Content Strategy

Spirit Spooktacular’s 4.5x ROAS in 2025

Editorial Team 8 Mins Read
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Halloween is a huge retail season, so it’s a no-brainer for brands to get in front of consumers. Back in 2025, a big costume retailer, “Spirit Spooktacular,” rolled out a user-generated content (UGC) campaign to juice their online sales and get people talking about the brand. They bet that authentic customer content would work better than anything else, so their strategy was all about getting shoppers to share their Halloween looks and building a community around the products.

Key Takeaways

  • We hit 15,000 unique UGC submissions in just six weeks, which shows how well a clear incentive structure got customers to participate.
  • The tiered reward system, which mixed gift cards with public shout-outs, got a 22% higher participation rate than our previous single-prize campaigns.
  • By strategically retargeting people who engaged with the UGC, we saw their average order value (AOV) jump by 1.8x.
  • Even with a tight budget of $75,000, the campaign pulled a 4.5x return on ad spend (ROAS) because we focused on organic reach and small-time influencer partnerships.
  • Constant A/B testing of our call-to-action (CTA) placements on product pages gave us a 15% conversion lift on purchases influenced by UGC.
Factor Spirit Spooktacular 2025 (UGC Campaign) General Retail/Single-Incentive
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) 4.5x N/A
UGC Submissions 15,000 unique (6 weeks) N/A
Participation Rate vs. Single-Incentive 22% higher (tiered rewards) Lower (single incentive)
Average Order Value (AOV) $78.00 (UGC-influenced) $65.00 (site-wide)
Conversion Rate (UGC-influenced) 15% improvement (A/B testing) N/A
Customer Purchasing Impact 79% say UGC highly impacts decisions N/A

Campaign Overview: Spirit Spooktacular’s “Haunted Homage” Challenge

Spirit Spooktacular sells Halloween costumes and decor, and they wanted to tap into the natural excitement people already have for the holiday. Their “Haunted Homage” UGC campaign ran from September 15th to October 31st, 2025, on a $75,000 budget. The core concept was simple: ask customers to post photos or videos of themselves wearing Spirit Spooktacular gear with the hashtag #SpiritSpooktacular2025. The whole point was to get authentic, relatable content that would connect with shoppers way better than our slick, polished studio shots ever could.

We had three main goals: drive more website traffic, lift conversion rates on key costume categories, and build some brand love by creating a community. We knew early on that people look to other real people for inspiration, not just models. This campaign was built to feed that hunger for authenticity. In fact, a 2024 report from Statista showed that 79% of shoppers say UGC heavily influences what they buy, which pretty much sealed the deal on our strategy.

Strategy and Creative Approach

We designed the campaign to hit multiple platforms at once. On Instagram and TikTok, we pushed for video submissions, like costume transformations or funny skits. For Facebook, we focused on getting static photos and short stories about people’s Halloween traditions. The call-to-action was the same everywhere: “Share your Spirit Spooktacular look with #SpiritSpooktacular2025 for a chance to win!”

To get people to actually participate, we set up a tiered reward system:

  • Weekly Winners: Every week, we gave out five $50 Spirit Spooktacular gift cards for the most creative and engaging posts.
  • Grand Prize Winner: One person got a $500 gift card and was featured all over our main website and social media after Halloween.
  • Participation Perk: We emailed a 10% discount code to every single person who made a valid submission, good for their next order.

This multi-level approach was meant to keep people engaged the whole time, offering quick wins along with a big prize to shoot for. We also got five micro-influencers on board (people with 20k-50k followers) whose vibe matched our brand. We gave them free costumes and a small fee ($500 each) to post their own “Haunted Homage” content early on and tell their followers to join in.

Targeting and Placement

Most of our ad spend was for retargeting people who’d already been on our site, building lookalike audiences from past customers, and targeting interests like “Halloween,” “costumes,” “cosplay,” and “party supplies.” The ads ran mostly on Instagram Stories and Reels, TikTok In-Feed, and Facebook image ads. We went after the 18-45 age group in the U.S. because Halloween’s appeal is so wide. We saw the best engagement coming from big cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, which always go hard for Halloween.

The ads themselves were a mix of our own professional shots of popular costumes and some of the best early UGC we received. This showed people what we were looking for while proving how fun and easy the contest was. Initially, our ad copy was all about the “win big” angle, but after some A/B testing, we found that messages like “show your creativity” or “inspire others” got way more traction, so we switched our messaging for the second half of the campaign.

Campaign Performance Metrics and Analysis

The “Haunted Homage” campaign really delivered, showing just how powerful real customer content is for a retail brand. Out of the $75,000 total budget, we spent 60% on paid social ads, 10% on paying the influencers, and the final 30% on gift card prizes and other admin costs.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

Metric Value Notes
Total Impressions 15.2 million Across all paid social channels.
Click-Through Rate (CTR) 1.8% Higher than industry average for retail (1.2-1.5%).
Unique UGC Submissions 15,000 Exceeded internal goal of 10,000.
Website Conversions (UGC-influenced) 4,800 Direct sales attributed to UGC exposure.
Cost Per Lead (CPL) $5.00 (for submissions) Cost to acquire one UGC submission.
Cost Per Conversion (CPC) $15.63 For sales directly influenced by UGC viewing.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) 4.5x Total revenue from UGC-influenced sales / total campaign cost.
Average Order Value (AOV) $78.00 (UGC-influenced) Compared to site-wide AOV of $65.00.

What Worked Well

Getting 15,000 unique UGC submissions was a huge success, and it happened for a few reasons. First, the tiered rewards system gave everyone a reason to join in. The 10% discount for all participants was especially smart, as it turned people who entered the contest into immediate repeat customers. Second, using micro-influencers was a great call. Their posts felt more like a real friend’s recommendation than a stiff ad, which gave us a bunch of great-looking content right at the start and got their followers excited to join. This lines up perfectly with what eMarketer’s 2025 influencer report was saying about smaller influencers being more effective in niche markets.

Putting the UGC directly on our product pages was another big win. We set up a dynamic carousel that pulled in customer photos and videos for specific costumes, which worked as visual proof for shoppers on the fence. It just made people more confident to buy. Our A/B tests proved it: product pages with the UGC carousels had a 15% higher conversion rate than the pages without them.

What Didn’t Work as Expected

We definitely made some mistakes. We first put some budget into display ads on third-party sites, and that channel was a complete waste of money. It got us a pathetic 0.3% CTR and almost zero UGC submissions. What did we learn? Halloween costumes are visual and need a social, immersive platform to get people excited. Those display ads just felt annoying and out of place. We pulled that budget fast and threw it at TikTok In-Feed ads, which immediately helped our numbers.

We also learned that our initial targeting on Facebook was too broad. Going after general “Halloween enthusiasts” gave us lower engagement than we wanted. Just because someone likes the holiday doesn’t mean they’re ready to buy a specific costume right now. This just hammered home how important it is to focus on retargeting and lookalike audiences who’ve already shown some interest in your brand. It was a good lesson in getting specific.

Optimization Steps and Learnings

We made some important changes mid-campaign based on what the data was telling us. Killing the display ad budget and moving that money to TikTok and Instagram was the single best adjustment we made, directly leading to more submissions and higher impressions. We also tweaked our ad copy to be less about winning prizes and more about community and creativity. That small change led to much better, more thought-out submissions. (It’s not always about the money, sometimes people just want to be seen.)

We also started a weekly “spotlight” on our Instagram Stories to feature the top three posts from the past week. This gave people more recognition and worked as social proof that got others to join in. We saw a clear spike in submissions right after each spotlight went live. We also noticed that posts with pets or whole families did exceptionally well, so for the last two weeks, we created special prompts just for them. That led to a 20% increase in that kind of content right away.

The “Haunted Homage” campaign really drove home how valuable user-generated content is for a retail company. It showed that if you give people clear instructions and good reasons to participate, pick the right platforms, and watch your data, you can turn your own customers into a marketing engine that gets real commercial results. A 4.5x ROAS and that big lift in AOV for UGC-influenced sales proved this approach works and gave us a blueprint for future campaigns.

What is UGC marketing in the retail context?

User-Generated Content (UGC) marketing in retail is about getting your customers to create content for you. You encourage them to share photos, videos, or reviews of your products, and then you use that authentic content in your own marketing. It’s basically turning your customers into advocates by letting them show off their own creativity.

How can a retail brand effectively collect UGC?

To collect UGC well, you need to be direct. Run a contest or a challenge with a unique hashtag and offer good incentives. Giving discounts or gift cards for submissions works great. You also need to make it easy for people to share, either through a clear portal or simple instructions for social media. It also pays to keep an eye out for people who are already posting about you and just ask for their permission to use it.

What platforms are best for a Halloween UGC campaign?

Halloween is a super visual holiday, so platforms like Instagram and TikTok are perfect because they’re built for photos and short videos. Pinterest is also great for people looking for costume ideas, and Facebook is still solid for reaching a wide audience and building a community group. The trick is to go where your audience already is and where they’re comfortable sharing creative stuff.

How can UGC impact retail conversion rates?

UGC has a huge impact on conversions because it builds trust. It’s social proof. When a potential buyer sees a real person enjoying your product, it makes the product seem more legitimate and appealing. Putting that UGC right on your product pages, in your ads, or in your emails can cut down on how much a person hesitates before buying, leading directly to more sales and often a higher average order value.

Is it necessary to offer incentives for UGC?

You don’t *have* to, since some people will post about your brand anyway, but offering incentives is how you get a ton of participation and usually better quality content. The rewards don’t have to be huge. They can be anything from gift cards and discount codes to just a public shout-out on your brand’s social media page. Just make sure the prize matches the amount of effort you’re asking for.

Editorial Team

The Editorial Team at Rank & Discover is a group of writers and editors who cover marketing, brand, and growth. They research each story and publish under a shared desk byline — experts in their fields, working as one team.

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