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ad2c acquires MobiMasta to strengthen team
NEW DELHI: Mobile marketing agency ad2c, a joint venture between Japan‘s D2Communications and Singapore-based Affle Group, has acquired India‘s first mobile marketing company MobiMasti.
The acquisition will help ad2c to serve as an independent full service mobile advertising and marketing agency. MobiMasta was started by Anurag Singh, Viraj Singh and Alok Pabalkar as a full service mobile marketing agency to address skill gaps within the mobile marketing value chain. The client brand includes the likes of Samsung, Yahoo, Coca-Cola, Reebok, Adidas and NDTV.
ad2c founder and chairman Anuj Khanna Sohum said, “Backed by credible partners ad2c‘s entry in India will fulfill the need of an experienced and a competent partner to fuel innovations in mobile advertising and communications industry and this we believe would enable the disproportionate growth for mobile advertising in India.”
D2C CEO Takayuki Hoshuyama said, “We will bring to this venture the deep understanding of the mobile platform and the existing formats that can be adapted to the Indian marketplace. In our view there is an interesting similarity between India and Japan; both markets have seen the advent of typical smartphones in the last couple of years. Our success in driving mobile innovations in Japan was not limited by non-availability of smart phones. We will drive ad2c‘s success in the Indian market as our success in Japan.”
D2C is the first company in the world to specialize in mobile advertisement and was established in 2000 as a subsidiary of NTT DOCOMO INC., Dentsu Inc., and NTT Advertising Inc. It has the experience of having worked in the biggest mobile market in the world. According to the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, in 2010, the mobile content market was about US$8 billion and the market for transactions, physical goods and services reached US$13 billion.
ad2c CEO Madan Sanglikar said, “We are delighted to have hit the ground running. We look forward to creating exciting and engaging innovations for Indian companies going forward. Mobile‘s popularity among the brands will be driven by the platform‘s ability to offer location based consumer offers, interactivity. It will drive immediate call to action and provide rich media content apart from giving high return on investments to clients. Those days of only 50 per cent of advertising working for brands are over. Mobile marketing will bring in greater accountability.”
Dentsu India Group executive chairman Rohit Ohri said, “We are delighted with the extension of the Dentsu family in India. ad2c will certainly add to Dentsu India Group‘s capabilities in providing latest and coolest mobile innovations to our clients. We are convinced about the growing importance of the use of mobile in the marketing mix of all brands. With ad2c‘s launch the important gap of a credible partner who could help in addressing marketing challenges and pushing brand messages using the mobile platform, has been filled.”
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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.
