"We are not abandoning ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ philosophy”: Punit Goenka, MD and CEO, ZEEL

ZEEL recently unveiled a new logo and brand identity - 'Extraordinary Together'. A quick look at what it entails.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises, which recently turned 25, launched new logos for channels across the group. At a recently held event (in Mumbai), the company unveiled a new group logo and tagline, ‘Extraordinary Together’. The group’s previous tagline was ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (which means - the world is my family). All new logos have been designed by a London-based agency MLN. The creative agency for the brand in India is Lowe Lintas.

Punit Goenka, MD and CEO, ZEEL, says, "We are not abandoning the philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ at all. I believe ‘Extraordinary Together’ also encompasses ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, which, in my view, was not relevant from an audience perspective. If we have to go from 1.3 billion consumers to 3 billion consumers, a lot will depend on the language that we communicate to them in... hence, ‘Extraordinary Together’ works for our team, including our partners and viewers. ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ is still a part of our philosophy and the brand going forward.”

Prathyusha Agarwal, chief marketing officer, ZEEL, tells afaqs!, "We are trying to take it larger. ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ was never a consumer facing (line). It was a brand/corporate identity and has been taken across verticals, across countries. It becomes too oriental and people don’t really understand what my promise to them is. Also, it is about (the journey from) a family-owned business to a Hindi GEC to a global powerhouse. We are giving it a new-age feel...”

ZEEL is breaking a campaign today, across Indian media, to promote the new logo and tagline. Subsequently, the campaign will be released globally.

About her role and input as CMO, while making all these branding related changes, Agarwal adds, "Punit’s brief was never about the logo change. And, personally, I am not a fan of logo change/s. The brief was ‘25 years... next big what?’ So, in my first presentation I showed ‘25 going on 100’ - how we define the vision for the brand. When I was having a discussion with Punit and team, there was this sense of ‘Zee is a global brand that started in India’... we felt we had to figure out a solution around this thought... When you go to Disney Land, there is a ‘Disney-ness’. When you buy an Apple product, there is a certain ‘Apple-ness’. And that comes from defining why you do what you do...”

"Hence,” she goes on, "we went back and defined why Zee exists in this world. That’s where the logo design really came from. The brief was never to change the logo... it was about binding these verticals and tell that story.”