Bollywood has long been one of India's most vibrant cultural exports, and its inventive clichés are now being re-enacted in the field of e-commerce marketing with amazing flair.
The most recent trend, a veritable "Kumbh Mela" of celebrity endorsements, follows a tried-and-true formula: bring together a glittering pantheon of stars, craft a story that speaks to humour and aspiration, and then ignite commerce on a grand scale.
Take Flipkart's recent "India Ka Fashion Capital" campaign, which compared movie stars with digital-first influencers in a tactic reminiscent of the ensemble casts of Hindi films from the 1970s.
By enlisting a variety of well-known figures, from screen icons to Instagram's nouveau-riche content creators, Ajio has also capitalized on this zeitgeist. This confluence of varied ‘followerships’, each of which enhances the campaign's reach in a fragmented media landscape, is not just celebrity clutter.
This strategy's effectiveness is not anecdotal. Campaigns with multiple celebrities had a 22% higher recall rate and an 18% stronger purchase intent than those anchored by a single face, according to a 2023 Kantar study on the effectiveness of Indian advertising.
The psychological process at play is similar to the "wisdom of crowds": consumers become less sceptical and more desirous of a brand when they witness a constellation of well-known individuals promoting it.
Additionally, there are precedents overseas. Even though Colin Kaepernick was the focal point of Nike's "Dream Crazy" campaign, Serena Williams, LeBron James, and other celebrities helped to make it seem credible to a wide range of people.
Cadbury's enduring Diwali advertisements in India, which were recently revived with the AI-powered "Shahrukh Khan-MyAd," further highlight how a star can simultaneously serve as a brand ambassador for every retailer when multiplied digitally.
A Trojan horse of mass engagement, the multi-starrer ad prioritises entertainment over commerce in an era when attention is the most valuable resource.
The Bollywood adage "stars plus story equals box-office" has evolved into "stars plus story equals shopping cart." And if preliminary figures are any guide, the sequel to this story is just getting started.