Fanta Launches Original "Haunted Universe" with Own Characters
Coca-Cola's Fanta brand is making its biggest Halloween move yet, launching "Fanta's Haunted Universe" with four original characters created in-house rather than licensing Hollywood properties .
Key Strategy Shift:
Previous Approach: Rented famous horror characters like Chucky and Beetlejuice
2026 Approach: Created own characters: a sports-car-driving vampire, a werewolf DJ, a cyborg Frankenstein, and a jack-o'-lantern scarecrow
Global Rollout: Campaign launches August 26 across more than 50 markets
Financial Rationale:
Licensing Hollywood characters is expensive. By creating its own characters, Fanta can:
Widen gross margins on Halloween products
Reuse the cast every year without new deals
Build long-term brand assets
Gen Z Focus: Fanta appeals more to younger consumers, and Halloween is a major event for Gen Z. Building loyalty early can pay off for decades .
Scale: Fanta's Halloween effort delivered 10 billion impressions last year. The campaign was built with entertainment studio GRAiL using AI tools to reduce production costs .
