Brands
Canon shoots its shot with ‘Deep Dive’ masterclass for budding storytellers
MUMBAI: Lights, camera, level up! Canon India is stepping out from behind the camera and into the classroom with Deep Dive, an ambitious, first-of-its-kind masterclass series designed to empower the next wave of photographers, videographers, and filmmakers. But don’t expect a slideshow and a swag bag. This is Canon going full throttle into the creator economy lens-first.
Launched in collaboration with IFP, a global creator-first community, Deep Dive is Canon’s answer to an evolving creative landscape where storytellers need more than just inspiration. They need a complete toolkit: creative, technical, and professional. And that’s exactly what this masterclass promises a crash course in the entire visual workflow, from pre-shoot vision to post-production precision.
But what really gives Deep Dive its edge is its who’s who of mentors. Canon’s North Star Alliance has brought together industry powerhouses like Ravi K Chandran, Santosh Sivan, Anand Rathi, Sudeep Chatterjee, G Venket, and Siddharth Sharma names that carry weight not just in Indian cinema, but across international storytelling circles. Their mission? To share more than tips to pass on a legacy of craftsmanship in a world increasingly reliant on speed and surface.
The series aims to do away with the ‘point and shoot’ mindset and usher in a ‘plan and produce’ approach. Participants won’t just fiddle with Canon’s latest tech they’ll deep-dive into real-world workflows, exploring everything from camera setup and lighting design to colour grading, audio layering and final delivery. With Canon’s partners Aperture, Eizo, and Sennheiser backing the experience, there’s no corner of the production puzzle left untouched.
Each session is designed as a full-fledged, city-specific experiential journey, with experts from the wedding, cinema, and fashion industries leading live demonstrations. In Gurgaon, the first city on the map, Canon ambassador Siddharth Sharma kick-started the series with a session that blended insight with intensity and left participants clamouring for more.
Canon India president and CEO Toshiaki Nomura said, “At Canon, we deeply value creators and believe in their limitless creative potential. We recognize that to truly excel, creators need more than just inspiration—they need the right knowledge, cutting-edge technology, and hands-on experience to push their boundaries. They must evolve beyond being mere visual storytellers to mastering the entire workflow, from capturing the perfect shot to delivering a polished final product. With Deep Dive, Canon is proud to create an experiential platform where young, talented filmmakers and photographers can gain real-world expertise, engage with industry leaders, and experience the transformative power of Canon’s advanced imaging technology. Through initiatives like these, Canon is proud to be facilitating the growth of the entire ecosystem, empowering the next generation of creative visionaries.”
And it’s not just about upping individual skills Canon sees Deep Dive as part of a broader mission to nurture and elevate India’s creator ecosystem. It’s a signal that the brand isn’t just focused on selling cameras, but on investing in what comes after the shutter clicks: storytelling, innovation, and community.
In a world flooded with content, standing out requires more than just talent, it needs technique, tools, and trust in one’s creative voice. Deep Dive is Canon’s attempt to offer all three, wrapped in a format that’s immersive, inspiring and packed with substance.
With more cities queued up and interest already peaking, Deep Dive is shaping up to be more than just a masterclass. It’s a movement. And for the creators ready to stop shooting in the dark and start crafting with intention, Canon just lit the way.
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.
