Brands
L’Oréal Professionnel forays into the metaverse
Mumbai: L’Oréal Professionnel, the leading brand in professional hair tech, has forayed into the Metaverse, embracing cutting-edge technology and elevating self-expression in the realm of hair beauty. As pioneers in the field of hair tech, L’Oréal Professionnel recognizes the immense potential of the Metaverse and is committed to revolutionizing the industry by offering more inclusive, diverse, and creative hair looks for virtual identities. Having successfully launched and implemented the metaverse across the globe, the brand has now brought its latest innovation to India.
According to a research by Grand View Research, Inc., the global metaverse market is all set to grow at a CAGR of 41.6 per cent which will lead the market to amount to an estimate of US$ 936.6 billion by 2030. For India, Arthur D. Little, the strategy and management consulting company, India’s Metaverse market is projected to reach $200 billion by 2035. Metaverse resonates with current trends in self-expression and digitalization. It provides an immersive space for users to create digital identities, experiment with avatars, styles, and experiences, reflecting their real-world personas. As digitalization blurs physical and virtual boundaries, the metaverse enables global access to products, services, and social interactions, enhancing connectivity.
L’Oréal Professionnel’s important pillar for this year’s Metaverse initiative includes – More Hair Looks with Hair Drops for Multiple Platforms. The brand aims to provide an extensive collection of diverse and playful hair looks, ensuring that users can find the perfect style for their virtual identities. The brand has premiered five hair looks in collaboration with a CGI artist, Evan Rochette on the world’s biggest cross-game avatar platform Ready Player Me. Additionally, these hair drops will be available on Robox and Zepeto. The brand has dropped 16 playful and avante garde looks on several platforms like Ready Player Me, Roblox and Zepeto.
Sharing her thoughts, L’Oréal Professionnel India general manager Mathilde Barthelemy-Vigier said, “We are the first professional hair tech brand to enter the Metaverse end of last year. The brand’s vision of ‘Professional hair tech that elevates you’ has been the driving force behind this momentous journey into the Metaverse. We’re now accelerating, leveraging the avatar as an entry point. In the rapidly evolving Metaverse, avatars have become an artistic canvas for self-expression. As users immerse themselves in this digital realm, their avatars become a reflection of their personality, style, and identity, with hair being a prominent feature to craft their unique virtual persona. L’Oréal Professionnel stimulates this connection, offering experiences through diverse and inclusive hair looks that empower users to authentically express themselves in this limitless virtual world. Indeed, research shows that within 5 to 10 years, people will have up to 10 avatars as virtual identities that represent them.”
L’Oréal Professionnel’s metaverse entry extends its brand equity, showcasing innovation in hair beauty. A globally recognized pioneer in beauty, the brand adapts to evolving trends by embracing the metaverse, leveraging its reputation and demonstrating agility in meeting consumer preferences and technology. The metaverse’s focus on self-expression and digital engagement aligns seamlessly with L’Oréal Professionnel’s values. Empowering unique styles through hair has been central to the brand, now extended to the metaverse. With virtual tools and experiences, L’Oréal Professionnel’s creativity flourishes, enabling authentic expression. This reinforces the brand’s equity as a beauty trailblazer, adept at foreseeing trends and creatively engaging consumers.
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.
