Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt, and Farah Khan, among others, came together for a star-studded advertisement for e-commerce platform Flipkart. The new campaign has given fans Om Shanti Om vibes for all the right reasons.
The ad opens with child influencer Arista Mehta showcasing her Big Billion Days sales event. She sneaks into a lift where Alia Bhatt and then Amitabh Bachchan join her, both sporting the same phone cover. Arista quips, “AB, AB – 2AB,” leaving the duo in splits.
The trio then heads to a glitzy party hosted by Mahesh Bhatt, featuring cameos from Jannat Zubair, Sakshi Shivdasani, Anubhav Singh Bassi, Yashraj Mukhate, Sreeleela, and Farah Khan. A dance-off follows, ending with Alia driving Arista away in her luxury car.
The scale of the celebrity presence drew parallels with Dream11’s celebrity-heavy IPL 2025 campaign, which roped in names like Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant and Jackie Shroff.
Conceptualised by Tilt Brand Solutions and ZeroFifty, the Dream11 ad played on humour, with Khan mistaking Ranbir Kapoor for Ranveer Singh, setting the stage for a playful rivalry between Aamir 11 and Ranbir 11. The campaign went on to become one of the most memorable of the IPL season.
Celebrities can make ads instantly memorable and grab attention, but do viewers remember the brand or just the stars? Does the glitz and glamour that entertain audiences sometimes overshadow the product, the offer, or the campaign’s core purpose? When the spectacle dominates, does the storytelling suffer, leaving the brand message lost? In essence, while star power boosts visibility, does it truly ensure that the brand and its message are remembered, or does it raise a bigger question about balancing celebrity appeal with effective storytelling?
Nikhil Narayanan, Head of Creative and Brand at Zlade, cites the Dream11 commercial as a strong example of integrating multiple celebrities, with each star woven seamlessly into the storyline. In contrast, he feels Flipkart’s campaign comes across as somewhat forced.
“It’s set at a gala night, so the celebrities’ presence is natural, but the execution felt a bit lazy,” he notes.
“Personally, I didn’t even finish watching it. Unless such campaigns are repeated with significant investment, lasting brand recall seems unlikely, especially since the story itself wasn’t particularly memorable. To make this approach sustainable, brands need not just deep pockets but a virtually endless supply of fresh, compelling ideas,” he mentions.
KV Sridhar (popularly known as Pops), Global Chief Creative Officer at Nihilent Limited and Founder & Chief Creative Officer at HyperCollective, also believes the same and says that Dream 11’s ad campaign was intelligently crafted as compared to Flipkart. He believes that an idea can save you, not the celebrities. “If actors could save Bollywood films, every film would have been a hit,” he mentions.
Sridhar feels the Flipkart ad tries to do too many things instead of focusing on a single memorable idea. However, given the current negative consumer sentiment due to GST and American tariffs, he believes this effort will still succeed in getting people to talk about Flipkart’s annual sale.
Shradha Agarwal, co-founder and Group CEO of Grapes Worldwide, says in this case the repeated exposure and higher media spend can reinforce the message, even if the creative itself isn’t extraordinary. Citing examples like the Kindle ad and Dawat Rice, she noted how repetition can help a campaign stay top of mind. Flipkart, she said, has done this effectively, with the Big Billion Sale’s message coming across clearly.
However, Agarwal noted that while the message of such ads is clear, the challenge is that years later, people may remember the ad and its celebrities but not the brand behind it. This makes it crucial to integrate the brand effectively into the storytelling.
Nisha Sampath, Managing Partner at Bright Angles Consulting LLP, says multi-celebrity campaigns are a double-edged sword. They can generate short-term buzz and engagement, as seen with Flipkart Sale or Dream11 IPL ads, but lasting recall requires the brand to remain at the center. If the focus is only on the ‘star parade,’ audiences may notice the celebrities but forget the brand. Without a cohesive story linking stars to brand attributes, the high cost may not pay off. Consumers are also increasingly critical of brands spending heavily on celebrities, viewing the cost as ultimately passed onto them.
Earlier, celebrities were used primarily to add credibility to a brand, but in today’s digital landscape, their role has shifted to grabbing attention. Samit Sinha, Founder and Managing Partner of Alchemist, believes that the payoff from celebrity endorsements is often limited to short-term buzz and visibility, driven mainly by the awe factor. While such campaigns can energize trade channels, they rarely create lasting brand recall unless the celebrity is integrated strategically into the brand’s messaging.
He adds that using multiple stars isn’t inherently unsustainable, but the investments are huge with no guarantee of proportional returns. He further states that at the same time, it’s like riding a tiger; once a brand commits to this strategy, pulling back can be risky, as it may trigger negative speculation about the brand’s health and momentum.
One thing is clear: that multi-starrer celebrity-driven campaigns are high-stakes games; they can get the attention of the brand, but their effectiveness in building lasting brand recall depends only on thoughtful execution, strategic integration, and clear narrative.
