Walmart brings shoppable ‘WhoKnewVille’ holiday campaign to new channel
Walmart’s immersive Dr. Seuss-inspired holiday promotion is enabling purchases via a popular streaming TV platform.
The discount giant is expanding "WhoKnewVille," a Dr. Seuss-inspired world the retailer features in ads, social media feeds and virtual worlds as an expansion of its existing "Who Knew?" promotional campaign, to the Roku streaming TV platform.
[READ MORE: Walmart takes it on the road in new campaign]
This collaborative effort includes Walmart serving as the presenting sponsor of the Roku Originals holiday special “Merry Little Mystery,” featuring a watch-along segment that highlights connections between the film and products available on Walmart.com. Interactive overlays appear during the segments to streamline shopping from the broadcast.
In addition, Walmart has a dynamic environment on the Roku platform that lets streamers shop products on its site, as well as holiday-themed ambient rooms for background streaming. Walmart is also sponsoring Roku’s holiday streaming content.
The campaign builds on previous Walmart-Roku holiday promotional collaborations. In 2024, the discounter sponsored Roku’s holiday content and also partnered with Google to create a series of digital ambient shopping rooms called "Background Joys," which included an on-screen QR code for viewers to shop featured items directly on Roku.
In 2023, Roku worked with Walmart for its "Add to Heart" holiday campaign by letting Roku viewers watch each of the 23 parts of Walmart’s “Add to Heart” holiday romantic comedy series while shopping products from each scene.
Walmart recruits Hollywood star to play The Grinch
Walton Googins, star of the HBO hit series "White Lotus," is playing the legendary Dr. Seuss holiday villain-turned-hero The Grinch in its "WhoKnewVille” seasonal holiday campaign. Developed in partnership with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the "Grinch Who Stole Christmas"-themed campaign presents residents of "WhoKnewVille" struggling to find the perfect holiday gift as familiar characters from the book — Mindy Lou Who, The Grinch and all the Whos — discover what Walmart can do.
Walmart is featuring "WhoKnewVille" (and Goggins as The Grinch) in ads, social media feeds and virtual worlds. The retailer has concluded its Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions, reporting "consistently strong sales growth, led by digital," with especially positive performance in the electronics, toys, fashion, and home categories. The retailer says it will offer exclusive last-minute deals throughout the month of December.
Based in Bentonville, Ark., Walmart Inc. operates more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites in 19 countries.
