Brands
Candyman gets smart with sass as Soury Not Sorry returns with an AI twist
ITC’s Candyman Sourzzz debuts AI influencer Rysa in a bolder Season 3 outing.
MUMBAI: Sometimes, the sharpest clapbacks don’t come from people at all. ITC’s Candyman Sourzzz is back with Soury Not Sorry – Season 3, and this time it has added a distinctly futuristic edge by introducing an AI influencer as the face of its disruptive youth franchise.
After two high-impact seasons, the confectionery brand has doubled down on attitude and innovation, rolling out a four-week digital campaign led by Ramya Sathish, better known as Rysa, a category-first AI influencer in the Indian confectionery space. The move signals a clear shift towards internet-native storytelling aimed squarely at teenagers and young adults who live, speak and spar online.
Season 3 stays loyal to the franchise’s core idea: bold, clean “soury” roasts delivered to misplaced authority figures who poke without provocation. Only now, the sass comes from a digitally created voice designed to mirror the confidence, humour and unfiltered honesty of today’s youth.
Rysa has been carefully crafted as a culturally fluid persona. A 23-year-old Delhi-born graduate with Malayali roots, she is positioned as a self-aware “corporate baddie” witty, chaotically honest and driven by experience-led comedy that thrives on internet humour. The intent is clear: make the brand feel less like it is talking to young consumers and more like it is talking with them.
“Soury Not Sorry has grown into a powerful youth-culture platform for Candyman Sourzzz,” said ITC Foods vice president and business head for confectionery Subash Balar. “Season 3 is our boldest leap yet. With Rysa, our first-ever AI influencer, we’re stepping into the future of culturally relevant storytelling while staying true to what the Intellectual Property stands for wit, confidence and unapologetic self-expression.”
The insight driving the franchise remains unchanged. Young people are often nudged to tone themselves down, sugarcoat opinions or conform to avoid judgement. Yet, what they crave is the freedom to be quirky, outspoken and real. By turning everyday irritants into moments of fearless humour, Soury Not Sorry positions Candyman Sourzzz as the candy of choice for those who refuse to hold back.
That approach has already paid off. Season 1 clocked a reach of 35 million with 1.7 million engagements, while Season 2 scaled higher with 36 million reach and 2.7 million engagements. Over time, the series has evolved into a genre-defining digital youth property, flipping moments of judgement into celebrations of unapologetic individuality.
With Season 3, Candyman Sourzzz pushes the envelope further blending clean roasts, cultural insight and now an AI-powered voice. The message is unmistakable: the future of youth culture is bold, sharp and just a little bit sour and proudly not sorry.
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.
