Walmart parodies TV hits in Black Friday ‘advertainment’ series

Walmart parodies TV hits in Black Friday ‘advertainment’ series

“Deals of Desire” taps into customers’ “main character energy” and follows similar efforts from the retailer that bridge content and commerce.

Dive Brief:

• Walmart will launch a 10-part “advertainment” series as part of its Black Friday marketing, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
• “Deals of Desire” features familiar actors in vignettes that parody fan-favorite TV shows. A trailer promises “dramatic” deals on toys, tech, fashion, home and other categories. 
• The ads will run on TV, TikTok, YouTube and out-of-home, and follow similar efforts from Walmart that bring together content and commerce.

Dive Insight:
Walmart’s latest advertainment play unites familiar faces from TV and film in a series of ads described in a teaser trailer as a “shocking, supernatural, action-packed, historical, Western drama.” By fusing Black Friday deals with nods to popular shows, the retailer hopes to elevate the connection between culture and commerce, said U.S. CMO William White.

“Everyone loves a bit of drama, and with ‘Deals of Desire,’ we’ve captured the exhilaration and ‘main character energy’ customers feel as they embark on their epic quests for the most sought-after savings during Walmart’s legendary ‘Black Friday Deals’ events,” White said in a statement.

“Deals of Desire” seems to parody such hits as “Bridgerton,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Yellowstone” and “The Vampire Diaries.” It features actors Walton Goggins (“Justified”), Taye Diggs (“All-American”), Lisa Rinna (“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”), Ian Somerhalder (“The Vampire Diaries”), Anthony Ramos (“Hamilton”) and Chad Michael Murray (“One Tree Hill”), as well as TikTok star Jake Shane. 

Along with running on TV, the ads will appear on TikTok, YouTube and out of home in places like bus shelters and bus wrappers that resemble those for new TV shows, a spokesperson confirmed to Marketing Dive. The effort promotes Walmart’s Black Friday events on Nov. 11 and Nov. 25 for paid Walmart+ members (Nov. 16 and Nov. 25 for all customers) and Cyber Monday deals that will appear Dec. 1 at 5 p.m. ET for members and at 8 p.m. ET for all customers.

The advertainment series comes on the heels of the launch of Walmart’s larger 2024 holiday campaign. That effort features a commercial pairing scenes of gift giving with clips from pop cultural touchstones like “The Simpsons” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

“We’re always looking for ways to get closer to the customer and bridge the gap between content and commerce,” Walmart Vice President of Creative David Hartman recently told Marketing Dive.

The retailer’s holiday marketing push comes on the heels of strong quarterly earnings for the chain, which continues to appeal to consumers looking for value. 

The 2024 campaigns follow similar concepts that try to collapse the purchasing funnel, including a 2023 Black Friday ad push that reunited cast members of “Mean Girls” and a 23-part “RomCommerce” social series last holiday season.