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FMCG major launches online game for popularising products
NEW DELHI: Reckitt Benckiser (RB) announced the launch of an online free runner game called UrbAN THRILL which allows users to mimic the fast-paced, risk-taking and dynamic environment of the FMCG company by completing free runner challenges across nine countries.
Available on RB.com, the launch of the online UrbAN THRILL is a significant component of RB’s corporate brand campaign, which was designed to create awareness among graduates and people early on in their business careers.
Reckitt Benckiser (India) CMD Chander Mohan Sethi said, “RB has a unique culture that’s most suitable for young professionals who enjoy freedom to act, coupled with a fast-paced and agile environment. Our decision to use an extreme sport like free running to showcase the spirit of our fast pace, challenging and dynamic corporate culture in a fun way. To continue our rapid growth we are always looking for ways to make ourselves better known among the next generation of people.”
Free running is a form of urban acrobatics in which participants, known as free runners, use the city and rural landscape to perform athletic movements through its structures. The game allows a global team of free runners to complete challenges over nine of the world’s most dynamic urban settings. From London in the UK, through India, USA, Brazil, Australia, Russia, Germany, Italy and France, runners are pushed to the limit by leaving RB Kites in the hardest to reach places across the globe, with each city visited providing six kites.
The game and characters will be branded with RB and its 19 Powerbrands including Dettol, Harpic, Lizol, Veet, Vanish Mortein, Finish and Clearasil. Both free running as an athletic pursuit – and the UrbAN THRILL game itself – are designed to push players to the outer-reaches of their ability, and reward them with the sense of achievement that comes with being at the top of their game.
The online game will help to improve recall with the RB brand which manufactures consumer products including Dettol, Lysol, Harpic, Durex, Vanish, Finish and Clearasil, to name a few.
The game has been developed in partnership with The Workroom and social media agency TAMBA. Alongside this, the agency also contacted free running professionals and used them as the official consultants.
Brendan Riley, free runner ambassador comments: “URBAN THRILL is a dynamic online game which takes the essence of the Arts of Movement and applies that same spirit as a metaphor to describe what it’s like to work at RB – a unique and trail-blazing company with fantastic brands that provides an inspiring work environment of self-expression and tenacity to all of its‘ employees each day.”
The game builds on past successes of a number of RB’s social media initiatives. Last year’s success of “ powerBrands ” (apps.facebook.com/powerbrands) game on Facebook (which enabled players to work in a consumer goods company and rise to become global president) showcased how social media games are a great way to raise corporate brand awareness among graduates and early-careerists.
The game can be found on www.rb.com/urbanthrill and is supported by a social media seeding strategy which targets relevant gaming portals, news groups and communities. As part of the game, RB offers the chance to win a flight for two and spending money worth ?2,000 to one of the 9 destinations – just start playing and leave your score on the leaderboard to enter into the prize draw.
The RB free running game is a fiction account of free running. It is humorous and full of recognisable free running actions, but it is clearly only a game.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
