Fanta uses AI to build “Fanta’s haunted universe” for Halloween
Fanta debuts four original horror characters and a trailer made with GRAiL, signaling a shift from collabs to brand-owned Halloween IP.
Fanta is treating Halloween like fandom season, the kind where people do not just buy a themed product, they collect characters, quote lore, and wait for the next drop.
That is the energy behind “Fanta’s haunted universe,” an original entertainment world with four new horror-inspired characters, launching with a cinematic trailer made with AI entertainment studio GRAiL. The company outlined the concept in its official newsroom post.
Table of contents
Jump to each section:
- What “Fanta’s haunted universe” is trying to create
- Why Fanta is moving from horror collaborations to original IP
- How the trailer frames the universe (and the brand’s role in it)
- What this means for marketers building seasonal franchises
What “Fanta’s haunted universe” is trying to create
Fanta’s new Halloween platform is built around four original characters inspired by classic horror archetypes: vampires, werewolves, supernatural spirits, and futuristic horror. Each character is designed with its own identity, personality, backstory, and supernatural abilities.
The key shift is that the “product” is no longer just a Halloween pack or a one-off collab. It is an expandable story world that can keep unfolding across the season with more character stories, content, experiences, and other brand moments.
ContentGrip
Why Fanta is moving from horror collaborations to original IP
For the past two years, Fanta has played in Halloween by partnering with established entertainment and horror properties. Last year’s campaign included limited-edition packaging featuring Freddy Fazbear (Five Nights at Freddy’s), M3GAN, and Chucky, tapping into the renewed attention those franchises were already getting.
Building original IP changes the relationship with the audience. Instead of borrowing someone else’s characters, Fanta can create its own “canon,” decide what gets revealed next, and design repeatable rituals for fans who like horror aesthetics and Halloween identity play.
Fanta’s global vice president of marketing, Ibrahim Khan, framed it as moving “from collaborator to creator,” with the trailer positioned as the first glimpse, not the full story.
How the trailer frames the universe (and the brand’s role in it)
The cinematic trailer leans into classic horror pacing, then undercuts it with a brand-aware wink. It opens with a magical elixir, then a haunted jack-o’-lantern emerges and chaos spreads through a city as other villains appear.
The ending lands on contrast: two men casually drinking cans of Fanta while the mayhem continues around them. That tonal pivot matters because it signals the universe is meant to be spooky, but still playful enough to live comfortably as a brand world, not a pure horror film.
GRAiL’s role is described as using technology within a human-led creative process to explore concepts and bring the visual world to life, which is a useful detail for teams watching how AI gets introduced without making the creative feel automated.
What this means for marketers building seasonal franchises
Seasonal marketing often disappears the day the holiday ends. “Fanta’s haunted universe” suggests a different approach: treat the season like an entertainment property that can earn attention through story, characters, and anticipation.
- If you want fandom behaviour, you need a world, not a tagline
Characters with names, backstories, and distinct “roles” give people something to remember and return to. That is how seasonal moments become rewatchable and collectible. - Original IP is a control play, not just a creativity play
With collaborations, brands inherit someone else’s tone and rules. With original IP, the brand controls pacing, reveals, and how long the idea can run across content and experiences. - AI partners can help scale visual ambition, but the narrative still has to land
Fanta and GRAiL emphasize a human-led process. The real test is whether the characters feel coherent enough for audiences to care about what happens next. - Comedy relief can make “brand horror” shareable without breaking the vibe
The trailer’s final beat makes the brand feel present without turning the whole thing into an ad. That balance is often what determines whether people watch through, then send it to friends. - Halloween is becoming a recurring content season, not a single campaign window
More stories and experiences are planned throughout the season. That is closer to episodic entertainment than traditional holiday media bursts, and it rewards teams that can plan arcs, not just assets.
The broader signal here is that brands are increasingly borrowing the language of fandom: characters, lore, chapters, and “what’s next.” Halloween is especially suited to this because the audience already enjoys dressing up, role-playing aesthetics, and participating in rituals that repeat every year.
If Fanta can make these characters feel worth following beyond a single trailer, it gains something bigger than seasonal recall. It gains a repeatable entertainment container where product shows up naturally, and the audience shows up because they want the next part of the story.
