Dive Brief:

• To get its customers into the Halloween spirit, KFC has released vintage Colonel Sanders costumes and limited-edition trick-or-treat buckets that look like its signature packaging, according to a press release. The brand is selling the costumes on its newfangled e-commerce site, KFCLimited.com, and the buckets at select locations for a limited time. 
• The costumes are affordable, costing just $5 for the full get-up, just as the brand's $5 Fill Ups cost that amount, George Felix, KFC's U.S. director of advertising, noted in the release. The buckets are made of plastic with a sturdy handle and come in five designs featuring the Colonel as different Halloween classics including a mummy, werewolf and vampire.
• In their pricing and appearance, the costumes intend to recall the dime-store costumes kids bought in the '70s and '80s, with vacuum-molded plastic masks and a vinyl bib that looks like Colonel Sanders' trademark white suit and string tie. 

Dive Insight:

Brands always like the opportunity to tie promotions to kids, who are wielding more and more influence over family spending decisions, and Halloween is an easy holiday to ramp up those efforts given the high demand for costumes and similar seasonal gear. KFC has a leg up on some of the competition this year when it comes to brand recognition due to an ongoing and extensive push around Sanders to keep various iterations of the character front-and-center in its marketing.

The costumes also expand the Yum! Brands chain's fledgling e-commerce business. In July, KFC introduced its online shop for merchandise, including Colonel Sanders t-shirts, sweatshirts and, at the time, a single, 400-year-old meteorite that was shaped like a Zinger sandwich and priced at $20,000. While the project might have initially seemed like a gimmicky stunt, it's clearly drawn some business success for KFC, and the costumes herald a fall/winter "product refresh" that will be rolled out in full over the coming months, according to the release. 

More fast food brands are delving into the e-commerce game as a new source of revenue and to spark interest with young consumers who are more frequently favoring healthier eating options. Taco Bell, which also falls under the Yum! banner, officially launched its collaborative "food fashion" clothing line with the fast fashion retailer Forever 21 earlier this week.