The Summer Week That Was July 9-13

DSCN0421 © by rob_rob2001

As you start another glorious summer weekend, take a few minutes to catch up with some of this week’s best stories and links. After all, where else but PRBC could you find a compilation that includes the unexpected benefits of market research, advice for young professionals and how to whip up a batch of tasty Big Mac special sauce?

You never know what sort of insights you’ll uncover while doing market research. You could, like Starcom MediaVest Group’s Laura Krajecki, discover that young adults increasingly opt to carry a “drunk phone”—an older, outdated cell phone that they don’t worry about damaging while out on the town. Mobile manufacturers, are you listening?

If you’re blogging about the 2012 Olympic Games, link carefully. The Next Web reports that the Olympics’ terms of use are particularly strict. Is this a smart, proactive strategy? Or brand censorship so broad it proves hurtful rather than helpful?

It’s not a weekly best-of compilation without hearing from my favorite Punks. If you’re charged with developing a new product, practice or term, don’t let your marketing vision become clouded with B.S. Creating something new and innovative? Awesome. Simply making stuff up because you can? Not cool.

One of the greatest food mysteries was revealed earlier this week: what, exactly, is in a Big Mac’s special sauce? If you, like so many others, thought it was Thousand Island dressing, you’re wrong!

Young professionals, this one’s for you—and it’s not only helpful, it’s worth printing out and posting in a prominent place. No matter where your professional journey takes you, knowing these 25 things by the time you’re 25 will help position you for better opportunities and more success—and who doesn’t want that?

What else is on your reading radar this week?