Applications
PennyWise to be digital partner for O&M
MUMBAI: Ogilvy & Mather has agreed to acquire a majority stake in PennyWise Solutions, a digital technology and production companies.
PennyWise will serve as the digital technology and production centre of excellence for Ogilvy & Mather in India. It will power best practice digital delivery for the agency’s India network as well as the O&M APAC network.
Ogilvy India chief digital office Kunal Jeswani said, “Ogilvy is one of the largest and most awarded digital agencies in India. This is not about scale. This is about excellence in every aspect of digital. Ogilvy represents excellence in digital strategy and ideation. PennyWise represents excellence in digital technology and production. They are exactly the kind of partner we were looking for.”
 |  |
|---|
The Hyderabad-based company was established by current CEO Anand Morzaria in 2003, and has grown from a six member start-up to employing more than 140 people.
PennyWise Solutions CEO Anand Moraria said, “PennyWise has always been at the forefront of digital and new media technology. We are excited to join hands with Ogilvy & Mather, a name synonymous with excellence in marketing communications. This partnership will help us combine our deep and proven expertise in developing digital and new media technology solutions with Ogilvy’s own offerings for clients across India and other APAC markets. Together, we will be able to meet and exceed the demands of our highly valued and expanding customer base.”
PennyWise has over a hundred digital specialists and offers a wide range of digital services including custom application development, mobile application development, SEO, digital listening, online consumer response management systems, data analytics and business intelligence, network support and infrastructure management services.
PennyWise has a global customer base, covering Europe and North America, as well as India. The current client portfolio includes Vodafone India, Johnson & Johnson and WPP Agencies including Ogilvy & Mather, Soho Square and a host of others.
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.
