It’s likely that you’re already familiar with how early people start their Christmas shopping, but did you know that Halloween shopping is moving in the same direction? What started as a tiny fandom celebration is morphing into a shopping event that spans two seasons.
Welcome to Summerween.
But what is Summerween?
Summerween began life as a 2012 Gravity Falls joke: a town that loves Halloween so much it celebrates twice a year, once at the actual holiday and once on 22 June, exactly halfway to it. For years, it existed for the fandom, but things have changed.
Fast forward to today, and on TikTok, the hashtag #summerween now accounts for 2.9 billion views across roughly 290,000 videos, and our data shows it is connected to more than 800 other hashtags.
This isn't just one community, it's a tag that the whole autumn-and-Halloween world plugs into.
A third of the Summerween conversation also uses #Halloween, and from there it bleeds into spooky season, home décor, fall, BookTok, horror and the one that matters most for retailers #codeorange, the code fans use to alert one another that Halloween stock has hit the shelves.
Right now, the conversation is very US-centric, but that doesn’t mean it’s not relevant outside of the States.
Halloween is now the fastest-growing seasonal event in Europe, with Statista putting spend above €2 billion, up around 20% year on year. So for brands with a Euro presence, you’re getting to witness a real-time preview of things to come and an opportunity to be one of the first brands to embrace the season.
The calendar shape of the conversation
Summerween on TikTok: original posts per day. Source: Kim Townend.
There are two distinct peaks in the Summerween conversation: the day of Summerween itself (June 22nd) and 5th July. For the spooky community, the day after July 4th marks the start of spooky season. The conversation remains consistent throughout July and into August (Aughtober, anyone?) before the summerween tag disappears and we’re fully into Fall/Autumn.
#codeorange is a bat signal for the community
For the uninitiated, #codeorange is the tag you use to let other people know that Halloween merch is in the shops. This is literally a community doing retailers' marketing work for them.
A massive 12.5% of all shopping-based posts that we analysed used code orange in some way.
This is a community so voracious that they are out scanning stores as early as May, looking for Halloween goods.
Who talks about Summerween?
The Summerween community is truly global, although there’s a massive concentration in the US (as with all things TikTok) there’s a good sized conversation happening across Europe, LATAM and Australia too.
Where the Summerween audience lives. Source: Kim Townend.
The audience is very, very female, and although age data from TikTok is scant, they are much more likely to be GenZennials than anything else.
Summerween audience: gender & age. Source: Kim Townend.
When we looked at their bio data, the things that united them were:
- Being a Mum
- Books
- Movies
- Coffee
- Fashion
- Beauty
- Art
This is a young, creative, pop culture-obsessed female audience who loves to shop.
What are people actually buying?
Now that we know the story and how people are sharing it with the community, let’s take a closer look at what they are actually buying. This is where we see a different Summerween from the one that I’ve tracked the last few years. Previously, Summerween was very much a ‘summer’ themed holiday, with watermelons, bright pinks and greens as the dominant colours and themes.
This year, however, Summerween is really becoming about Halloween prep. Pumpkins are the number one thing shoppers are interested in, followed by ghosts. A quick scan of the most popular visuals shows a landscape of oranges and black.
Summerween: themes & motifs. Source: Kim Townend.
And when we look at the actual products people are discussing, it’s t-shirts, candles, blankets, mugs/home goods and plushies. These are your most typical female purchases; they just have ghosts on them.
Summerween: products. Source: Kim Townend.
We can contextualise this data as part of the continuing rise of all things cozy, and the growing interest in the ‘ber’ months, and then the picture becomes even clearer. This is about autumn bleeding into peak Summer, and consumers sending a very obvious signal to retailers that they are ready and waiting.
What should brands and marketers take away from this?
The Summerween community is highly engaged (comments outnumber posts by a significant margin), desperate for new products, and won’t gatekeep their finds.
Don’t be afraid of starting early; your audience already has.
Work with micro creators: the Summerween audience doesn’t have ‘influencers’ in the traditional sense, and even smaller creator posts can go viral when supported by the community.
Don’t treat it like a trend; it’s a lifestyle choice for a big chunk of this community. Don’t tag your non-spooky merch posts Summerween, but do start sharing/previewing your Halloween content earlier
And as always, use a social listening tool to understand your audience and determine whether the space is right for you.
This is a guest article compiled by Kim Townend, an award-winning social strategist and social listening consultant with 20 years of social-specific experience. She's worked with brands, broadcasters, and governments worldwide and is an expert in turning data into insights and insights into strategy. Find her at her website: https://kimtownend.com/ or LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimtownend/