Himesh Reshammiya FaNcLuB ! - PART 4 !!! - Page 14

Reshammiya to rock Future Group

Mansi Bhatt AHMEDABAD

HIMESH Reshammiya has added another feather to his cap. The musician, more popular for his singing, is set to croon for Kishore Biyani's Future Group, which owns Pantaloons and Big Bazaar. The group has signed up the Gujarati to endorse its in-house brand — DJ&C.
Traditionally a forte of film stars and cricketers, companies in India are now targeting playback singers with huge fan following to endorse their brands.
While the trend of roping in singers for brand promotion is common worldwide, it is yet to catch up in India. "Himesh Reshammiya is a youth icon. We plan to rope in many more such youth icons to promote our brands in different segments," Big Bazaar head Rajan Malhotra said.
This is mainly to give a fresh look to the in-house brands of the company and to tap the growing young consumer base. The company sells apparel — mainly casuals and sportswear under the DJ&C brand. The Future Group, which covers almost 80 brands under different segments such as fashion, home electronics, books, music, wellness and beauty, telecom and IT, food and general merchandising, has been increasingly investing in brand building. The company plans to pump in around Rs 100 crore in brand building this year. The group stores will also now stock a higher proportion of private labels such as Bare, UMM, Rig, aLL, among others.
Mr Malhotra was in Ahmedabad to inaugurate the company's fourth Big Bazaar outlet in Ahmedabad. "This is our biggest store in Ahmedabad. We plan to set up a total of seven stores in Gujarat by June 2007," Mr Malhotra said.