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PayUMoney ropes in Leo Burnett & Mindshare; to roll out ATL campaign
MUMBAI: PayUMoney, an online payment solution company, has appointed Leo Burnett to handle its creative duties, whereas Mindshare has been roped in to handle its media planning and buying mandate.
The company is all set to launch its first multi-media advertising campaign to raise awareness about its consumer offering. The nationwide campaign will run across months and target online buyers.
Leo Burnett will be looking at the entire creative process and will be the agency on record for the Gurgaon-based company. The agency won the account following a multi-agency pitch that went on for around three months.
PayU India marketing director Varun Jha said, “Leo Burnett’s thought processes on contemporising the brand thought, creative connect, out-of-the-box thinking and passion made them an obvious choice. We are confident that the team at Leo Burnett understands the unique nature of PayUMoney’s business model and will be able to execute a communication strategy that will enable us to grow in the exciting segment of online payments. We are excited to share our passion with Leo Burnett team to take PayUMoney to the next level.”
Leo Burnett executive director Samir Gangahar added, “PayUMoney is transforming the way Indians make online payments. We are happy to associate with them at such an early stage in their journey and help them in making PayUMoney synonymous with a simple payment solution for every need.”
Leo Burnett NCD Sainath Saraban said, “Working on PayUMoney is going to be exciting and challenging as well, because of the behavioural change it aims at bringing into the lives of the consumers. We will be looking at telling stories and creating conversations that our audiences will find both engaging and insightful.”
Mindshare south Asia leader Ravi Rao added, “Online payment is on the cusp of a major revolution and we are proud and excited to partner with PayuMoney, the leader in this space. We see great opportunity to engage with this evolving consumer and bring about behavioral change.”
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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.
