Brands
Celebrity Cricket League to have 8 teams; ropes in Parle as title sponsor
NEW DELHI: Celebrity Cricket League has roped in Parle Products as the title sponsor for a period of three years for its brand Parle 20-20 Cookies.
The sponsorship is part of Parle’s ongoing commitment to associate its brand of biscuits, sweets and snacks with interesting live events.
“We’re thrilled to be elevating our association with CCL as title sponsor of the league. There is an incredibly strong alignment between our Parle 20-20 Cookies brand and what Celebrity Cricket League is all about. Known for its high entertainment quotient, CCL has great synergy with the 20-20 Cookies brand,” said Parle Products general manager – marketing Pravin Kulkarni.
Last year, CCL helped to bring in new rays of hope to kids suffering with heart diseases with its Hundred Hearts initiative.
Moving further on the path to make a difference, this year CCL takes on the CSR initiative of restoring the lives of women victims of acid attacks with Rotary Club of Deonar.
Present at an event in Mumbai to announce the same were Taapsee Pannu, Riteish Deshmukh, Sonu Sood, Hans Raj Hans and Suniel Shetty along with others.
Where Kriti Sanon has been chosen as the new face for the CCL this year, Sood is the captain for the new team Punjab De Sher owned by Puneet Singh and Navraj Hans. The pioneer of pop culture in India Daler Mehndi has been chosen as the brand ambassador of team Punjab.
Punjab De Sher owner Puneet Singh said, “I am delighted to announce my new team Punjab De Sher with Sonu Sood as the team captain. I have amazing personalities in my team and for sure they’ll amaze everyone with their sixers at the ground.”
Punjab De Sher team comprises Mika Singh, Jimmy Shergill, Ayushmann Khurrana, Yuvraj Hans, Jassi Gill, Babbal Rai and other popular faces.
The sixth edition of CCL will kick start from 23 January with the opening match between Mumbai Heroes and Punjab De Sher. The League will be hosted across various venues like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Kochi and Hyderabad.
Launched in 2011, CCL T20 cricket tournament consists of eight teams, each one representing the Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bhojpuri, Bengali and Punjabi film industries featuring celebrities from each respective industry.
Played over four weekends between January and February every year, CCL brings together over 200 film celebrities from all over the country, travelling to various corners to entertain their fans and audiences.
“Cricket and Films are religion in our country, and CCL is a heady mix of both. Given the following CCL has, it was an ideal fit for the Parle 20-20 Brand. Over the years of our association, CCL has built strong viewership base on television, featured the top celebrities of the country, displayed good quality cricket, large scale publicity and brought about a high presence for itself on social media, and we’re thrilled that it is taking large strides in the right direction,” said Parle Products deputy marketing manager Mayank Shah.
CCL founder and managing director Vishnu Induri added, “We are proud to welcome Parle 20-20 Cookies as Title Sponsor of CCL. Parle is one of the most well-known and recognised Indian brands and an ideal partner with its leadership positions in consumer choices. That we’ve retained and enhanced our partnership with a group like Parle over the years is a matter of great honour for our team. We look forward to yet another super exciting season of CCL.”
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.
