Tech Mahindra unveils refreshed brand identity, raises digital ad spends by 15–20% to signal AI-era reinvention

Tech Mahindra, a leading global provider of technology consulting and digital solutions, has unveiled a refreshed brand identity to mark its 39th anniversary, reflecting a confident step into the AI-driven future. The new identity- designed by London- and Spain-based Saffron Brand Consultants- embodies the company’s core values of agility, boldness, collaboration, and discernment. Anchored in its transformation roadmap, the evolution sharpens Tech Mahindra’s competitive edge while reinforcing its promise to help global enterprises “Scale at Speed”, while reaffirming its position as a trusted partner in AI-led digital reinvention.

At the heart of the refreshed identity is the ‘lozenge’, a compact symbol inspired by Mahindra’s iconic “rising beam” and the chessboard motif linked to Tech Mahindra’s Global Chess League- signifying precision, focus, and strategic depth. While retaining the legacy red, the company introduces a richer palette and a motion-driven design system that extends across digital and physical touchpoints.

CMO Peeyush Dubey shares how the company’s creative-tech arm BORN is scaling to rival Accenture Song, while AI-driven marketing transformation is delivering sharper precision and cost efficiencies.

In an interview with Storyboard18, Peeyush Dubey, CMO, Tech Mahindra reveals that the exercise is “an evolution, not a revolution,” aimed at strengthening recall, unifying portfolio companies, and amplifying market presence through smarter digital engagement.

As part of this shift, Tech Mahindra is increasing its digital ad spends by 15–20%- not as additional investment, but through sharper reallocation- while its creative-tech subsidiary BORN continues to scale globally, delivering immersive, experience-led solutions that position it as a formidable contender to Accenture Song.

Edited excerpts:

Walk us through the brand refresh- what was the objective and how long was it in planning?

A brand exercise can take three forms - continuation, evolution, or revolution. For example, IBM and Apple have continued with the same iconic logos for decades - that’s continuation. Evolution is when a company tweaks its identity to mark a new era. Revolution is when a drastic change is needed, like Andersen Consulting becoming Accenture.

What we’ve done is an evolution.

This refresh signals change - both in the company’s strategy and in the industry. Tech Mahindra has a new CEO, Mohit Joshi, who joined two years ago after 17 years with Infosys. The tech landscape is being reshaped by AI, and it’s important for us to signal our readiness for that future.

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We’ve also acquired around 50 companies in the last three to five years, and many were not fully integrated into the mothership. This refresh helps us bring them together under a unified global identity. It pays tribute to our legacy while preparing for the next generation of technologies and services.

What changes will we see in terms of design, tonality, and positioning and what’s the communication strategy around it?

This refresh is as much about strategy as it is about design. It covers brand strategy, employee value proposition, and verbal branding, but let me focus on the visual aspects.

When we looked at competitors in our space, we noticed one commonality-almost everyone uses blue, along with clichéd visuals like robotic hands shaking with human hands or people in AR/VR glasses. We wanted to break free from that sameness.

We revisited our brand toolkit - logo, colors, patterns, typography, illustrations, and more. We began with Mahindra’s iconic “rising beam” and overlaid it with the chessboard - a strong association for Tech Mahindra given our Global Chess League. The intersection forms a unique “edge” shape, which we now use as our new symbol, affectionately called the lozenge.

This is an additive refresh -we’ve retained the Tech Mahindra wordmark, which carries immense trust and heritage, while adding a symbol that can carry some of the visual responsibility, much like Nike’s swoosh.

You’ll now see a full logo unit - the symbol and the wordmark together - giving us flexibility and scalability similar to global brands.

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On colors, while Mahindra Red remains central, we’ve expanded the palette into darker and pastel shades inspired by luxury brands like Cartier. We’ve also developed new patterns using the rising beam and chessboard motif, creating a distinctive look and allowing motion elements for digital use.

This design philosophy will reflect across touchpoints - offices, events, digital assets, and even merchandise.

Which agency did you work with, and when can we expect to see the new branding across offices and touchpoints?

Our partner for this refresh is Saffron Brand Consultants, based in London and Spain. They’ve worked with Meta, AWS, and YouTube, so they understand global technology branding deeply.

This is an additive refresh - we’re not discarding anything. The transition starts tomorrow with our digital platforms - LinkedIn, our website, and communication from Anand Mahindra and other leaders. Events like Mobile World Congress, Sapphire, and Dreamforce will also showcase the new identity.

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Physical branding - signage and buildings- will roll out gradually over the next three to six months, in sync with facility renewals. Think of it like airline rebranding, you repaint the tail when the plane is in for maintenance.

Verbal branding elements, such as our new brand voice “The Ascending Force,” will start appearing on digital channels immediately.

How crucial is it to build a distinct brand identity in today’s fast-evolving, highly competitive tech landscape?

Extremely critical. In a mature industry like technology services, clients don’t just choose what they want to work on, they choose who they want to work with. To be in that “evoked set” of top-of-mind brands is essential.

We track unaided awareness annually. Our goal is to be in the top three to five brands recalled for AI, data, or digital services. The refreshed identity, unique color palette, and new design system are meant to make Tech Mahindra instantly recognizable and to reduce friction for our sales teams.

When someone sees a Tech Mahindra executive, we want them to say, “Oh, I’ve seen your brand, tell me what you can do for us.” That’s the purpose of strong branding.

This sounds like a significant undertaking- what level of investment did the brand refresh require?

We haven’t increased our overall marketing spend. Instead, we’ve redistributed it strategically. At Tech Mahindra, we allocate marketing under three buckets - Brand, Demand, and Expand. “Brand” focuses on awareness, “Demand” on new customer acquisition, and “Expand” on deepening relationships with existing clients.

In a rebranding year, the 'brand' share naturally increases. We reallocate funds; for example, shifting from a platinum sponsorship to a gold one; to balance the spends without adding new budgets. Some expenses, like signage, are capitalized and amortized over several years since they’re long-term assets. So it’s about smart redistribution, not incremental spend.

We’re leveraging existing budgets more effectively. For example, we already sponsor Mahindra Racing’s Formula E team - now we’ll use such platforms more extensively for brand visibility.

Over the last few months, and in the months ahead, our digital marketing spend will increase by about 15–20%. But this isn’t an incremental increase - it’s a smarter reallocation within our existing marketing budget. Our mix for a tech company typically looks like this: 30–35% on events (which are expensive), 20–25% on digital marketing, the rest across analyst relations, PR, and other areas.

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As a B2B brand, we focus on precision targeting, not mass advertising. That’s why our associations - like with chess, are deliberate. Chess appeals to an urban, high-affinity audience that aligns with our brand’s values of strategy, intelligence, and foresight.

The Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (GCL) Season 3 is happening in India for the firs time (in December)- what’s the outlook in terms of players, sponsors, and valuation growth?

The Tech Mahindra Global Chess League is among the top global tournaments in its category. Season 3, scheduled for December in Mumbai, will feature nine of the world’s top ten players, along with legends like Viswanathan Anand.

We’ve secured sponsorships from brands such as Google, IBM, AWS, and several others. There’s also strong interest from B2C brands now. Financially, the league has one of the most robust balance sheets among comparable sports leagues, and we expect that strength to continue.

As for valuation - yes, it’s improving, but to us, the real value lies in legacy. Chess is more than a property; it represents strategy, intelligence, rigor, and risk-taking - qualities that define both the game and Tech Mahindra as a brand.

What are your plans to have Tech Mahindra expanding into creative and marketing services, similar to what Accenture Song has done?

We already have that capability through our division called BORN - an acquisition that now operates as Tech Mahindra BORN. It functions in a similar space as Accenture Song, offering experience-led digital transformation services to global clients. For instance, it has recently helped a leading jewelry brand develop an AR-based app that allows users to virtually try on engagement rings before buying. It’s about merging creativity, design, and technology to deliver immersive customer experiences.

Currently, we’re not aggressively pursuing inorganic growth. We have around 50 portfolio companies, and our focus is on integrating them better through what we call the Orbit Model. This model classifies entities as sub-brands (like Tech Mahindra Born), endorsed brands (like Comviva), or independent brands (like Pininfarina).

That said, we’re always open to strategic “tuck-in” acquisitions if the right opportunity arises.

As you continue to scale BORN, does this move also stem from the turbulence within major advertising networks like WPP, IPG, and Omnicom- with ongoing mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations? Did that prompt Tech Mahindra, or perhaps other players in the market, to focus on strengthening in-house creative and marketing capabilities?

Absolutely! Almost in any industry, this industry is also is in upheaval, and this definitely gives a great opportunity.

BORN is growing rapidly. It serves both independent and synergistic clients, including several that already work with Tech Mahindra. It also manages digital campaigns for Mahindra & Mahindra Group. We see a big opportunity for players like us. Clients now want end-to-end partners who can consult, design, build, and deploy solutions.

Why are there so few Indian leaders at the helm of global ad companies?

Traditional design firms often stop at UI/UX, but clients today ask, “Once you’ve designed this, can you actually build and integrate it?” That’s where Tech Mahindra stands out - we not only create brand experiences but also implement the entire technology stack, integrate it with SAP or Oracle, and make it live.

Can it be the next Accenture Song?

I don't want to like to comment on Accenture Song alone- but that definitely is a good benchmark. But yes, BORN definitely is looking at growing a lot faster. It has both the native clients which select BORN for all the great work it is doing. And it also has lots of synergistic clients, because in many cases, there are companies who are working with Tech Mahindra that require those services.

How are AI and machine learning transforming your marketing operations and content strategy?

AI has become a core enabler for us - not just in operations but in marketing transformation too. We were one of the first companies to implement an AI Policy for Content. Given the growing risk of “AI hallucinations,” we allow AI tools but require every output to be reviewed by a human before publication.

AI has streamlined multiple workflows. For instance, when clients request customized company profiles for RFPs; AI now generates these quickly, saving hours of manual work.

The bigger impact, though, is on our marketing tech stack. AI identifies which companies are actively seeking services like SAP, Oracle, or Salesforce solutions. Instead of targeting 2,000 potential firms, we now focus on the 60 that are actually in the market. That precision targeting drastically improves ROI.

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In content creation, AI has reduced costs by over 30%. Agencies and partners producing whitepapers or case studies now use AI for first drafts, which accelerates turnaround time and improves efficiency.

We’re tracking metrics like click-through rates, pipeline velocity, and conversions to measure impact. Over the next 6–12 months, we’ll have a clearer view of the long-term gains.

With global uncertainty - including layoffs and immigration challenges - how is Tech Mahindra keeping employee morale and trust strong?

The pandemic taught us resilience. Having navigated that, no challenge feels insurmountable anymore. Being part of the Mahindra Group gives us stability and deep-rooted trust among customers and employees alike.

Recently, we surveyed around 70,000 employees to understand what they value most about working here. The insights shaped our Employee Value Proposition (EVP) - called Limitless Together. It’s built on four key traits: agility, boldness, collaboration, and discernment. The message is simple - when we work together with trust and purpose, we become limitless as an organization.

This philosophy not only strengthens our internal culture but also shapes how clients and partners perceive us - as a company grounded in people, purpose, and performance.