MAM
Colgate ups ad spends by 32% in Q1 FY’13
MUMBAI: Personal care and oral care product manufacturer Colgate-Palmolive has increased its advertising spend by 32 per cent in the three-month period ended 30 June 2012.
The company spent Rs 837.2 million on advertising in the quarter, compared to Rs 634.1 million a year ago.
Colgate’s net sales stood at Rs 7.36 billion, up 20.45 per cent over the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal (Rs 6.11 billion). The net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 1.17 billion, as against Rs 1 billion for the year-ago period, recording a 17 per cent increase.
For Q1 FY’13 Colgate achieved a volume growth of 11 per cent and enhanced its leadership position in the toothpaste category to 54.5 per cent volume market share for the period from 12 January to 12 June from 52.4 per cent for the same six months last year.
The flagship brands, “Colgate Dental Cream”, “Active Salt”, “MaxFresh”, “Colgate Sensitive” and “Colgate Total”, were the chief contributors to this growth, the company said. The company strengthened its position in the toothbrush category and grew its market share to 38.2 per cent from 36.3 per cent.
The launch of Colgate Plax Fresh Tea in the fourth quarter of FY’12 helped the company gain momentum in the mouthwash category for the quarter under review.
Brands
Apple bites back: the $599 MacBook Neo is the cheapest Mac ever made
The tech giant unveils a budget laptop that packs a punch — and a lot of cheek
CALIFORNIA: Apple has never been shy about charging a premium. So when Cupertino rolls out a MacBook at $599 (approx. Rs 55,000) , it’s worth sitting up straight.
The MacBook Neo, unveiled Tuesday, is Apple’s most affordable laptop to date — undercutting its own MacBook Air and taking a sharp swipe at the budget PC market in one fell swoop. It starts at $499 for students, which, for a machine with Apple silicon inside, is frankly a steal.
At the heart of the Neo is the A18 Pro chip — the same muscle that powers the latest iPhones. Apple claims it is up to 50 per cent faster for everyday tasks than a rival PC running Intel’s Core Ultra 5, and three times quicker on on-device AI workloads. Fanless and featherweight at 2.7 pounds, it runs silently and promises up to 16 hours of battery life. Try doing that on a Chromebook.
The 13-inch liquid retina display clocks in at 2408-by-1506 resolution with 500 nits of brightness and support for billion colours — sharper and brighter, Apple says, than most rivals in this price band. It comes dressed in four colours: blush, indigo, silver, and a zesty new citrus, with matching keyboard shades to boot.
Connectivity is modest — two USB-C ports, a headphone jack, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 6 — but this is a budget machine, not a pro workstation. The 1080p FaceTime camera, dual mics with directional beamforming, and Spatial Audio speakers round out a package that punches well above its weight class.
Apple senior vice-president of hardware engineering John Ternus alled it “a laptop only Apple could create.” That’s the kind of line that makes rivals wince — because, annoyingly, he might be right.
The Neo runs macOS Tahoe, with Apple Intelligence baked in for AI writing tools, live translation, and the sort of on-device smarts that keep user data away from the cloud. It also boasts 60 per cent recycled content — the highest of any Apple product — for those who like their bargains with a side of conscience.
For $599, Apple isn’t just selling a laptop. It’s selling an argument — that good design and real performance needn’t cost the earth. The PC industry had better have a decent comeback ready.
