Brands
Radio tunes into growth as ad volumes rise 3 per cent in H1 2025
MUMBAI: Radio isn’t just background noise, it’s making advertisers sit up and listen. According to TAM Adex’s Half-Yearly Advertising Report, radio ad volumes grew by 3 per cent in January–June 2025 compared to the same period last year, signalling a steady tune-up for the medium.
Services struck the loudest chord, accounting for a massive 30 per cent share of all ad volumes. Collectively, the top ten sectors spanning auto (11 per cent), banking and finance (10 per cent), education (9 per cent), and food and beverages (7 per cent) captured nearly 89 per cent of the airtime. Durables made a new entry into the top 10, showing the medium’s appeal beyond traditional categories.
Among categories, properties and real estate kept their prime spot with 14 per cent share, but hospitals and clinics surged into second place, clocking 18 per cent growth, while jewellers glittered with 17 per cent growth. Pan masala puffed up by 78 per cent, and commercial vehicles raced ahead, multiplying their presence 27 times over.
On the advertiser leaderboard, Maruti Suzuki India overtook LIC of India to claim pole position, while newcomers like Vishnu Packaging and Muthoot Financial Enterprises accelerated into the top 10. Jeena Sikho was the leading brand on radio, followed by Maruti Suzuki Arena and SBI.
Regionally, Gujarat topped the charts with an 18 per cent share of ad volumes, with Maharashtra close behind at 16 per cent. Jaipur retained its crown as the country’s leading radio city, commanding 9 per cent of the pie, ahead of Nagpur and Delhi.
Evenings were prime time, accounting for 37 per cent of ad volumes, followed by mornings (31 per cent). And when it came to messaging length, advertisers kept it short and snappy 94 per cent of ads were under 40 seconds.
With over 360 categories and 8,000 advertisers using radio in the first half of 2025, the medium is proving it’s still music to brands’ ears blending reach, resonance, and regional punch in equal measure.
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.
