Walmart’s new holiday campaign, which launched this week with an ad during Sunday Night Football, takes place in a Dr. Seuss-inspired town called “WhoKnewVille.” In the ad, a narrator says the Whos are stressed about the holidays without help from Walmart. “Can someone help me find a Labubu, and also, tell me what that is?” one Who asks.
Another Who, named Mindy Lou, then wishes there was a way for every Who to get what they need for the holiday. Then, a shooting star brings Mindy Lou a phone-like device showing some of the brands available at Walmart, such as Tonies, Nespresso and Apple, as well as luxury fashion and beauty brands like Michael Kors, E.l.f., Glossier and Kate Spade.
The name of the fictional town and ad campaign plays on Walmart’s previous “Who Knew” campaign and continues its push to redefine itself to a growing share of higher-income customers, while still stressing low prices and value. The “Who Knew” campaign, starring Walton Goggins from HBO’s “The White Lotus,” began this summer and was focused on getting customers to take a “second look” at all of the products Walmart carries.
Walmart’s “Who Knew” campaign aimed to tell consumers that the company has evolved beyond being just a big-box store or budget player with an online marketplace with more than half a billion items, same-day delivery, a membership program and more. The company now plans to extend that focus through the holiday season.
“It does a very nice job of building on the success of ‘Who Knew’ and elevating it into a multichannel culture-driving experience designed around gifting, deals and the speed of the season,” Walmart U.S. CMO William White told Modern Retail.
In addition to television, the campaign will have placements across YouTube, social media, e-commerce, influencer partnerships and other channels, according to Adweek.
White said the campaign’s story arc leaned into an insight from customers: that they worried about how to get all their holiday shopping done this season.
“We know that while the holiday season is a time of joy, it’s also a time of stress. And we’re answering that question for customers, showing that Walmart can help them with every part of the season, from inspiration to execution,” White said.
The campaign also reflects how Walmart has expanded its assortment in its stores and through its third-party marketplace. Labubu, one of the first products mentioned in the campaign, is only available through the online marketplace.
“This holiday season, just like we have for the last several months with ‘Who Knew’ overall, we want people to think of us for all of their holiday needs, and that’s why you see both the 1P and 3P assortment come to life in WhoKnewVille,” White said.
White said the “WhoKnewVille” campaign will follow customers’ different concerns that arise throughout the holiday season and answer how the retailer can address their needs at different points along that path.
“Early in the season, there’s a lot around gifting and inspiration. We will talk heavily about deals close to Black Friday, and then, we’ll really lean into our capabilities around fast delivery and fast same-day delivery as we get later in the season,” White said. “Our customers are focused, yes, on price, but also on convenience and speed.”
White said that, so far, the company has found through survey work that the “Who Knew” campaign has helped boost customer perception of the Walmart brand, in terms of delivery speed, the breadth and quality of the product assortment, and the value of its memberships and delivery.
“Not only are we seeing reappraisal and seeing a greater level of consideration on these fronts, but we’re also seeing adoption — a greater level of adoption of express delivery, a greater level of adoption of our longer-tail assortment through marketplace and a greater number of customers joining our Walmart+ membership platform,” White said.
Scott Benedict of Benedict Enterprises, a retail consultant and former buyer for Walmart and other retailers, said he has often heard from retail executives at Walmart, Sam’s Club and elsewhere that customers who engage with a retailer both online and in-store tend to be more valuable in terms of KPIs including average purchase, frequency of purchase and loyalty.
The campaign “draws together this omnichannel message by incentivizing you to perhaps go look at things that you may not have been drawn to yet and may not know what they do,” Benedict said.
The challenge for Walmart will be juggling multiple messages and going after high-income customers by promoting all the different products it carries online, while also promoting several deal-focused shopping events. Walmart, for example, will be pushing a Thanksgiving meal basket that it says will feed a family of 10 for under $40. In addition, Walmart said it will have thousands of products available for sale under $20 this holiday season.
“They’re trying to both reinforce the message of who they have historically been to whom they have been important, while broadening their base,” Benedict said. “They’re still talking about value and still trying to show the benefit of gifts under a price point — which is always a very critical holiday message — while showing offers that appeal to a broader audience.”
White said that, this year, the company is offering rollbacks at a faster rate than in previous years and that he expects customers to become even more focused on finding the best deals and prices as Black Friday approaches.
“We know value is important across the entire country and across our full customer base,” White said. “In the campaign, we will lean into deals, particularly as we’re in the Black Friday holiday time period, where we’ll be talking about all the great work our merchants have done to bring in a really high-quality assortment at affordable prices.”