Applications
Airtel in 3-year deal with Arsenal for African market
MUMBAI: Arsenal Football Club and Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, have signed a three-year partnership which will provide the telco with opportunity to utilise the cub‘s merchandising, hospitality and content rights in five markets: Nigeria, Zambia, Ghana, Uganda and Rwanda.
Airtel customers in these markets will have the opportunity to win match tickets to watch this summer‘s pre-season tour fixture and receive exclusive club content and news direct to handsets.
The 2012 visit will feature a game between the Arsenal first-team and the Nigerian National Team the Super Eagles on 5 August.
Airtel is in the process of finalising arrangements that will give selected consumers in the five countries a chance to watch the match and interact with the team in Abuja.
In addition to the agreement, Airtel will be designated as the official mobile operator of the 2012 Arsenal Tour to Nigeria.
Arsenal will also support the Airtel Rising Stars football programme, an annual grassroots training initiative that offers young boys and girls the opportunity to play football and compete in a safe environment.
Airtel donates money for each goal scored at the tournament to support the players‘ education to ensure those involved don‘t only get best-in-class sports training and opportunities, but also have better opportunities to further their academic studies.
The Gunners will provide Uefa-trained coaches to assist with training in each of the five markets and at an Arsenal Coaching Clinic for up to 50 footballers in London.
Applications
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.
