MAM
P&G and Viacom Plus expand cross marketing partnership
It’s a relationship that has stood the test of time and emerged enriched.
US MNC P&G and Viacom Plus, the cross media sales and marketing unit of Viacom have announced the expansion of a cross platform marketing partnership that recently entered the second year. The agreement that includes media and marketing intiatives for P&G brands across all of Viacom’s 14 national TV properties inlcuding CBS, UPN, MTV, Nickelodeon and VH1, will now expand to include new Viacom properties that P&G has not previously utilised.
The second year of the deal will focus on taking the deal beyond television, creating and integrating a few key marketing programmes that provide P&G’s brands the opportunity to build equity and continuity from television all the way to retail, says P&G.
The unprecedented marketing partnership last year was the first of its kind in the industry, and creates a first time opportunity to build an integrated multicultural programme for its brands, the company says.
MediaVest U.S.A., a media management and broadcast agency of record for P&G since 1984, helped craft both the initial and most recent deal, says an official release.
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.
