MAM
HUL remains top advertiser in week 27 : BARC
New Delhi: Hindustan Lever Ltd topped the list of advertisers across all genres in the list released by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) for week 27 (3 july to 9 July).
HUL recorded ad volume of 4893.09 (‘000 sec), surpassing Reckitt Benckiser (India), which clocked a total ad volume of 4180.54 (‘000 sec). The two advertisers were followed by Cadbury India, Brooke Bond Lipton India, Amazon Online India, Godrej Consumer Products, Wipro, Colgate Palmolive India, Ponds India and PepsiCo.
In terms of brands, Dettol and Dettol Toilet Soaps continued to dominate the top ten list of brands, with an ad volume of 754.83 (‘000 sec) and 487.8 (‘000 sec), respectively in BARC’s Week 27.
The two brands were followed by Horlicks which has been heavily advertising during the prime time shows. Lizol, which remained the top brand during the last few months, has now come down to the fourth position with an ad volume of 338.01 (‘000 sec).
The other top brands in the list are Vimal Elaichi Pan Masala, Amazon.In, Harpic Bathroom Cleaner, Clinic Plus Shampoo, Santoor Sandal and Turmeric and Amazon Prime Video.
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.
