VISIONARY
No need to establish his credentials. He is an Individual great in the field of events, and his events sparkle. Sanjay Nigam got etched in our collective Indian events memory years ago. And the Events for United Spirits Limited added to it. All the way from his passion for dance & cricket, recover the ‘real taste of life.’ All brought the gentle rebel out, pushing him under the centre stage spot beam, and as the applause rose it could only reach a crescendo. A GLOBAL ONE.

How did it all start? The skill is not the issue here. Nigam is the small-town ideas man who adapted to proper big city life without letting go of his gulli-danda exuberance. But this is about the choice of application. A question of the mind’s expanse. ‘God,’ he begins, ‘gave me a good time and a lot of opportunity and fulfillment, but that was yesterday, and today is another day. There is so much more to do. There is a fire burning within him.’ Passion. A quality that’s not so obvious in those heavy lidded eyes of his. Nor in his almost detached demeanor. But underneath this almost arrogant exterior, does lurk the flame. ‘There is this desire, an ambition, a passion, that he will do things which would make people say, ‘I loved your event. And I loved your work.’ But don’t get me wrong. Nigam doesn’t make great ads just to please others. And from a place where few great creative minds come.
Right career

He fell in love with the atmosphere. ‘I just loved the job as an Event Manager. This was the field where people had no major concern about their designations. I loved the creative side of it.’

Sanjay Nigam
The joy of good creative

Mr. Nigam had a simple method of evaluating creative: would it give joy to the viewer? ‘To derive the pure joy of good creative, one has to distance oneself from it. I think we take ourselves too seriously. We should not think of ourselves as ad people or as client – but as viewers. That’s how we connect with the real viewer today.’
The ‘Indian’ connection

Connecting with the regular Indian viewer. That’s what built Nigam. ‘He could think like an Indian, which was a rare thing in Events and advertising field in India. Started picking his brain on things. And when he realised that he could do it himself, He started picking holes in the work done for his clients. And if he didn’t think it was good enough, He started writing it himself.’ He slipped into creative naturally, and his passion was put to work straight away .
Grabbing opportunities

Nothing comes easy. ‘Breaks don’t come to you, you have to grab them. Nobody in this field believed that the client would buy it. He went across. And the client loved it. ‘Nurture all the way. ‘It was the atmosphere he was brought up in,’ he says. ‘There were a lot of intellectual discussions at home on what good art and good films were all about. Sanjay believed that you cannot reach out to people by saying things the same way you have been saying them. You have to say them differently.’
Creativity in a nutshell

‘Creativity is to say something in a fashion that sticks in the mind, rather than saying it in a normal fashion. If ten people meet you in the morning and if all of them are saying – Good Morning – the guy who says it differently will be remembered. He is creative. But if he does a head stand, it won’t work. So one has to do things which have not been done in the past, but which are relevant.’ Relevance to context. In advertising terms – to the consumer and her need for the product. ‘If you like it, as a viewer, there’s a good chance that people will also like it.’ And he doesn’t think of this charm as anything mysterious. ‘Relating to the people of India is what we are paid for. I’ve not created any magic. A hundred years ago, when the guy on the road sang – chana gore garam – he was not trying to be a singer. He wanted people to buy from him, and not from the other guy.
Moksh aempl has reach out to people

‘Today, Mr. Sanjay Nigam is proud that all the applaud that he wins for the Events, that is loved by people. Winning awards is a great feeling, but it’s much more meaningful when people ask you for autographs. Autographs? That’s real fame- it’s amongst the people you are talking to.’ Sanjay is confident that he knows what works.
How does he handle the other point of view?

‘There are contradictions in life,’ he acknowledges. ‘There may be times when others are right, but there aren’t too many of them.’ He laughs. What matters to him is not letting go of things he believes in. ‘If you believe in something, persuade the client. If it means going and getting drunk with him, go get drunk. If it means knocking his nose off, knock his nose off. It’s one short lifetime and don’t let go if you think you have a winner in you.’

‘Everyone makes mistakes, and he is no different. But Sanjay don’t know whether he is right or wrong. He just knows that within him, there is this streak – to enjoy things, without being logical about it.’ He adds: ‘Absorb what you want to absorb, and then don’t give a damn – there is just one short life.’
Going global

‘We should not get so jingoistic that we ignore the world. Yes, our first ask is to talk to the Indian consumer. But the work overseas is ahead of ours and we have to recognise that. If the world says, ‘You are not number 1, you are not.’ Reality. In a business of dreams, it’s a nose-to-the-project realism that wins.

‘Maybe we can blame it on the environment, anything, but what we have to do is think how to get there. For example, before the 1995 World Cup, Sri Lanka had beaten some good teams, but it was only in 1995, that the world sat up and took notice. In Events, we need to win the World Cup.’ And now is the time. All eyes are on India – the country that had it’s own ideas about blending this and that and doing things independently. So, is there anything in which India is world class? In Events, yes, it can be.

‘Localizing events so that they don’t make sense to anybody else is not the way to go. You have to take universal ideas and project them so they will be recognized anywhere in the world. It’s possible to make things which India loves and the world loves. Why should we limit ourselves? A human being is a human being and can’t I find those magical things which appeal to everyone?’
The future

He feels age is not the thing. ‘As long as you’re still challenging principles, you have nothing to worry about. Age has nothing to do with it.’ For now, he’s rather it’s him. Rocking the world slowly, Indian style. With more charm than raw aggression. That’s our visionary “Mr. Sanjay Nigam” for you.