Brands
Philips India adds celebrity quotient to its male grooming category
MUMBAI: Macho man is passé; metrosexual is the current breed of men who with a high disposable income is the most promising consumer today.
They don’t mind filling their shopping carts with make-me-look-good goodies. And this is the reason why a bunch of male grooming products have sprung up in the last few years.
The male grooming segment which was projected to be Rs 1,500 crore market in 2012 is expected to reach Rs 5,300 crore by 2016.
According to a Nielsen study on the Indian male grooming segment, there is a rising aspiration among Indian men to look groomed, which has led to the Indian men’s grooming market’s rapid growth of more than 34 per cent.
The Nielsen study further stated that this growth is faster than the growth rate of the total personal care and beauty industry in India. The research company believes time is ripe for beauty and grooming brands to make the most of this growing male attention.
The segment can be divided into sub categories: beauty range of products and grooming gadgets (manual and electronic).
As per a report by Euromonitor International on male grooming sector in India, Gillette India lead men’s grooming with a value share of 28 per cent in 2012. The company has a strong horizontally diversified portfolio of razors and blades, with brands such as Mach, Vector, 7’O clock and many more, enhancing its long term sustainability. Hindustan Unilever was second, accounting for a 15 per cent share. These products fall in to the manual sub category.
On the other hand, in the electronic sub-category, Philips with a range of grooming gadgets for men including trimmers, shavers and stylers, is ruling the market share, claims the company.
To take a step further, the brand is set to roll out an extensive marketing campaign.
The brand has decided to add celebrity quotient to its communication and has roped in actor Arjun Kapoor to be its face in the country. It can be noted that earlier John Abraham was its brand ambassador.
The TVC which went on air on 10 July has been conceptualised and created by Ogilvy & Mather. The brand will also splash its communication on other media platforms. About 15-20 per cent of its marketing budget is expected to be invested on digital.
The business of electronic brands of this segment is growing at 30-40 per cent year on year, mentions Philips India director marketing-personal care Anurita Chopra.
“The Indian market is fast adopting this particular category. The reason to bring Arjun on board is mainly because he brings in positivity which we as a brand are trying to promote through our communication,” says Philips India president consumer lifestyle ADA Ratnam.
However, the pricing strategy of the brand is to make it affordable.
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.
