Retail giant Walmart is reimagining a beloved piece of pop culture history for its upcoming holiday marketing campaign, anchoring the crucial gift-giving season around a unified, multigenerational brand platform starring actor Walton Goggins. By blending nostalgic cinematic references with its existing brand strategy, the company hopes to cut through the noise of the busiest advertising period of the year.
In previous years, the retail corporation typically rolled out separate, segmented advertising campaigns to address different legs of the holiday shopping season, ranging from the early buildup to Black Friday through the final days before Christmas. This year, however, Walmart is leveraging its "Who Knew?" brand platform to streamline its storytelling under a single cohesive theme.
Launched last year, the "Who Knew?" platform was specifically developed to challenge and dispel lingering misperceptions about the brand, positioning Walmart as a more style-conscious and trend-forward destination as it continues to successfully win over higher-income shoppers.
"The holidays are an incredibly cluttered period of time from an advertising standpoint, and so the ability to break through is really important," said Walmart Chief Marketing Officer William White in an interview. "Having one theme, one campaign throughout the season allows a really quick read for customers to know it’s Walmart."
Following his stint transforming into the classic Dr. Seuss character the Grinch for Walmart’s holiday advertisements last year, Walton Goggins has traded the furry green suit for the Victorian-era wardrobe of "The Muppet Christmas Carol." Goggins steps into the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, the iconic miser originally created by Charles Dickens in his classic novella "A Christmas Carol," acting alongside an ensemble cast of Muppets that includes Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.
The production also features actor Stephanie Beatriz, another familiar face from the "Who Knew?" campaign, who plays Scrooge’s niece and will helm the brand’s Spanish-language television spots.
In a creative parallel to the overarching marketing strategy, the classic narrative structure of Dickens’ tale is being utilized to highlight Walmart’s diverse retail offerings. The three traditional specters haunting Scrooge have been reimagined around key seasonal shopping beats: one ghost showcases curated gift ideas, another underscores the deep savings available during major shopping milestones like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and a third promotes last-minute gifting solutions, including Walmart’s rapid Express Delivery service, which promises items in 30 minutes or less.
Over the course of the commercial arc, Goggins’ portrayal of Scrooge evolves from a stubborn humbug to a cheerful appreciator of the retailer—a personal journey that mirrors the broader brand reappraisal concept behind the "Who Knew?" platform.
"We love ‘A Christmas Carol’ as a story because it’s a reappraisal story, and the ‘Who Knew?’ campaign is a reappraisal story for us as well," White noted.
Walmart Meets the Muppets
Titled "A Who Knew Carol," the expansive holiday campaign was brought to life in collaboration with several agencies under the Publicis Groupe umbrella, including Fallon, Leo New York, The Community, Digitas, and Zenith. White views the enduring cast of Muppets as possessing broad consumer appeal and fresh, contemporary relevance, particularly following a recent television special featuring pop star Sabrina Carpenter and their unexpected cameo appearance at the World Cup final halftime show.
Walmart initially teased the ambitious collaboration in a social media video released earlier, showing Goggins meeting with Kermit on a traditional studio lot. The broader stage for the campaign is set by a long-form video that meticulously recreates "Scrooge," the memorable opening musical number from the original 1992 film, "The Muppet Christmas Carol."
The physical production sets were carefully designed to echo the visual aesthetic of the 1992 film, while the script introduces clever winks to the retail brand. In one scene, for example, Rizzo the Rat humorously complains that Walmart did not even exist during the historical time period. Furthermore, Muppets who were absent from the original cinematic adaptation, notably Pepe the King Prawn, make appearances in the campaign to capitalize on their active presence in modern meme culture, according to Fallon CEO Nikki Baker. A comprehensive series of additional videos and social content will be rolled out continuously throughout the fourth quarter.
The full media plan is exceptionally broad, spanning traditional broadcast television, streaming platforms, online video, social media channels, out-of-home advertising, audio networks, podcasts, and digital creator networks. The campaign concept will also factor into Walmart’s ongoing integrations with the National Football League, where on-air personalities will make direct references to the narrative.
As part of its ongoing push to establish itself as a legitimate fashion destination, Walmart is increasing its reliance on digital creators and influencers. The company plans to deploy Miss Piggy prominently in its broader style-focused holiday marketing, though specific details regarding her fashion appearances remain under wraps.
"[Creators] are helping to drive reappraisal, they’re helping to drive awareness and they’re driving conversion all within one moment, and so it’s an important part of our media mix," White explained.
Navigating the Holidays
Retailers are entering the thick of the critical fourth-quarter shopping period against an economic backdrop where consumer sentiment remains somewhat sour, though the retail category itself could be insulated from the worst of these macroeconomic headwinds. Total holiday spending on retail goods is projected to climb by 10% year over year, according to recent consumer surveys conducted by Deloitte.
Walmart enters the holiday stretch following a robust fiscal second quarter, during which total revenue rose 5.9% to reach $187.9 billion. Notably, e-commerce operations surged 24% year over year and now account for nearly one-quarter of all retail sales in the United States, representing double the share it held just five years ago.
Meanwhile, industry competitors are deploying their own high-concept strategies to capture consumer attention. Target, Walmart’s chief brick-and-mortar rival, has begun ramping up its own holiday marketing efforts with a campaign centered around a fictional academy where specialized departments and faculty members focus on distinct categories of gift-giving.
At the same time, the underlying intellectual property of Charles Dickens’ classic tale may enjoy a broader cultural moment this season. In addition to Walmart’s commercial adaptation, a separate cinematic take on the narrative titled "Ebenezer," starring Johnny Depp as Scrooge, is being actively marketed and discussed as a major comeback project for the actor following years of personal and legal troubles.
"I think it’ll be a great momentum to the campaign, and people will be engaged in the IP. That’s a nice add-on," White said.
