Target the fans who believe every season is spooky season
At Home has built something special: a devoted community of Halloween enthusiasts — aka spooky superfans— who would happily celebrate this holiday year-round if they could. Valloween? Creepmas? These superfans will find any opportunity to turn normal holidays into ghoulish ones.
Recognizing this passionate customer base, At Home saw an opportunity to do something bold: activate their spooky community earlier than before to garner excitement for new product releases, starting as early as May. This was done through a “Halfway to Halloween” campaign and Summerween aka Summer Halloween campaign, along with one-off creator partnerships.
The overarching goal of the program was to drive awareness and engagement around At Home Halloween products, while positioning the brand as the first-to-market with the best and largest selection of Halloween decor — all at reasonable prices, no matter your style or taste.
Give creative freedom to the people who know best
Running from May through August 2025, this program was built on one key insight: At Home influencer partners are customers themselves who know the brand, the product and what’s trending in the spooky landscape. Instead of dictating every detail, the brand empowered creators to take the lead.
Our creators are customers first, and we trust they know what is going to resonate with other spooky fans. By giving them ownership of the creative process, we’re able to produce content that’s not only authentic, but mutually successful for both the brand and our talent partners.
Kelly Linthicum
Manager of Influencer & PR, At Home
By partnering with Later's Services team, At Home leveraged end-to-end campaign management — from curated creator vetting and concept planning to execution and performance tracking. Later's team handled campaign logistics while At Home remained actively involved in influencer selection, contract negotiations, creative ideation, and content approvals through the Later Influence platform.
Together, the teams identified Halloween-obsessed creators across Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok who could tell authentic stories that resonated with the brand’s spooky community, while also tapping into key moments like “100 days to Halloween” to further connect with customers. Through a strategic vetting process that included concept review and SKU planning, each creator chose products that aligned with their personal style and audience. Creators maintained control over content format and creative direction, ultimately ensuring every post felt genuine to their audience.
Content that commits to the bit
The program featured creators who went all-in on their Halloween transformations:
@flashesofstyle "100 Days Until Halloween" home decor transformation
@steffy petition to skip summer entirely and jump straight to Halloween
The content wasn't just about showing products — it was about celebrating a lifestyle and supporting all customers who share this passion.
Expanding beyond Instagram
At Home also tested activating creators on new platforms, particularly Pinterest and YouTube Shorts, where they previously hadn't invested heavily. The strategy paid off: For the Summer Halloween campaign, creators on Pinterest achieved an average engagement rate of 23.53%, helping build brand awareness for At Home on this platform. Content on Pinterest and YouTube Shorts even outperformed BAU assets that are running alongside creator content in paid campaigns, generating strong ROI for this summer campaign.
Year-round Halloween momentum
At Home's "Halfway to Halloween" campaign in May proved that their spooky community's appetite extends far beyond traditional seasonal windows. At Home partnered with Bonnie Barton aka @flashesofstyle to run a giveaway, driving 1,000+ new followers and over 5,400 entries — resulting in the highest performance compared to previous influencer giveaways, with a cost per follower at $5.97 and a cost per entry at $1.10.
Her content generated over 187K impressions with a 7.3% engagement rate. As a natural shopper of the brand even before partnering with them, Bonnie exemplifies the authentic creator relationships that drive lasting brand affinity. The partnership was so successful that she’s since become an At Home ambassador partner.
Beyond planned campaigns, At Home has demonstrated agility by capitalizing on real-time cultural moments. When competitor Michaels faced online backlash for copying creator content without giving proper credit, At Home worked with Later to quickly partner with that same creator, @spoooky.ash, pulling together a campaign within one week, from invitation to live content.
The collaboration resonated powerfully with the spooky community, driving 42K impressions and 2.5K engagements with a 6% engagement rate — a testament to the authentic brand advocacy At Home has built. This partnership not only drove impressive results — it also sparked buzz across the spooky creator community, with peers celebrating Ash’s collaboration and sharing that they wanted to shop At Home alongside her.
When your community goes viral
The numbers across these Halloween activations tell a compelling story:
8 Influencers
85 Total Pieces of Content
1.4M Total Organic Impressions (58% of the 2.4M total impressions across all At Home campaigns, May - July 2025)
99.9% Positive/Neutral Comment Sentiment
7.5% Average Engagement Rate (vs. July 2024 Halloween campaign of 2.2%)
7.3M Paid Impressions (with 3.38M engagements, plus 302K link clicks)
But the real impact went beyond metrics. Content from @flashesofstyle went organically viral — a rare feat for paid partnerships. Featured products showcased in creator content sold out, and customers started commenting that they shopped At Home for the first time because they saw her post.
A loyal community who loves At Home
At Home didn't just partner with these creators for social media content — they repurposed assets across various owned channels. The influencers became true brand advocates whose voices promoted At Home across various customer touchpoints.
Perhaps most tellingly, these Halloween campaigns reinforced At Home's position within their spooky community. These superfans view At Home as a true partner, showing their loyalty by supporting the brand on social media.
Our spooky community is ride or die, even defending the brand to online critics. They view At Home as one of them. We wanted to let them know that by bringing Halloween to them earlier than before, we see their needs and are willing to meet them there.
Kelly Linthicum
Manager of Influencer & PR, At Home
More than a seasonal campaign
At Home celebrated their most passionate customers by meeting them where they are: deep in their Halloween obsession, no matter what time of year. By giving creators authentic control and expanding to new platforms, At Home turned influencer marketing into both a top-of-funnel awareness driver and a bottom-funnel conversion tool.
The result? A program that reinforced their competitive advantage and deepened their relationship with a community that's already their biggest advocate.
Plans are already in motion for more influencers, more stories, and more always-on Halloween content — because when your community wants to celebrate the spooky season year-round, it's never too early.