BRAINS THAT BUILT BRANDS IN 2008 – RAJESH SAWHNEY THE ‘BIG’ BRAIN BEHIND THE ‘BIG’ BRAND

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MEET RAJESH SAWHNEY, WHO HAS NURTURED BIG ENTERTAINMENT FROM DAY ONE WITH THE BRIEF GIVEN BY ANIL AMBANI: ‘GO AND ENTERTAIN INDIA’!

Anil Ambani could have easily called this one ‘Reliance Entertainment’ but the ‘Big Entertainment’ moniker that he instead chose, almost lives up to the larger-than-life proportions that his media ambitions have gathered today. And the man behind it all - Rajesh Sawhney! Media shy and reticent, Sawhney has not just managed to carve out a distinct brand image for Big Entertainment over the last one year, but has followed it up by developing innovative business models for their presence in the Internet and new media space (Zapak & BigAdda).

The year’s biggest buzz came when Sawhney struck a series of multi-billion dollar deals with production houses of Hollywood stars, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, and others, to co-produce Hollywood movies. “We are trying to build a company with global ambitions and Hollywood is the best starting point,” Sawhney told 4Ps B&M, when asked about BIG’s ambitions. A smart move, considering Hollywood accounts for the largest segment of the global entertainment pie, while Indian movies (including Bollywood & vernacular) contribute a meagre 2% to it. In the current global economic turmoil, however, success of these deals seems dicey and the biggest challenge for Sawhney in 2009 will be sticking to these deals. The year also saw Sawhney extend the brand ‘BIG’ to Adlabs that was rebranded as Big Cinemas to bring it under the umbrella of ‘BIG Entertainment.’ As Anil Arjun, CEO, Adlabs Films told 4Ps B&M, “The rebranding move is in line with ADAG’s philosophy for a single monolithic consumer entertainment brand BIG.” In 2009, Sawhney’s gameplan is to rollout over 200 cinemas in US & Malaysia. Another crucial venture for the group this year was Big Entertainment’s broadcasting business, which will launch around 20 TV channels by next year. But the biggest challenge will be for these to create their USP in the already cluttered TV channels space.

Even the brand’s radio business, BIG 92.7 FM has started raking in significant revenues. Now Sawhney’s big ambition is to take the brand’s radio venture global. “Big FM is a global opportunity. After our Singapore launch, we are looking at other markets like S. Africa, US and UK,” he says. And the challenges? Well, Sawhney says that the biggest challenges in the industry are that of stringent regulations and dearth of talent. But “these three years have been the best years of my life,” admits Sawhney, with a ‘BIG’ smile.

Pallavi Srivastava

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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