloween spirit sooner without feeling like they’re sacrificing the summer,” she adds. 

The Home Depot is another brand that launches its Halloween products earlier each year. It has a group of customers that tracks when the retailer launches its Halloween merchandise, referring to the strategy as “code orange.” 

“Some people just really love decorating for Halloween,” says Stephanie Meyering, Home Depot’s director of brand communications. “We call them our ‘enthusiasts.’” They take great photos and keep these sets up all year round sometimes, so it is fun to see how they are engaging with [the products].” 

One of the most influential groups started a Facebook group called the 12 Foot Skeleton Halloween Club, which has 61,900 members, Meyering notes.

Home Depot began launching its Halloween collection in the summer of 2020 with the introduction of Skelly, the 12-foot skeleton. The decoration went viral and quickly sold out that year.  

“We started big that year in July because we were launching Skelly,” says Meyering. “We did a virtual PR event because it was 2020 and everyone was working from home.” 

This year, Home Depot started promoting its Halloween merchandise even earlier, holding a “halfway to Halloween” sale in April with a limited amount of giant skeletons available online. The retailer also held an online release in July as it has every summer since 2020. 

The Home Depot held an in-person media preview of this year’s Halloween product lineup in Sleepy Hollow, New York, in July. MSL supports Home Depot’s Halloween product launches. 

Seventeen on-site members of the media experienced the Home Depot’s fall offerings, including an interactive session where they decorated a front step with the brand’s director of trend and design Sarah Fishburne. Also on display was a fall curb appeal segment with Ryobi, focused on how to get a yard ready for Halloween decorations and a walk through the Halloween line-up with Lance Allen, senior merchant of decorative holiday. The retailer also held a virtual media preview.

Meyering attributes the success of Home Depot’s Halloween products to its merchandising team, which she says has done a “great job” of building on existing products and releasing new and innovative items each year. 

General Mills shared news about its Halloween product, Monsters Cereal, coming back to store shelves at the start of August. But Cabrera says the early announcement was not due to consumer demand, but rather because “we no longer live in a world with true surprises.” 

“The strength of social media is that it drives brand love, but there's also a loss of control around that fervor,” says Cabrera. “On our end, this means that if we want to tell journalists what's new this year — our Monsters Cereals will for the first time feature ghostly pets and in marshmallow form — we do need to issue that press release in August before our frightful friends start appearing in the back rooms of stores.”

To promote the cereal, General Mills is leaning into a new reality: many people define family as including their beloved pets.  

“This is true for millennials in particular,” says Cabrera. “That insight is what led the team to introduce pets this year into the mix. As always, we will take a mad-scientist-like approach and see what works, what doesn't and adjust from there.” 

So how did Cabrera respond when his young son asked about why Halloween displays were up so early?

“I can assure you that I gave him a different answer than what I provided here,” says Cabrera.