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Ignitee Digital is Essar Hypermart’s online communications partner
MUMBAI: Essar Hypermart, the steel retail chain, has signed Ignitee Digital Solutions as its online creative and media agency.
Ignitee’s mandate will be to develop an engaging and sustained presence for the brand using the online medium.
Ignitee will be responsible for all the online media communications for Essar Hypermart including awareness, social media and search engine optimisation. Essar Hypermart has over 600 outlets across the country.
Essar Hypermart CEO Girish Rao said, “With constantly changing customer preferences, the need to communicate regularly cannot be overemphasised. Hence, going forward, online communication will play an important role in reaching out to our potential and existing customers effectively. We are confident that the expertise of Ignitee Digital Solutions as our official online partners will prove beneficial to attain greater heights in future.”
Added Ignitee Digital Solutions COO Shankar said, “With the talents back at Ignitee, we ensure that our clients are well-positioned in the online space, which in turn will add value to their business. I am excited about our association with our clients and our continuous efforts to provide more value to them.”
Ignitee provides 360 degree solutions for its clients including media planning and buying, search marketing and creative and technology solutions.
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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.
