Walmart hopes Black Friday shoppers will experience a 10-episode ad blitz

Walmart hopes customers view its next advertising campaign as something more in the vein of a TV series rather than a TV commercial.

The retail giant wants to get consumers in the mood for Black Friday deals with a ten-part “series” of commercials highlighting great bargains available in its stores. Walmart has tapped actors like Taye Diggs, Lisa Rinna, Ian Somerhalder, Anthony Ramos, Chad Michael Murray, Jake Shane and Walton Goggins to take part in vignettes that will likely remind viewers of video favorites like “Bridgerton,” “Yellowstone.” “Friday Night Lights” or “Vampire Diaries”.

Each ad previews the next ad in the series and also highlights a Black Friday deal. The first part of the series, a preview of the campaign, is expected to be released on Monday.

“The holidays are an incredibly busy time of year for people and an incredibly crowded time of year for advertisers,” said William White, chief marketing officer of Walmart US, in an interview. “To stand out on Black Friday and excite our customers about deals, we're focused on groundbreaking creative offers that spark conversation and drive engagement.” Each ad features different deals on items like an Apple iPhone 13 or a Jessica Simpson women's puffer coat advertised.

Walmart is optimizing its Black Friday strategy. In recent years it has tried to attract attention by reuniting actors from the hit “Mean Girls” or the cult favorite “Office Space.” This year, White says, executives are betting that emulations of their favorite shows will be recognized even faster.

“We see that our customers love chapter-based storytelling. It resonated with them,” White says. “We’re tapping into genres that are always popular with talent that excites people.”

The retailer wants to place the ads in highly visible locations – and not just on television. The spots will appear in prominent locations on both Tik Tok and YouTube, White says, and Walmart has commissioned special outdoor ads in places like New York and Los Angeles that closely resemble billboards and signs announcing the debut of will be a new television program.

Walmart needs to get attention. “I would say the fourth quarter represents a very large portion of our business,” White says. “The holidays are a very big part of our business.” The weeks leading up to Black Friday have always been full of deals and advertising campaigns aimed at attracting shoppers to stores. The season just got even more intense with the launch of a new NFL game, Black Friday, from Amazon Prime Video. Last year's opener included commercials from Google, Carnival Cruises, Hasbro, Bose and Columbia Sportswear.