T-Mobile is launching a plan Saturday to allow customers to pick up new smartphones without putting any money down. The Seattle-based carrier will allow well-qualified customers to buy any of its smartphones without making a down payment as part of a summer promotion. The trade-off, though, is that users will have to make higher monthly payments.

To return Procter & Gamble to steady growth, analysts say the company must turn around its beauty care business, which generates nearly a quarter of its revenue. But it has lost some of its allure as sales and market share stalled in recent years. As of the March quarter, the beauty segment posted flat organic sales growth for the year - the worst performance among P&G's five business segments and the worst performance for beauty since the Great Recession.

No wonder marketers are loving the BRIC. Four out of 5 U.S. adults are jobless, at near-poverty, and on welfare for parts of their lives. The U.S. is experiencing deteriorating economic security and the vanishing American dream. Survey data from the AP cites the globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor, and the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend. Hardship is particularly growing among whites, based on several measures. Pessimism about their families' economic futures has climbed to the highest point since at least 1987.

Cadbury will launch its first Christmas television campaign this year for the overarching brand, having previously only run TV spots for its sub-brands. The creative, still in the incubator, will follow a "knitted" theme that fits into the overarching Joyville marketing platform, initially rolled out for Cadbury Dairy Milk and extended to all its brands earlier in the year, Cadbury intends its TV activity to cement the confectioner's relationship with the festive period because, it claims, "almost every family" buys its products at Christmas.

Call it the new industrialization: cheap processors, memory, and sensors have created a hardware revolution, with fund sites like Kickstarter and Quirky fueling the trend, with wireless broadband ubiquitous, and military-grade technology at outlets like RadioShack. Also, new products don't require huge overhead with factories because new tech like 3D printing and laser cutters make it easy to create prototypes.

Technomics finds Philly Burgers best. Second place is a Cajun Burger (40%), followed by Southwest (37%), Cuban (32%), Hawaiian (28%) and Asian (27%) burgers. Technomic finds that 95% of consumers say they eat a burger at least once a month, including veggie burgers and the like. What drives burger buying? Nearly half the sample (46%) says "cravings" are among the top reasons.

What exactly is real-time marketing? An article from eMarketer that references a study conducted by the Direct Marketing Association on behalf of Neolane, takes a look at how marketers define real-time marketing. The top response was "dynamic personalized content across channels."

In spite of slow sales in China, Toyota retains its status as the top-selling auto brand in the world for the first half of the year. Toyota bested General Motors Co. It had that title for seven decades until 2008. Toyota Motor Corp. sold 4.91 million cars and trucks around the world for the January-June period, down 1.2% from the previous year, according to numbers it recently released.

Microsoft is hoping to make apps "a reason to love Windows" in Europe by promoting its UK Internet Explorer lead Gabby Hegerty to a new role leading product marketing at a director level for first party apps and services across the continent. Windows Phone has only 6.8% share of Europe market. A spokeswoman for Microsoft says the core priority for her team is to establish such apps and services "as a reason to love Windows."

Google, Tesco, Air New Zealand and the Sun were among almost 20 brands to launch "trendjacking" ad campaigns aiming to cash in on the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's child. Google created a global online greeting card via adam&eve DDB, which will be followed up with a card being sent to Kensington Palace. Procter & Gamble's Pampers brand, with Saatchi & Saatchi on board, asked for congratulations to be posted online to create a giant-sized baby blanket. Beer brand Carling launched a high quality online commercial. The ad, via Creature, features a proud builder paying huge attention …