How India’s Love of Celebrity Gossip Fuelled Record-Breaking Amazon Prime Day

If there are two things that run deep in Indian blood, it’s the love for Bollywood gossip, and the love for bargains. For Amazon Prime Day 2024, Blink Digital sparked a nationwide conversation that had people talking about the sale before they even realised it.

Using the power of celebrity by enlisting the help of Bollywood star Disha Patani, the team turned Amazon Prime Day into the talk of the town when Disha was snapped with a new mysterious ‘PD’ tattoo on her arm…

The stunt was timed alongside the release of Bollywood film, ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ in which she co-starred alongside Bollywood actor, Prabhas, with the tattoo initials sparking speculation about a possible budding romance.

Within 24 hours of being papped, Disha’s tattoo hit the headlines, landing on top media platforms like Zoom TV, Bollywood Hungama, Hindustan Times, and News18. As gossip grew, Disha released a video to finally reveal what ‘PD’ stood for: Prime Day.

The reveal video racked up over 26 million views and led to a record-breaking Prime Day sale, with 124% more Prime members shopping than the year before. ‘The Incognito Photobomber’ campaign also went on to win two awards at Campaign Brief’s The Work 2025.

To find out more, Blink Digital’s ECD Nicole Ferraz, creative director Anuj Rathod, and group copy head Sukanya Seshadri speak to LBB’s Sunna Coleman about India’s celebrity and paparazzi culture, why Disha Patani was the perfect fit, and the strategy that helped them break records for the brand.

LBB> What was the key cultural or consumer insight that sparked the ‘The Incognito Photobomber’ idea?

Nicole> India’s pop culture runs on two things: cricket and celebrity gossip. Indian cinema isn’t just entertainment; it’s a national language. People don’t just watch their stars, they decode them, speculating and connecting dots in real time.

So instead of announcing Prime Day, we slipped it into the conversation India was already having. The Disha Patani tattoo wasn’t a stunt, it was a social spark. Real enough to discuss, strange enough to question, it played right into a national obsession with celebrity gossip. Not an ad that interrupted culture, but one that became it.

LBB> How did Disha Patani’s persona shape the storytelling style of the campaign? What was she like to collaborate with?

Sukanya> Disha Patani was the perfect choice for this campaign. With over 61 million followers, immense popularity, and a personal life that’s always in the limelight, she naturally amplifies brand visibility. Plus, the timing aligned perfectly with her upcoming film with another major star, adding extra momentum to our campaign.

LBB> What made the team confident that a cryptic celebrity stunt would cut through the clutter of the sale season?

Nicole> If you engineer curiosity just right, you don’t need media – the internet does the heavy lifting. Disha was the perfect spark: adored, dissected, and permanently living rent-free in pop culture. One tattoo, one blurry pap shot, no context – and suddenly, everyone’s building your campaign for you. It’s risky. You have to bait that kind of obsession.

LBB> How did you plan the paparazzi moment to ensure it looked natural and newsworthy?

Anuj> In India, paparazzi photographers have followings as massive as the celebrities they cover. We knew the paparazzi culture would do half the storytelling for us. A new tattoo on a celebrity’s arm is exactly the kind of thing they love to capture, and once it’s out there, the internet takes over. That’s the beauty of working with culture, not against it.

LBB> What were the biggest challenges?

Sukanya> The biggest challenge was finding the right celebrity. While we considered a few others, budgets, alignment, and intent didn’t work out. Shooting with our chosen celebrity also required flexibility due to her specific constraints, and a few aspects of our envisioned final product couldn’t be realised. Still, it was a great run – we managed to keep the tattoo completely under wraps until the perfect moment for the reveal content.

LBB> The campaign was a huge success, leading to a record-breaking Prime Day sale. What do you believe are the elements that made this particular campaign so successful?

Sukanya> The campaign’s success was driven by strong strategic planning and execution, along with choosing the right celebrity influencer. By going influencer-first, the brand naturally emerged as the hero at the culmination of all the speculation. The celebrity’s popularity, coupled with the coincidental release of her film, amplified engagement further, becoming a part of the public conversation in a lateral yet impactful way.

LBB> How did this campaign push the boundaries of typical celebrity endorsements in India?

Nicole> Most brands use fame like a flashlight – point, shine, sell. We treated it like a mirror. The idea wasn’t to make Disha endorse Prime Day, it was to make her existence do the heavy lifting. We didn’t buy her influence; we built the whole campaign inside it. It lived in the blur between gossip and marketing – the exact place Indian culture loves to hang out. By the time the brand even showed up, people were already hooked.

LBB> What lessons from this activation could be applied to future Prime Day campaigns?

Nicole> Curiosity converts. When people work to figure something out, they remember it better. So instead of shouting louder next year, maybe we just drop another clue and watch the internet do its thing.

LBB> What are you personally most proud of on this campaign?

Sukanya> Everything! Primarily the calculated risks we took, and how the rest of the story took on a life of its own.

LBB> How did the campaign change perceptions of Amazon’s ability to create cultural moments, not just sales events?

Nicole> We flipped Prime Day from commerce to conversation. It stopped being about what Amazon was selling and started being about what everyone was talking about. In the middle of sale season noise, gossip did what media couldn’t – it made people care enough to share.