Brands
BalleBaazi becomes SportsBaazi introduces ‘Watch and Play games
Mumbai: BalleBaazi, India’s leading and coveted sports gaming platform, today announced its rebranding to SportsBaazi to demonstrate its commitment towards revolutionizing the sports engagement landscape in India while continuing on a rapid growth and expansion trajectory. Along with the unveiling of the new brand logo, SportsBaazi also announced the launch of the “LIVE Mein Hai VIBE” campaign to introduce the compelling “Watch and Play” category of skill games on its platform to elevate user engagement.
The company’s strategic decision to rebrand and foray into the Watch and Play category of skill games is aimed at bringing exciting formats and innovative user experiences to redefine how fans experience and interact with sports. SportsBaazi is preparing to unveil a new avatar that promises to immerse millions of Indian sports spectators in a gaming experience while the event unfolds.
Commenting on rebranding to SportsBaazi and the launch of the “Watch and Play” category, SportsBaazi co-founder and CEO Saurabh Chopra shared, “Our journey began with a simple yet powerful vision of making sports gaming fun while building a community of sports enthusiasts in the country. With SportsBaazi and the introduction of our spectator engagement category, we are not just rebranding but reimagining and building the future of live sports gaming in India.”
“Our new identity and category will provide fans with a unique opportunity to come closer to the action and engage in real-time. This new avatar will bring millions of spectators in India across sporting categories to come closer.” added the co-founder and CEO
Understanding how sports fans go through a range of emotions while watching a game LIVE and how their VIBE changes as per the events in the match, SportsBaazi conceptualized the “LIVE Mein Hai VIBE” campaign. The ad films resonate with the dynamic nature of live sports experiences and feature India’s pace legend, Zaheer Khan. The spots introduce the “Watch and Play” category and announce the brand’s rebranding to SportsBaazi.
Watch and play is an innovative concept where fans not only watch their favourite sports but also actively participate in them through live skill games. It’s an immersive experience that brings fans closer to the thrill of live sports and encourages them to test their knowledge about the sport and the player dynamics. The screen flashes questions about how they foresee the next over/set panning out and anticipate the player’s performance by being cognizant of variables like the opponent and the conditions in mind.
SportsBaazi during the Indian Premier League also introduced two new formats, Fantasy Wars, a battle between two experts in which users have to assess and determine the probability of whose Fantasy team is better throughout the duration of the game. Stats Fantasy is a feature that empowers users to play and win during the match by answering simple questions related to the LIVE events happening in the game.
Brands
Godrej clarifies ‘GI’ identifier after logo similarity debate
Says GI is not a logo, will not replace Godrej signature across products.
MUMBAI: In a branding storm where shapes did the talking, Godrej is now spelling things out. Godrej Industries Group (GIG) has issued a clarification on its newly introduced ‘GI’ identifier, addressing questions around its purpose and design following a wave of online criticism. At the centre of the debate were two concerns: whether the new mark replaces the long-standing Godrej logo, and whether its geometric design mirrors other corporate identities.
The company has drawn a clear line. The Godrej signature logo, it said, remains unchanged and continues to be the sole logo across all consumer-facing products and services. The ‘GI’ mark, by contrast, is not a logo but a corporate group identifier intended for use alongside the Godrej signature or company name, and aimed at stakeholders such as investors, media and talent rather than consumers.
The need for such a distinction stems from the 2024 restructuring of the broader Godrej Group into two separate business entities. With both continuing to operate under the same Godrej name and signature, the identifier is positioned as a way to differentiate the Godrej Industries Group at a corporate level.
The rollout, however, triggered a broader conversation on design originality. Critics pointed to similarities between the GI mark’s geometric composition and logos used by companies globally, raising questions about distinctiveness.
Responding to this, GIG said its intellectual property and legal review found that such overlaps are common in minimalist, geometry-led design systems. Basic forms such as circles and rectangles appear across dozens of brand identities worldwide, the company noted.
It added that the identifier emerged from an extensive design process and was chosen for its simplicity, allowing it to sit alongside the Godrej signature without competing visually. While acknowledging that elemental shapes may appear less distinctive in isolation, the group emphasised that the mark is part of a broader identity system that includes a custom typeface, sonic branding and other proprietary elements.
Following legal and ethical assessments, the company said it found no impediment to using the identifier, reiterating that the GI mark is a corporate tool not a consumer-facing symbol.
In short, the logo isn’t changing but the conversation around it certainly has.
