Flipkart’s Star-Studded Big Billion Days'25: 11 celebrities, bigger ad push, and doubling down on digital
Flipkart's festive sale campaign goes all out with Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, and nine other stars- backed by a sharper mix of CTV, digital-first storytelling, and influencer-led commerce.
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Flipkart is making sure its Big Billion Days (BBD) 2025 campaign is nothing short of a spectacle. This year, the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant has onboarded an unprecedented 11 celebrities for one integrated campaign- marking one of the most star-studded advertising efforts in India’s festive marketing history.
The lineup brings together Bollywood legends, pop culture icons, and digital favourites: Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, Sreeleela, Mahesh Bhatt, Farah Khan, celebrity chef Dilip, boAt’s Aman Gupta, social media star Jannat Zubair, Sakshi Shivdasani, music creator Yashraj Mukhate, and child influencer Arista Mehta.
The integrated campaign, developed by Leo Burnett, aims to capture the “magic” of shopping during Flipkart’s flagship sale. As Pratik Shetty, Vice President, Growth & Marketing at Flipkart, puts it:
“Consumers felt a sense of magic during past Big Billion Days. Our focus this year was: how do we recreate that delight across every touchpoint? The insight was simple- when you buy something new, you anticipate people noticing and reacting. We built on that thought and decided to elevate it through this campaign. Usually, we use celebrities to talk deals; this time, we wanted them to create magic.”
Building “magic” into the world of BBD
The campaign films imagine BBD as more than just a sale- it’s a fantastical world where “anything can happen.” Flipkart promises customers surreal experiences, such as befriending superstars who take them on magical journeys through wonderlands.
The first film breaks today (August 30) on digital and connected TV, with follow-ups on television. The campaign will also be amplified through print, digital radio, and social platforms. While this particular film is designed primarily for digital and CTV, Flipkart will also roll out shorter 22-second television spots spotlighting offers and categories.
Shetty explains that the scale of the production wasn’t about splurging on star power, but about smart execution:
“If you look at the campaign of last year, the same or similar celebs would have been there. It is just that we did not turn that into making films which drive equity like the way we have done this year. So a lot of the production money would have gone down compared to last year. It’s just that the number of deliverables you manage to do in that limited amount of time is higher,” he told Storyboard18.
The growing trend of multi-celebrity campaigns
Flipkart isn’t alone in pushing star-packed festive campaigns. Dream11 has experimented with multi-celeb formats during the IPL, but Flipkart’s execution sets a new benchmark in scale and category spread.
For Flipkart, the move is less about recall, which it already enjoys, and more about brand equity.
“For newer brands, celebrities drive recall. For Flipkart, recall isn’t a challenge- it’s about long-term equity. Used well, celebs help us drive the right message and brand love… So leave consumers feeling for more, leave consumers actually enjoying the kind of content you create and pass the right message.”
Festive ad strategy: shifting mixes and influencer commerce
Flipkart has not dramatically increased spends for BBD this year but has reallocated budgets smartly, Shetty shared.
The biggest shift has been the doubling of Connected TV (CTV) investments, reflecting the rise of cord-cutters in India.
“There are about 150 million people in India now who are cord cutters, they’re not on conventional television anymore, which would mean that our CTV budget would have almost doubled compared to last year. Even if you want to say my large screen reach has to increase, it will be more allocation to connected television.”
A bigger story, however, is Flipkart’s aggressive bet on content-led commerce. Influencers, who were negligible in the brand’s ad mix until recently, are now central to strategy.
“Influencers are becoming more and more important… If you had the same conversation last year versus this year for us, it’s almost a zero to one. I’m not going to divulge a lot of details, but we probably are in the range- we could claim to be the biggest content-led commerce creators in the country.”
This three-pronged strategy: conventional media, digital/CTV, and content creators, ensures Flipkart stays relevant across audiences and geographies.
Structuring the festive season
Flipkart’s festive campaigns are designed in three phases: early-bird deals in September, the Big Billion Days itself, and then Diwali. While BBD remains the flagship, the Diwali campaign serves as a sequel to continue momentum.
“We have Big Billion Days which is probably the biggest… we have early bird deals going live in September, and then the sequel, which is our Diwali sale. That’s broadly how we structure the festive campaign,” the execuitve shares.
While immediate sales matter, Flipkart is increasingly focused on long-term brand impact.
“Short-term metrics include festive sales and campaign deliverables. Long-term, we track brand consideration, top-of-mind recall, category perception, and youth appeal. The idea is to go beyond transactions.”
Riding on Bharat’s rise; No Trump tariff impact
According to Flipkart, early signs this year are encouraging, with demand growth across both premium and unbranded trendy categories. Tier-2 and smaller towns continue to drive much of this momentum, aided by live commerce and influencer-led formats.
To match demand, Flipkart has scaled logistics aggressively, creating 2.2 lakh seasonal jobs across its pan-India supply chain and delivery network. Investments in AI-driven inventory planning, real-time route mapping, AR shopping, and 3D video formats are being used to deepen consumer engagement.
“As we enter the festive season, we’re witnessing strong early momentum across high-demand categories like mobiles, consumer electronics, fashion, beauty, and home. What’s particularly exciting is the deepening engagement from Tier 2 and beyond, driven by emerging formats such as live commerce… This growth is also unlocking unprecedented opportunities for lakhs of sellers.”
When asked if US tariffs would have an impact on the consumer sentiments this festive season, Shetty said, "...it's a very strange year this year because we've seen growth both on our premium segment as well as our unbranded trendy segments. Typically we don't see them going together, but this is a good year where we are seeing both of them go together; we are actually quite optimistic."
Celebrity casting for regional and youth appeal
Flipkart’s Big Billion Days 2025 campaign is a masterclass in scale, strategy, and star power. By blending Bollywood legends with Gen Z creators, and traditional TV with CTV and influencer-driven commerce, the platform is reimagining how India shops during the festive season.
While Amitabh Bachchan and Alia Bhatt continue as long-term Flipkart ambassadors, newer stars like Sreeleela have been brought in for regional resonance in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The mix of stars was carefully aligned to scripts and target audiences rather than mere brand association.
Shetty explains, “Alia Bhatt and Amitabh Bachchan are long-term ambassadors. As scripts evolved, we matched characters with suitable stars- like Sreeleela for younger audiences in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The process was about audience connect and script fit.”
The ad spends may not have ballooned year-on-year, but Flipkart’s sharper allocation, especially towards CTV and influencer ecosystems signals a clear shift in the future of Indian festive advertising.
