MAM
Türkiye keeps Confiance as India PR partner for fifth term
GURUGRAM: Türkiye is doubling down on India. Confiance Communications has been reappointed as the country’s India PR partner for a fifth consecutive term, extending a relationship that tourism officials credit with lifting Türkiye’s profile among Indian travellers.
Announced from Gurugram on 3 February 2026, the renewal keeps Confiance at the helm of Türkiye’s India communications push, a mandate it has held since 2022. Over that period, the firm has worked to position Türkiye as both a cinematic backdrop and an aspirational holiday spot, while cultivating trade and media pipelines beyond classic PR.
Confiance has run a 360-degree communications strategy spanning films, OTT platforms, social media, press outreach, trade shows, cultural showcases and on-ground activations. A notable plank has been collaborations with Bollywood production houses, including Yash Raj Films, using film and streaming content to weave Türkiye into popular culture and travel wish-lists.
The agency has also leaned on celebrity and influencer partnerships to showcase experiential travel, while building media visibility through press relationships, exclusive familiarisation trips and targeted engagements. The aim: keep Türkiye high in India’s outbound tourism conversation.
Trade has been another front. Confiance has used its network among travel agents and planners to promote Türkiye across destination weddings, MICE, luxury and experiential segments. Partnerships with Indian enterprises, wedding planners and industry leaders have targeted corporates and high-net-worth travellers. Representation at awards and industry forums has helped polish Türkiye’s premium credentials.
Campaigns have ranged from tie-ups with travel bodies such as TAAI and OTOAI to experiential events celebrating Turkish heritage, food and culture. Six-city roadshows across metros in 2024 and 2025, Turkish food festivals, coffee days, conventions for agents and journalists, and other immersive activations have sought to convert curiosity into bookings. Indian arrivals to Türkiye have risen substantially since 2022, with consistent year-on-year growth, according to the partners.
Bushra Ismail, founder and chief strategist at Confiance Communications, cast the mandate as cultural as well as commercial.
“Representing Türkiye Tourism in India has been an incredibly dynamic and gratifying journey—one that goes beyond promotion to presenting deep-rooted cultural identity and fostering industry collaborations. Over the years, we have deployed 360-degree strategic initiatives to integrate Türkiye into India’s mainstream tourism and entertainment landscapes, forging relationships that have transformed the way Indian travellers perceive the country. With this renewed mandate, we aim to deepen Türkiye’s resonance with Indian travellers and unlock new dimensions of cultural exchange.”
Türkiye tourism authorities credited the agency’s local insight.
“Confiance Communications has played an integral role in highlighting Türkiye’s narrative in India, seamlessly translating our country’s cultural depth and modern appeal into powerful, market-driven storytelling. Their ability to understand and tap into the evolving aspirations of Indian travellers, combined with their strategic engagement across verticals, has contributed significantly to positioning Türkiye as a leading choice for high-value tourism. The continued success of this partnership underscores the impact of their efforts.”
Next on the agenda: deeper ties with luxury travel consortiums, high-profile film and digital campaigns, and programmes for medical and wellness tourism—segments where Indian demand is rising.
Founded by Bushra Ismail, Confiance has built a name in startup and venture-capital PR, working with close to 100 organisations in India and abroad. Its client list spans The Quorum Club, Positive Moves, Beyond Appliances, Hoi, JetSetGo, CashKaro, Leo Capital, Nutrabay, Salad Days, Transition VC, Bureau ID, PlanetSpark, ProcMart and Khyaal. It is also pitching itself as a partner to listed firms, including ProcMart of the IndiaMART group, TIL Limited and Just Herbs, now owned by Marico.
For Türkiye, straddling Asia and Europe across the Bosporus, tourism is both soft power and hard currency. For Confiance, the renewed brief is validation. And for Indian travellers, the message is clear: from film sets to food trails, Türkiye wants a bigger share of their passports—and their wallets.
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.
