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Paytm First Games onboards Sachin Tendulkar as brand ambassador
NEW DELHI: Paytm First Games, a subsidiary of India's homegrown digital financial service platform Paytm, has roped in global sporting legend Sachin Tendulkar as the brand ambassador. The icon of a billion cricket-loving Indians, Tendulkar would be instrumental in creating awareness about the exciting genre of fantasy sports in the country. Other than fantasy cricket, he would help PFG promote and generate excitement around all sports including kabaddi, football, and basketball. Paytm First Games is among the leading fantasy sports gaming platforms in the country and the partnership with Sachin will increase its reach in smaller cities and towns.
For millions of Indians, the legendary cricketers' journey has had a deep impact on their personal lives. He has been the sole inspiration for many to play, watch, and believe in cricket, more as a religion than just a game. By welcoming him as the brand ambassador PFG hopes to inspire gaming enthusiasts to experience the fantasy sports phenomenon. The company has also set aside Rs 300 crore for investing in growing the market for fantasy sports and other online gaming events during this financial year. It said that over the next six months, 200 plus live events would be featured on the platform including international and domestic cricket tournaments, soccer leagues and more.
Sachin Tendulkar said, “Cricket is an engaging sport, and we all tend to have opinions about the game – right from player selection to playing strategies. Paytm First Games will give fans the opportunity to don their thinking hats and experience the thrill of making the correct choices and getting their teams to win. I am happy to partner with Paytm First Games to enable cricket fans to engage more with the ever-popular game of cricket”
Paytm First Games COO Sudhanshu Gupta said, "Cricket is like a religion in the country which inspires over a billion people and fantasy sports takes the fan’s level of engagement to the next level where the user experiences the thrill of playing along with the athletes. As India’s homegrown gaming platform, our vision is to get the sports fans closer to the action with fantasy sports. Most of us have grown up watching the Master Blaster in action. With Sachin as a brand ambassador, we wish to inspire mobile gaming enthusiasts to experience fantasy sports which are about tactics, strategic planning and research."
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Paytm First Games offers over 50 games where the most popular is fantasy sports where players apply research and strategy to engage with live sporting events. The platform currently engages with over 80 million gaming enthusiasts with the majority of them from smaller cities and towns.
MAM
WPP appoints Estée Lauder’s Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer
Former Estée Lauder executive to lead operations, technology and culture overhaul under WPP’s three-year growth plan
LONDON: WPP has appointed Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer in a newly created role tasked with delivering the group’s Elevate28 strategy.
Choueiri joins from The Estée Lauder Companies, where she led enterprise-wide strategic initiatives, including the “One ELC” operating model and major upgrades to enterprise marketing, data and analytics capabilities. She also led the redesign of enterprise technology teams and served on the company’s AI taskforce, driving AI strategy, adoption and value realisation across the business.
At WPP, she will be responsible for designing, implementing and embedding the operating model behind Elevate28, the company’s three-year growth plan unveiled in February 2026. She will lead efforts to improve innovation, efficiency and integration across WPP’s client offerings, with a focus on delivering agile, outcome-driven solutions and measurable growth.
Choueiri will oversee organisational transformation across the group, working closely with product and enterprise technology teams to deploy AI, data and technology to build new capabilities and improve operational performance. She will also work with the people function to embed cultural change, strengthen an agile performance mindset and support talent development across the organisation.
Before joining Estée Lauder, she held senior roles across consulting and digital agencies, including at Accenture, Masaï (a Bain & Company spin-off), and Kearney, with experience spanning strategy, data and digital marketing transformation.
Cindy Rose, chief executive officer of WPP, said Choueiri brings a strong track record of leading large-scale transformation across operations, technology and culture, adding that her appointment will help accelerate the group’s next phase of growth under Elevate28.
Choueiri said WPP’s strategy represents an ambitious opportunity to reshape how the company operates and delivers for clients, adding that she looks forward to building integrated solutions and fostering a culture of innovation and change.
She will be based in New York and will join WPP’s executive committee.
