Brands
Yamaha celebrates heritage during the 65th anniversary
MUMBAI: Yamaha Motor India (YMI) Group celebrated the 65th anniversary along with the global businesses under the Yamaha Motor Company (YMC) Ltd. with its HERITAGE of unique mobility solutions including two-wheelers, groundbreaking technologies and racing legacy. The company has planned various online and digital initiatives to recount the brand’s landmark successes of performance and innovation during the “Yamaha Day” celebrated globally on July 1 that could further help the current employees and management to cultivate “The Unique style of Yamaha”.
The brand’s motorcycle division that started in 1955 at Japan with the introduction of YA 1 had gradually rolled out some of the world’s best-seller commuters and performance-driven motorcycles along the sidelines of ace technologies like 4 stroke, DOHC 5 valve engine and eventually setting outstanding records of racing championships. YMIG under its brand campaign “The Call of the Blue” has been driving the spirit of this HERITAGE with the help of a unique two-wheeler line up that are “exciting, stylish and sporty” and striking engagements and customer activities. Yamaha will run a host of customer activities on the digital space and will separately engage Yamaha employees in various craftwork initiatives to continue to transmit the brand’s uniqueness, thus redirecting from physical activities to digital initiatives as billions of people are grappling with the pandemic.
Yamaha Motor India Group of companies Chairman, Motofumi Shitara, said, “Yamaha’s Heritage is an outstanding tale of cutting through the constraints and develop world-class products and experiences. Since the beginning, Yamaha’s aim was to bring heart revving products and experiences that many would cherish in a world of routines and limits. The 65 th anniversary is when we showcase our heritage of uncompromising excellence of innovation and performance to the world and reiterate the brand’s continuous commitment towards the society in offering more exciting, stylish and sporty products. On this occasion, the brand in India has also decided to stand with the frontline warriors who have enormously contributed towards sustaining our society.”
The company has also endeavoured to offer its tribute to the frontline warriors including medical fraternity, teams handling emergency, civil and essential services through a new campaign “Yamaha Salutes Frontline Warriors”. All two wheelers and four wheelers used by the employees along with the company’s transport would display the illustrative stickers in support of the campaign, a balloon signage will also being installed at OMR, Chennai near to the company head office while the teams at Yamaha’s Chennai plant have offered their support with the help of a unique vehicle formation saying ‘Thank You’. The company has also launched a Social Media campaign “Yamaha salutes frontline warriors” in which various employees from across pan India offices of the company along with dealers and customers can be seen to have come together to offer their support and thanks to the frontline warriors.
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.
