• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, June 9, 2025

Amazon may be the go-to for anything and everything. But with a megaphone, some clogging shoes, and actor Walt Goggins, Walmart is launching a campaign to challenge that perception.

The campaign’s central idea -- that Walmart sells more than half a billion items, many delivered in under an hour -- comes across with the help of Walt Goggins. Themed “Walmart. Who knew?,” the ads play off the Who’s 1978 earworm, “Who Are You?”

After running through the list of unlikely items on the app, including a sauna, bear spray, an accordion, a megaphone and dancing shoes, his voiceover says: “The Walmart you thought you knew is now new.”

A Walmart spokesperson says that a collection of Publicis Groupe agencies, including Leo NY, Fallon, Digitas, the community and Contender, are running now on TV, online video, paid social and out of home. Actor Stephanie Beatriz (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) stars in the Spanish-language ads, which use Ricardo Arjona's "Quien Diría."

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer first announced the effort with a company blog post addressed to consumers. “We’ve been called a lot of things. A big-box store. A budget hero. Your go-to place for all your weekend errands….But here’s the thing: we’ve changed. A lot.  And we think it’s time to reintroduce ourselves.”

Calling the effort “an invitation to take a second look at the new Walmart,” the effort -- without ever naming Amazon -- points out all the ways the retailer wants to out-Amazon online shopping, including Walmart + membership, speedy delivery, an ever-easier-to-use app and an online marketplace that has expanded to include an unfathomably vast online inventory.

Ads are meant to build on the momentum of the brand refresh unveiled in January.

Walmart sales have been gaining, especially among more affluent households, as consumers look for ways to pare down their grocery bills. In its most recent quarterly results, released last month, the retailer announced a milestone that has been years in the making: Its ecommerce business has finally become profitable, both in the U.S. and globally, aided by the company's fast-growing online advertising and third-party marketplace.

The campaign also lands as Walmart deepens its tech-powered transformation. It just expanded drone delivery to Houston, making it the first retailer to scale aerial drop-offs across five states -- Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas -- with some orders arriving in minutes. It's one more way the retailer is trying to prove that when it comes to speed, convenience and endless variety, Amazon isn't the only everything store.