The holiday advertising season, like Ebenezer Scrooge before his nocturnal conversion, arrives each year with the certainty of a debt collector and roughly the same level of subtlety.

Walmart is entering the fray this year with an elaborate campaign built around "The Muppet Christmas Carol," the 1992 film that paired Jim Henson's creations with Michael Caine in the role Charles Dickens surely envisioned for a felt frog's co-star. In the retailer's version, Walton Goggins assumes the Scrooge mantle, with Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat attempting to reform his penny-pinching ways through the persuasive power of Express Delivery and seasonal deals.

The campaign, called "A Who Knew Carol," extends the retailer's ongoing "Who Knew?" platform, which exists to inform consumers that Walmart sells things they did not realize Walmart sold. (Whether consumers were actively wondering about this is another matter.)

The effort is notable for its scale: more than 60 pieces of content across broadcast, streaming, social media, out-of-home, audio and what the industry now calls "creator network partnerships." Three spirits will visit Mr. Goggins's Scrooge across the campaign's run, though they have been given new names for what the campaign's creators describe, through the voices of Statler and Waldorf, as "legal" reasons. The Ghost of Christmas Presents arrives bearing De'Longhi products and merchandise from Disney, the Muppets' corporate parent, in a bit of vertical integration that would have impressed the original ghosts.

The campaign was created by Dept W and Pub W, a collective operating under the Publicis Groupe banner that includes Fallon, Leo New York, the Community, Digitas and Zenith — an arrangement that itself requires a flowchart to fully comprehend.

Nikki Baker, chief executive of Fallon, said the team worked directly with Disney and the Muppet Studio on every creative detail, including the creation of a new Muppet named Bagsy who belongs exclusively to Walmart.

"For us, it wasn't about jumping on a trend," Ms. Baker said, explaining that the Dickens connection predated any cultural moment.

Scrooge, of course, required supernatural intervention to see things differently. Walmart is betting that 60 pieces of content will suffice.

Original story published in campaignlive.com: "Walmart revisits ‘Muppet Christmas Carol’ for expansive holiday campaign | Campaign US"