Submitted by Ask The Impossible

Katherine Ryan's Giant Monster Munch

Influencer Marketing

Ask The Impossible designed and fabricated a bespoke giant plush Monster Munch Halloween costume, with matching slippers, earrings and bag, worn in public by comedian Katherine Ryan.

Case in 60 seconds

Walkers and Splendid Communications returned to Ask The Impossible after a Wotsit costume the previous Halloween, and the brief asked for something bigger and better, which set the previous year's work as the bar.

The campaign appears to turn on Halloween being the one night when a snack brand can be worn rather than eaten, because a costume photographed in public travels through onlookers and press rather than through paid placement.

The idea was to build the snack itself at wearable scale and dress the talent head to toe in it, so the product became a single recognisable silhouette rather than a logo on a costume.

Ask The Impossible took creative direction, design and fabrication on a bespoke giant plush Monster Munch costume measuring 130cm toe to toe, with matching slippers, snack-shaped earrings and a Monster Munch bag. Katherine Ryan dressed at a Central London hotel and went out with her husband Bobby, and the scale of the costume made getting into a black cab difficult in front of onlookers.

Ask The Impossible reports that the costume was covered by The Sun, The Daily Express, The Mirror and The Metro, and that doormen, passers-by and partygoers reacted to it in the street.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Halloween rewards costumes that read instantly at a distance, which puts a snack brand against horror and celebrity references that already carry recognition, so the product itself had to be the costume.
Crisp and snack brands have little claim on Halloween, so Walkers needed a way onto the night that felt earned through a recognisable product shape rather than through seasonal packaging.
Monster Munch supplies the silhouette and the name, which lets the brand appear as the costume rather than as a sponsor attached to somebody else's Halloween look.
Based on the available evidence, the reaction the page records comes from people in the street rather than from an audience online, which suggests the costume was built to be met in person first and photographed afterwards.

Creative & Execution System

Partners

  • Ask The Impossible (lead_agency), Splendid Communications (pr)

Creator role

  • Katherine Ryan — creator

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult type
costume size toe-to-toeOur bespoke costume measured 130cm from 'toe-to-toe', which caused more than a fair few issues when it came to transport.scope
national press coverageKatherine's costume was covered by The Sun, The Daily Express, The Mirror, and The Metro, to name a few.earned_media

Why Ask The Impossible's strategy worked

  1. 1

    A returning talent partnership compounds, because Katherine Ryan wearing a second costume after the Wotsit gives the press a running story rather than a one-off picture desk item.

  2. 2

    Physical scale generates its own coverage, because a 130cm costume that struggles into a black cab creates an incident onlookers photograph rather than an asset the brand has to distribute.

  3. 3

    Accessorising a costume extends one idea across several shots, because slippers, earrings and a branded bag give photographers detail to pick up rather than a single silhouette repeated.

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