Students study Halloween marketing where it actually happens, then write a proposal a local business can use.
High School PBL Idea
Project Summary: High school students treat a Spirit store as a field site. They photograph displays, tally the strategies on the floor, and come back to write a marketing proposal for a local business that wants October sales. In the version I ran, students pitched to Spoons, a local smoothie company.
Seasonal marketing is easy to lecture and hard to see. A Spirit store in October is a live case study: color, scarcity, bundles, nostalgia, impulse placement, and a clock that runs out on November 1. This project sends students into that clock, then asks them to move a tactic from costumes to a business that does not sell costumes.
Project Title: October on Purpose: Field Work in Seasonal Marketing
Enduring Understanding: A marketing strategy is only useful if students can point to it in a real store, explain who it is for, and adapt it to a different business without copying the costume.
Driving Question: How do retailers use Halloween to drive sales, and how could a local business use those strategies in October?
Suggested Grade Band & Duration: Grades 9–12. About 2–3 weeks, including one field visit and a live pitch. Ninth and tenth graders can pitch in pairs. Eleventh and twelfth graders can own a full written proposal.
Project Overview: Students study seasonal marketing strategies before the visit, then do fieldwork at a Spirit store. They photograph displays, tally tactics, and take notes on what is actually being used. Back in class they decide which strategies transfer to a non-costume business, draft a proposal, and pitch it. The audience in this run was Spoons, a local smoothie company.
Core Content Connections:
- Marketing / CTE: promotional mix, visual merchandising, seasonal campaigns
- ELA: observational notes, proposal writing, oral pitching
- Media: photo evidence as data, not decoration
- Entrepreneurship: offer design for a real client
Durable Skills:
- Seeing a strategy instead of just a display
- Transfer: what works in one business may not fit another
- Evidence over opinion
- Speaking to a client who did not assign the project
Entry Event Options:
- Show three October campaigns side by side: a costume retailer, a coffee shop, and a grocery endcap. Ask what is the same and what would fail if you swapped them.
- Play a 60-second clip of a seasonal ad and have students name the tactic before they name the product.
- Ask a local owner, even by email, what they already do in October. Use the answer as the client brief.
Business PBL Idea
Final Product:
- Field notes, photos, and a tally of strategies observed
- A written proposal for a named local business
- A live pitch
The proposal should name the client, cite evidence from the store, recommend a small set of tactics, and say what the business should not copy.
Public Exhibition: Pitch to the partner business. If a live pitch is not possible, a panel of staff or a local owner still beats a grade-only audience. Do not let the fieldwork die in a slideshow for the teacher.
Project Phases & Formative Benchmarks:
Phase 1 — Learn the tactics before the visit. Students study a short set of seasonal moves: bundling, limited-time offers, thematic displays, nostalgia, impulse placement. Benchmark: a tally sheet they will actually use in the store. Look-for: they can name a tactic without pointing at a costume.
Phase 2 — Fieldwork. Photograph, tally, and note. Benchmark: evidence set from the visit. Look-for: photos tied to a strategy label, not a camera roll of shopping.
Phase 3 — Transfer. Sort what belongs in a smoothie shop, a bookstore, or whatever the client is, and what does not. Benchmark: a short “use / adapt / drop” list. Look-for: a reason, not a preference.
Phase 4 — Propose and pitch. Draft, peer-revise, pitch. Benchmark: proposal plus pitch. Look-for: every recommendation traces back to something they saw.
Phase 5 — Reflect. What did the live store show that a case study could not? What would they drop if the client had a smaller budget?
How Students Will Be Assessed: Rubric on quality of evidence, fit of the strategy to the client, and clarity of the pitch. The pitch is assessed on whether a busy owner could act on it.
Differentiation & Supports: Give a short capture list so the visit does not become browsing. Pair students who freeze in a store with a defined role: photo, tally, or quote. Call the store ahead of time.
Why This Project Works for High School: Students already know Halloween marketing as customers. The project makes them analysts, then consultants. A real company in the room changes the sentences they write.
Additional Resources Teachers Will Need:
- Permission and a store contact before the trip
- A one-page tally of strategies
- A client brief, even a short one, so the proposal has a target
- Photo norms: no faces of shoppers, no checkout lines that hold up staff
Teacher note on scope: Pitching to Spoons was the audience, not a promise that the company would run the campaign. Say that clearly to students before they present.
This post was developed in collaboration with AI as a thought partner. All ideas, framing, and insights are grounded in my own classroom experience and the CraftED project-planning methodology.
For more PBL resources visit craftedcurriculum.com.
About the Author: Jenny
