Brands
Sony names Harsh Sheth business head of Sony Entertainment Television
MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks India has tapped Harsh Sheth to run the business of Sony Entertainment Television, one of the country’s most recognisable Hindi general entertainment channels, signalling a renewed push on profitability and scale.
Sheth joins as business head – Sony Entertainment Television, with responsibility for overall business strategy and P&L. He will report to Nachiket Pantvaidya, chief content officer for SET, Sony Marathi and movie production.
The appointment brings to SET a media executive with nearly two decades of experience across television and digital platforms. Sheth most recently served as business head for Star Bharat and Star Utsav at JioStar, where he oversaw Star Utsav’s turnaround after its free-to-air entry, steering the channel to the number one position nationally. He also strengthened Star Bharat’s financial performance through tighter cost controls and sharper content optimisation.
Before JioStar, Sheth spent more than a decade at Disney Star, where he played a central role in building the company’s Hindi and English movie networks. As business head – Hindi and English movies, he drove sustained profitability and forged long-term partnerships with studios and creative talent.
Nachiket Pantvaidya said Sheth’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the channel. “Harsh brings a strong blend of commercial acumen, audience insight and leadership experience. As SET sharpens its growth and business ambitions, his track record of building large, profitable entertainment businesses will be a valuable addition,” he said.
Sheth called SET “one of India’s most iconic entertainment brands” and said he was looking forward to the next phase of growth. “I’m excited to join SPNI and work closely with Nachiket and the leadership team to strengthen SET’s market leadership,” he said.
Sony Pictures Networks India, the consumer-facing identity of Culver Max Entertainment, operates 28 premium channels across entertainment, movies, sports, kids and factual genres, alongside OTT platform Sony LIV. The network reaches more than 700 million viewers in India and is available in over 150 countries.
With Sheth at the helm of SET’s business, SPNI is betting that disciplined execution and audience-led strategy can keep one of Indian television’s biggest brands firmly in the race, even as competition for eyeballs grows fiercer by the day.
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.
