Brands
Havas Media bags media duties of Muthoot Pappachan Group
MUMBAI: Havas Media India has bagged the integrated media duties of Muthoot Pappachan Group (MPG), a leading financial services conglomerate along with business ventures in various other domains. The account size is estimated to be upwards of Rs 50 crores and will be handled out of the Bangalore and Cochin office led by Havas Media India Vice President of South Saurabh Jain.
Founded in 1887 by Muthoot Ninan Mathai, Muthoot Pappachan Group (MPG) is an Indian business house headquartered in Trivandrum, Kerala. It encompasses several businesses, including financial services, automotive dealerships, hospitality, real estate, information technology, precious metals and alternate energy and others. Counted among India’s largest non-banking financial services companies (NBFC) with total assets under management equivalent to over Rs 8,000 crore as of 31 March 2017, Muthoot Fincorp, the group’s flagship company, operates country wide with a network of over 3500 branches with over 50,000 customer walk-ins every day. Besides the financial services super house, Muthoot Fincorp, the group comprises a housing finance subsidiary Muthoot Housing Finance, publicly traded two-wheeler financing arm Muthoot Capital Services, micro finance company, Muthoot Microfin, and insurance broking firm Muthoot Risk and Insurance Broking Services, are among the other non-financial business units.
Muthoot Pappachan Group’s group Chief Marketing Officer Sanjeev Shukla says, “Being a legacy company, it is paramount that we maintain our reputation that has been shaped over decades with high quality practices towards helping ordinary men and women fulfil their dreams, while adopting and preparing ourselves for the next generation. Havas’ agility and consumer-centric approach has made us believe that they are the right partner for us. We hope this partnership takes the brand to newer heights and towards meaningful growth.”
Havas Media Group, India and South Asia CEO Anita Nayyar mentions, “We are excited to kick start the year with a legacy brand like Muthoot. Being in a highly regulated domain, consumer trust and transparency will be at the core of Muthoot’s marketing strategy. With this win, we have strengthened our operations in the South and are aiming to expand our footprint. We look forward to a meaningful association and to add to the relationship of belief and trust with customers that Muthoot has built since 1887.”
“Spanning 131 years in the field of business, Muthoot Pappachan Group has grown to become a significant entity in the Indian business landscape that thrives on consumer-centricity and innovation. At play will be Havas Media Group’s integrated media skills centered on digital and our ‘Meaningful Brands’ framework which will together map the brand chart for Muthoot. According to our research, brands that are meaningful enjoy 64 per cent higher trust among consumers in the finance industry. We are excited to take on the first mandate for 2018,” adds Havas Media Group India Managing Director Mohit Joshi.
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.
