Call it the year of merch-everyone from Justin Bieber to Zayn Malik has thrown their hat into the ring. Drake brought his Summer Sixteen pop-up to New York City just two weeks ago. And with 21 temporaryPablo stores set to open across the globe on Aug. 19, Kanye West is set to take that idea to the world stage.

After a scary trip to the doctor, Pasquale Brocco went home and took a photo of himself before throwing out all of the food in his house, forcing him to walk to Walmart when he was hungry. That meant a one mile walk to Walmart to get his meal and a one mile walk back home to eat it. He did that for three meals a day-walking six miles daily.

Even without a scandal, Lochte went to Rio with fewer sponsors than he had in London, when he was endorsed by companies like Gatorade, Nissan, Mutual of Omaha and P&G. The 12-time Olympic medalist is currently sponsored by Speedo, Airweave and Polo Ralph Lauren. None of those companies have yet to comment on the incident.

Brands have been quick to jump on the Pokemon Go bandwagon. In Japan, McDonald's paid to turn its restaurants into 'PokeGyms' and 'Pokestops', areas of the game where players congregate. Speaking on a recent press call, McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook said he is "very pleased" with the sales boost the brand has seen from the tie-up.

The theoretical argument for influencer marketing has always been strong - people trust recommendations from real people significantly more than they trust advertising and promotion from brands. But marketers are being driven to be ever more pragmatic beasts, and theoretical is no good without some hard proof of return on investment.

The fashion industry is helping by making sneakers as glamorous as possible. Brides have an expanding choice of comfortable yet stylish sneakers from sources like Bill Blass, Keds and Converse. Tory Birch is also showing dressed-up sneakers, and there are high-heeled Chuck Taylors.

Under Armour's chief executive revealed that stock was up by almost 10% since Aug. 5. The brand's success during the Olympics has been boosted by the marketing with its brand ambassador Michael Phelps, who clinched his 18th gold medal in Rio to become the most successful Olympian of all time with a total of 22 medals.

How many Facebook likes and Instagram followers does your company have? As these numbers grow from hundreds to thousands to millions, you may assume that your business is riding high. But according to Thoryn Stephens, the chief digital officer at American Apparel, measurements like these can constitute what he calls "fake or false metrics."

The line snakes out of the door and into the Olympic athlete village in Rio de Janeiro. Some of the world's fittest human beings have gathered to endure 30-minute waits for food. At the end of the long queue? The same Big Macs, McNuggets and milkshakes that are available at many of the more 36,000 McDonald's restaurants elsewhere in the world.

A Queens, NY band whose songs have been featured on such TV shows as "Keeping up with the Kardashians" and "CSI: Miami" is suing Sotheby's International Realty and an affiliated California Realtor for using its tune in an online marketing video. The complaint claims the group's song "Fade In/Out" was used to jazz up a boring video of Sotheby's partners at a meeting.