I WANT TO LEAD THE WAY FOR A BRIGHT WAY: DR YOGESH LAKHANI

Mumbai: Hailing from a lower-middle-class Saurashtrian family of Mumbai, young Yogesh confronted many setbacks that resulted in him being a very strong person. All the responsibilities of looking after the family fell on his tender shoulders. He had to work day and night to earn their livelihood but this situation did not take away his dream of being an achiever. With persistent hard work and tenacious nature, he laid the foundation of Bright Outdoor Media in the year 1980 and went on to become one of the leaders in the outdoor advertising field. From a single-room office to a well-renowned establishment, Yogesh Lakhani has made an exponential growth that is astonishing as well as appreciable.

After an adventurous journey of more than four decades, his company Bright Advertising stands like an impeccable tower in the industry. The company’s name is considered as the synonym to “A journey to success is hard to cover. The difficulties try to break the person’s determination but only a winner can forge ahead. Yogesh Lakhani, the Chairman and the Managing Director of Bright Outdoor Media Pvt. Ltd is that winner who faced all the obstacles and strived hard to reach the zenith of success. With a pan Mumbai presence, this company asserts that no one covers this dream city like they do. It proudly boasts of operating more than 1400 hoardings across the city and offering outdoor media services all over the country. The company also has a list of more than 600 reputed clients from diverse sectors such as entertainment, telecom, retail, finance, tour and travel etc.

With a strong hold on the out-of-home advertising industry, Yogesh Lakhani is one person who started his journey from scratch and emerged as a winner. Having a very calm and considerate personality, he believes in brightening the advertising industry with his innovative and creative ideas. Not only had his mother donated her eyes and skin as part of the family’s pledge to contribute to society before her demise, but businessman Dr Yogesh Lakhani, Producer and CMD of Bright Outdoor Media Pvt Ltd, is a popular name in Outdoor Media and a successful businessman known for his good Samaritan acts in India. He has been associated with a maximum number of films, corporates and events in India and abroad.

It was with persistent hard-work and tenacious nature that Yogeshbhai managed to lay the foundation of Bright Outdoor Media way back in the year 1980 and went on to become one of the pioneering leaders in the outdoor advertising field. “From a single room office in a garage in Malad to a well-renowned establishment, now owning the entire eighth floor in Andheri Link Road, I think I am really blessed as well as lucky that God has actually blessed me to make an exponential growth that is astonishing as well as appreciable. After an adventurous journey of more than four decades, I am glad my company Bright Outdoor Advertising stands like an impeccable tower in the industry”.

The biggest strength of his company is that the name by itself is considered as the synonym to “Advertising”. “With a pan Mumbai presence, I can proudly say with humility that no one covers this dream city as well as we do today. There are several competitors for us. In Mumbai itself, there are around 40 competitors and around 4000 all over India. Bright today boasts of more than 1400 hoardings across the city. We offer outdoor media services all over the country. The company also has a list of more than 600 reputed clients from diverse sectors such as entertainment, telecom, retail, finance, tour and travel etc”.

As the market leader and trend setter among outdoor hoarding agencies, Yogeshbhai says that he has done the outdoor publicity of all the super- hit films of Bombay. “All the celebrities believe that I am their lucky charm as I am the fortunate one who has done the outdoor publicity of the debut film of all well known B-Town celebs like Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar, Rnveer Singh,  Deepika Padukone etc”.

When asked who he feels is his competition, Yogeshbhai just smiles. “There are many but all are money-minded and work only on a commercial basis which is not the case with me. I try my best to support the producers, whether they are making big, small or medium budget films. Sometimes when the film does not score well at the box office I even offer to cut down my rate for them and am not at all egoistic”.

Yogeshbhai confesses that he had actually started his career from zero.”I do not forget at all the fact that I had started my career from the scratch, from being a zero to being the hero. I remember I used to even sell newspapers and match-sticks. Now I am amongst the very top few. I had even started Bright Outdoor Digital media by focusing on Twitter, FaceBook and other social media. We keep improving our work. We support regional films as well be it Marathi or Bhojpuri or any other. If any one comes to my office with some work, I don’t let anyone go back with empty hands”.

Yogeshbhai , who took pride in looking after his old parents religiously, till their last breath, says that he was thrilled to have bagged an award at the London Parliament for his yeoman services to not only the poor in the society but also for his business of hoardings. The philanthropist that he is, Yogeshbhai has not at all retrenched his staff and even today his office runs, with 60 and odd staff. The staff members attend the office every day and he managed to give them 50% salary, in the initial days when the pandemic had started for almost six months even though he was not making profits, as he says his business is down by 30% due to the onset of coronavirus in the country.

Yogeshbhai continues with bated breath, “I shun all kinds of vices. I can vouch safely that I do not touch vices like alcohol, tea or coffee, or for that matter pan zarda, forget drugs. Because there is more tension and less profits in this business of hoardings today, if I want, I can retire even today as I have put in 41 years of glorious service and enjoy every day of my life and have a happy and contented family which consists of my wife and my six year old son but I do not want to make others suffer because of my decision to take it easy. You see, as many as 600 people who are connected with me thanks to my business, are liable to be rendered jobless if I take the rash decision of calling it a day as far as my business is concerned.”

Dr Yogeshbhai reiterates that Mumbai will limp back to normalcy after having been in a limbo for the past year and a half due to the lockdown only if the government of Maharashtra allows theaters as well as local trains to operate in full swing, because in the absence of frequent trains for the common man, there is a lot of chaos on roads with heavy traffic and less frequency of the BEST buses at any time of the day. His crystal clear vision and enormous willpower have led him and his establishment Bright Outdoor Advertising to the heights of success. Yogesh Lakhani wishes to adapt himself to the ever-changing industry and that is why he is looking forward to trying out digital hoardings in the city. Says Dr. Yogesh Lakhani, “I wish to also implement a couple of my innovative ideas with the latest technology to create something more effective and useful”.