Fanta's Beetlejuice Partnership with Warner Bros: How Fanta is Making the Most of Halloween
This Halloween, Fanta is embracing the spooky spirit with a 'Beetlejuice' collaboration that taps into fan culture to elevate the experience of drinking a Fanta.
You’d be hard pressed to find someone unfamiliar with the original 1988 film, so when 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' hit cinemas earlier this year, Fanta saw the perfect opportunity to collaborate with Warner Bros. This partnership brings a timely, immersive experience to nostalgic fans worldwide, marking Fanta's first venture into a global-scale collaboration.
Designed to deliver the taste of the Afterlife to 'Beetlejuice' fans, Fanta has reimagined its cans and flavours with limited-edition designs that feature the films' iconic characters. Leading the line-up is a special Beetlejuice flavour – green to match the character’s hair – wrapped in striking packaging with Michael Keaton's portrayal of the titular character, alongside cans showcasing other beloved stars. Fanta has fully leaned into the season, inviting consumers to enjoy the chaos of the afterlife both on and off the screen. With a mix of physical and digital experiences, which have been approved by Tim Burton himself, fans can dive into the imaginative mayhem of the franchise.
As part of its ‘Summon What You Wanta’ campaign, Fanta has unveiled an immersive activation: the 'Fanta Afterlife Train Experience'. Blending the thrill of a haunted house with the intrigue of an escape room, the main event in Madrid lets participants navigate scenes from the film, complete with character interactions, jump scares, and photo ops, all while solving puzzles to escape the Afterlife Train. A similar pop-up event will be held at Westfield Stratford City in London from October 30th. Fans who can’t make the in-person experiences can still join the fun by scanning QR codes on Fanta cans or via the Coca-Cola App to enter the 'Beetlejuice' universe virtually. The buzz is already sweeping TikTok as fans search for limited-edition products.
LBB’s Olivia Atkins sat down with Fanta’s global VP of marketing, Ibrahim Salim Khan, to explore why Halloween is becoming such a significant season for the brand, how this activation is resonating with fans of all ages, and how immersion is shaping Fanta’s broader marketing strategy. This partnership not only amplifies the Halloween season, but also paves the way for future Warner Bros. collaborations, leaving fans with lasting memories and showing the power of experience-driven marketing.
LBB> You started planning the campaign a year ago, what inspired you to partner with Warner Bros. and how did this partnership align with Fanta's vision?
Ibrahim> I’d love to say it was all perfectly planned, but that would be a lie. From Fanta's perspective, we’ve been focusing on becoming more intentional. It’s a huge brand – the 16th largest CPG brand globally, with $17 billion in annual sales. Over the past 10 years, we've done great work but our marketing has been a bit fragmented. This is why we wanted to do something that captured the essence of the brand: delicious and fun.
Halloween, for Fanta, is bigger than many realise, so we actively looked for a global partnership. In the US, Halloween has strong cultural roots, with decorations going up as early as August, whereas it's still celebrated in other regions, like Asia, just differently with costumes and parties. And there are a lot of global entertainment releases tied to Halloween.
During early discussions, someone mentioned 'Beetlejuice' coming back, and everyone lit up. Our Europe team, which leads this project, had an existing relationship with Warner, so we reached out, and both sides were immediately excited.
We release a limited flavour every Halloween. Traditionally, it’s a mystery flavour with an experiential element, so this year with the partnership, we pivoted. We changed the mystery drink from red to green, to align with the 'Beetlejuice' identity.
This was our first time doing a global-scale partnership. Fanta has many flavours worldwide, but we focused on the top four to involve the entire cast. Fanta is all about experiences and for 'Beetlejuice' fans, they want to live the experience. We created the afterlife experience because we’ve always wanted to do an engaging haunted mansion experience – and it tied in perfectly with the limited-time flavour.
LBB> How did your pre-existing relationship with Warner Bros. build trust between the creative teams and allow you to handle their IP?
Ibrahim> We have a dedicated partnerships team that focuses on collaborations like this, and they maintain relationships with major companies, brands and studios. In this case, we already had a good relationship with Warner from past projects, so there was trust built from the start. Credit goes to both teams for building on that trust with transparency and openness about what was possible and what wasn’t.
Typically, a project like this takes 18 months to turn around but we did it in nine – which was only possible because of that strong collaboration. On our side, it was about making sure they understood our goals, and on theirs, ensuring we respected their franchise and fans.
There’s always a healthy tension in these collaborations that helps keep everything balanced, ensuring the partnership remains authentic to both the brand and the franchise. You can see the result in the fan response though – we had a surge in organic content posted on TikTok, with fans searching for all the 'Beetlejuice' cans. That kind of enthusiasm is something you can't plan for.
LBB> Each can was designed to reflect the personality of the 'Beetlejuice' characters and actors, who all have their own fan bases. How did you capture their unique traits in the design and product flavours?
Ibrahim> There’s both a science and an art to it. First, credit to our design agency partner, forpeople – they did an amazing job.
The science of it is straightforward: the limited-time offer had to lead with Beetlejuice, the key film character, because it meant fans would recognise the movie instantly. From the start, we wanted to appeal cross-culturally and cross-generationally. For gen z, we paired Jenna Ortega with our core orange flavour. She’s hugely popular with this generation, so it made perfect sense.
On the design side, we wanted to stay true to the movie, from the characters' poses to how they appear on screen. It was a highly iterative process. I remember around Christmas, the teams were under pressure because we needed final designs at least seven to eight months ahead to give our markets time to produce. It was tight, but everyone pulled together, and we made it happen.
LBB> I heard Tim Burton gave final approval for the campaign film. How involved was he throughout?
Ibrahim> It was a privilege to have someone of his calibre inputting into the campaign’s direction. The teams were really happy with the feedback we received, and it truly was a co-created process. It wasn’t a matter of Warner or the crew telling us what to do, but very much a collaboration. Everyone was extremely pleased with the outcome. Having done partnerships before, I’d say this one stood out for the speed, collaboration, and the trust that was key – especially from co-creators like Tim and the teams.
LBB> You’re wanting to attract new audiences, appealing to gen z through nostalgia and experiential. Tell us about the immersive element to this campaign!
Ibrahim> We don't usually think of our product as an experience, but I do, and here's why: We've seen TikTok videos of people saying that Fanta with Jenna Ortega tastes better, even though it’s the exact same product. Which shows that there's an experiential element to how people perceive Fanta – and that can be elevated and enhanced with the product itself.
Beyond the product, we leaned into creating a more traditional sense of an experience, through the 'Afterlife Train', which is symbolic of the movie and memorable for fans. People love haunted experiences during Halloween, and Fanta has delivered these in the past. The 'Afterlife Train' means fans can participate on the ground, by buying the can and scanning the code to enter, or via the digital experience, which has impressive production values and scales globally. Both experiences work together, allowing fans to bring what they see on screen into real life.
LBB> 90% of Fanta’s campaign budget was used for the experiential part of it and only 10% went on the TVC. Why was experiential such a core focus?
Ibrahim> We have a transformation agenda focused on being more experience-driven – across digital, live, and retail – and we measure ourselves on all three. Retail is more product-focused, but they are all centred on creating experiences. To support this, we've worked with agency partnerships, like WPP, to enable this shift. We're also training our marketers to think this way, and while we’re seeing results, we're still learning. And targeting teens, in the 16 to 19 age group, is crucial for Fanta’s success.
LBB> How does this campaign fit into your broader marketing strategy? In a post-Barbie era, how has partnering with a major pictures company influenced Fanta’s overall strategic direction?
Ibrahim> Fanta embodies pure deliciousness in the soda market. It's not a necessity product but it’s one that people desire, so strategically, we’re emphasising that sometimes it’s important to prioritise what you want. We have several initiatives to support this vision, including our core thematic campaign, ‘Wanta’, which launched earlier this year, and this Halloween activation, which we’re aiming to make as significant for Fanta as Christmas is for Coke.
We’re also exploring partnerships around snacking, as there’s a natural fit between Fanta and snacks, and we’re innovating with new flavours to appeal to teens, who are always seeking fresh experiences. Over the past year, I've realised that teens crave experiences, and collaborations between brands create unique moments they wouldn’t otherwise encounter, whether through movie partnerships or brand collaborations.
We're seeing this trend across industries – everything is becoming an experience. I believe that if we can enhance everyday products with experiences, we can significantly elevate consumer engagement.
The 'Beetlejuice Afterlife' experience is open to the public from October 30th. Tickets are free and available for booking via the Coca-Cola App, so make sure you sign up and don’t miss out on the spooky action.
