For this week’s AdMiration feature, we looked at consumer response to Rivian’s “Ghostbusters” ad — a Halloween campaign that brings Bill Murray back as Dr. Peter Venkman, this time catching ghosts from the touchscreen of an electric SUV.
Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.
The ad opens on a dark night and the Rivian logo. Green smoke drifts out of a house, and the camera moves inside to find Slimer raiding the fridge, devouring everything in sight.
Outside, a car pulls up with its sirens blaring. It’s the Ecto-R1, a Rivian R1S dressed up as the Ghostbusters’ Ecto-1. The window rolls down and Bill Murray, back as Dr. Peter Venkman, is playing a pizza delivery driver with a Hawaiian pizza to drop off. He taps the car’s touchscreen, and a ghost-catching device rises from the roof and takes aim at the house. One press of the ghost trap button and Slimer is caught.
The Ghostbusters theme kicks in as the line “Ghostbusters Halloween Mode. Only from Rivian.” appears, and the dashboard shows off the Halloween Mode features. In the final moments, Venkman slicks his hair back with a dab of leftover slime. The ad ends on him and the Rivian logo.
Borrow a story your product can step into. Pop-culture partnerships work best when the borrowed story says something about the brand. Ghostbusters is a strong match for Rivian. It’s one of the few franchises where the car is a character, so the Ecto-R1 slips naturally into the story and the product gets to save the day. As one viewer put it: “I liked how they made a ghost mobile out of it while showing how well it is to own and to see on the roads.” It’s also a world people already love. Ghostbusters is the thing viewers mention most when asked what they liked about the ad and Bill Murray’s return is a clear hit (Celebrity Appeal: 4.4 vs. 3.9 norm).
Show up where your category doesn’t. Halloween is one of the biggest moments on the US calendar, yet the advertising around it comes mostly from candy, snack, soda and fast-food brands, while car companies don’t typically join in. Rivian steps into that gap with a Halloween Mode feature that makes the car part of the fun. Breaking the category’s conventions pays off in distinctiveness. The ad stands out well above the norm (Ad Distinctiveness: 4.2 vs. 3.7 norm) and the novelty carries over to the brand (Brand Distinctiveness: 3.9 vs. 3.7 norm).
Could an idea your customers already love help you reach new ones?
Rivian’s Halloween Mode started in 2022 as a small software treat for owners, with spooky sounds and lighting, and it has grown every year since, from Dracula to car costumes inspired by Knight Rider and Back to the Future. This year, it’s the brand’s biggest Halloween launch yet, with a franchise partner, a hero film, retail events and a real Ecto-R1.
Scaling up the brand’s Halloween activation now meets a clear business need. Rivian’s CEO has said brand awareness is still nowhere near where the company wants it to be, and the new, more affordable R2 is aimed at a much bigger market. Investing in an idea owners already love, and bringing it to a much wider audience, makes sense.
Viewers come away seeing Rivian as “fun and exciting to drive” (44%) and having “innovative technology” (38%). For some, it’s also a first introduction to the brand: “I never knew this brand until I did this survey but let them know they caught my interest…”
So ask yourself: is there a ritual, feature or tradition your customers already enjoy that could become your next big campaign? And what can you do to make it more relevant for the broader audience, as Rivian did here with the connection to a popular movie?
“Ghostbusters” launched in October to promote Rivian’s latest Halloween Mode: a free over-the-air software update for R1 and R2 owners. The update adds a dedicated Ghostbusters app to the vehicle, with themed light and sound shows, a Trick or Treat Mode that plays the Ghostbusters theme, a spooky-voiced Rivian Assistant, a scavenger hunt for hidden characters and a Mini-Puft arcade game.
The ad was created by Rivian’s in-house creative studio and produced by Bob Industries. It’s directed by Gil Kenan, who co-wrote Ghostbusters: Afterlife and directed Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. To stay close to the 1984 original, the team used an old-school Slimer puppet and in-camera effects. The star car is real too. Rivian’s Special Projects team turned an R1S into the Ecto-R1, complete with sirens, spotlights, a radar dish and restored vintage emergency lights.
Halloween has become a tradition for Rivian. This is the fifth year the brand has released a Halloween update; in 2024, owners could turn their vehicles into Knight Rider’s K.I.T.T. or the Back to the Future DeLorean. Rivian says the idea comes from looking for white space where it can bring joy, and from a holiday that car companies don’t typically celebrate.
Rivian’s “Ghostbusters” ad lands in the top 25% of US ads for its ability to drive sales, while sitting in line with the average US ad on long-term brand equity (Sales Impact: 76; Brand Impact: 51).
The ad cuts through (Ad Distinctiveness: 4.2 vs. 3.7 norm; Claimed Attention: 4.3 vs. 3.9 norm), and that distinctiveness carries over to the brand. After seeing the ad, people see Rivian as more different from other vehicle brands than they would after a typical ad (Brand Distinctiveness: 3.9 vs. 3.7 norm).
Halloween ads usually come from candy, snack, soda and fast-food brands. Turning up in such an unexpected category gives Rivian space its competitors have left open.
Viewers notice the novelty and like it:
People also enjoy watching it (Enjoyment: 4.1 vs. 3.9 norm), with both Love and Laughter well above the norm (Love: 35% vs. 27% norm; Laughter: 18% vs. 7% norm).
The second-by-second trace shows where those feelings come from. Laughter builds through the story: first as Slimer devours the contents of the fridge, then as Venkman rolls down the window with his Hawaiian pizza joke, and highest of all when the machine catches the ghost.
Love spikes the moment viewers first see Bill Murray, then again at the end, as the Ghostbusters theme starts and he gels his hair with leftover slime, so the ad closes on a high.
And viewers are clearly happy to have him back. Celebrity Appeal is very high (4.4 vs. 3.9 norm) and around half of all viewers recognize Murray too. They said things like:
Not everyone is in on the joke though, with more viewers than usual feeling confused (Confusion: 7% vs. 2% norm). That confusion centers on the link between the car and the movie: some viewers aren’t sure how Ghostbusters connects to Rivian, or what Halloween Mode does. Even viewers who enjoy the ad can miss the link: “I enjoyed the Ghostbusters theme although I don’t understand the connection to Rivian.”
That’s partly down to familiarity. Rivian is still a young brand to many people, so not everyone has the context to make the connection straightaway.
Even so, the main idea comes through. The ad leaves people seeing Rivian as “fun and exciting to drive” (44%) and having “innovative technology” (38%), the top two attributes it communicates about the brand, followed by modern (37%) and stylish (34%).
People say things like:
Where the ad really shines is in driving short-term sales. Purchase Uplift is well above the norm (28% vs. 22% norm). Before seeing the ad, only 9% of viewers would consider Rivian, rising to 37% after watching.
What a fun way for Rivian to celebrate Halloween! It’s funny and unlike anything else car brands are doing this season but it works wonders for Rivian’s short-term sales potential.
What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.
To make sure you never miss one of our AdMiration analyses, subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter.