For decades, The Hershey Company (HSY) has pushed the boundaries of confectionery innovation, experimenting with bold new flavors and seasonal twists across its iconic brands, especially during the holidays.

Now, a candy rival is challenging Hershey’s sweet creations by unveiling a new addition to its lineup. This marks a first-of-its-kind product for the brand that could become a recurring seasonal staple for years to come.

Mars-owned Twix is introducing the limited-edition Twix Hallowmas Pack, which blends Halloween and Christmas, two of the biggest candy holidays of the year.

What’s inside the new Twix Hallowmas Pack?

  • Fun-size Twix Ghoulish Green bars: The classic Twix bar featuring a green cookie inside.
  • The new Twix Snowman: A snowman-shaped Twix.

This move looks to be a strategic way for Mars to boost sales by combining two high-demand candy-buying seasons to reduce production costs and maximize profits. By doing so, the company can serve both fall and winter festivities with a single product line.

“Halloween falls on a Friday this year for the first time in over a decade, which means more celebrations, more trick-or-treaters, and more Twix,” said Mars North America President of Sales and Chief Halloween Officer Tim LeBel in a press release. “We’re excited to have fans help us give Hallowmas a ‘moment’ celebrating both of their favorite holidays at once, which only Twix, the brand of two, can deliver on.”

Mars-owned Twix is introducing the limited-edition TWIX® Hallowmas™ that blends Halloween and Christmas.

Mars Inc./Twix

Twix’s strategy to stand out in a crowded candy market

The candy-making market is already crowded with major manufacturers, such as Hershey, which owns over 90 of the most popular brands. To ensure this new candy mashup stands out, Twix has devised a clever marketing strategy that will create online and offline buzz.

The brand is tapping into the power of social media virality and blending it with real-world experiences.

Related: Hershey creates first-ever seasonal new candy ahead of Halloween

Twix is rolling out a candy and cash sweepstakes through November 1, where fans can win Twix candy and a $20,000 cash prize by commenting on Twix’s sweepstakes post and tagging a friend. For additional entries, they can post about Twix Hallowmas on Instagram or TikTok using #TWIXSweepstakes.

To bring the campaign offline, Twix will host the Twix Hallowmas Grotto NYC Pop-Up, a two-night-only event from October 31 to November 1 at North 10th St & Union Ave in Brooklyn, New York. The first 100 guests each night will receive a free Twix Hallowmas Pack.

Social media becomes a powerful tool to boost Twix’s growth

Social media has become an indispensable marketing tool for all businesses, big and small, since it is cost-effective, has a virality factor, and can increase brand awareness across new audiences in real time, potentially boosting sales.

According to Synup, the global social media advertising market is expected to grow from $228 billion in 2024 to about $256.5 billion in 2025, with an annual growth rate of 12.5%.

That reach matters. The same research shows that user-generated content drives 8.7x higher engagement rates than branded posts, and 78% of local businesses already rely on social media to grow brand awareness.

By launching these activations around this latest release, Twix is turning customers into brand ambassadors. The more people post about the new candy line, the greater the organic exposure and the higher the likelihood that consumers will seek it out for themselves.

According to Curalate, 76% of consumers report purchasing a product after seeing it on social media, while 65% say a post’s link led them to a product they weren’t initially interested in purchasing. 

Related: Hershey rivals find a solution to chocolate’s biggest crisis