MAM
Star Sports: A new logo, packaging & brand identity
MUMBAI: It was a historic moment for Star India when on 6 November at the stroke of midnight it unveiled the new identity for six of its sports channels – Star Sports1, Star Sports 2, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD1 and Star Sports HD 2 – and its website (starsports.com). (Star Sports 3 replaced Star Cricket, while Star Sports 4 replaced ESPN and Star Cricket HD and ESPN HD were rebranded as Star Sports HD1 and HD2.)
Today all the channels have a single logo – a star with a thinner silver outline with a streak of colours swishing into it. “The new brand identity is a metallic star with an explosive incandescent trail symbolizing the authority and passion of sports,” elaborates Star India exec VP marketing Gayatri Yadav.
The Star India broadcast design team and the UK-based brand consultancy Venturethree have created the brand identity while the broadcast package has been designed by Los Angeles based design and branding studio Capacity. Venturethree has a client roster that includes Myspace, The Times, Orange, Penguin, Reliance Industries, king.com and Discovery Communications while Capacity has done work for the NFL (national football league) and CW channel.
“The bold new star icon is to stand for a new era of sport. The star is sharp, bold and iconic. It brings strength and authority to the channel. The incandescent trail is explosive and dynamic. It brings the intensity and passion of sports to life. The fiery trail ignites and unites every sport, every player and every fan. It’s the glue that runs through everything on the channel. This expresses the fluid and dynamic nature of sports,” says Yadav.
Sridhar feels that it is just a matter of habit for people to star using the new names
The unified logo highlights the network’s ambition “to change the face of sports broadcasting in the country’ as well as provide world-class sports coverage to Indian sports fans. “To signal the change to the consumer, Star India is bringing all the six diverse TV channels under one brand name, Star Sports, and one purpose ‘believe’,” says Yadav.
According to Leo Burnett Chief creative officer K V Sridhar, the new logo is much more energetic and brings through the focus they are trying to put with Star Sports. “It is a Diwali colourful logo. Their biggest challenge is to merge ESPN and Star Sports. Now promoting their channels will become much easier for them. What they are doing is just the beginning because they are taking upon themselves a very beautiful and visionary strategy to make Star synonymous with sports,” he says.
Wouldn’t it be a difficult task for those used to calling the channels by their former names? “It is actually simpler than before now and it is just a matter of habit before people will start referring to a channel like- Star Sports channel 3,” quips Sridhar.
If it does happen as Sridhar predicts, it will be a job well done.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
