by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC & PhD-Program Conscientious Objector
Lots of dirt being dished about Ph.D. programs these days. Take this amusing quicky critique: “The Illustrated Guide To a Ph.D.”
What’s Not Up, Doc? Ph.D. Programs Getting Dissed
August 17th, 2010 · Education
→ 2 CommentsTags:college·education·higher education·HP·PhD·universities
Get Surreal: If “Inception” Were Really A Dream…
August 1st, 2010 · Media Review
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC & Freelance Dreamer
"My dead wife is haunting me, evil thugs are chasing me, and I have a final exam tomorrow for a math class I forgot to attend..."
So “Inception” is this action-packed, visually stunning film that appears real. Too real. Indeed, although the premise is based on dreams, it isn’t very… well, dreamlike. Who has linear dreams that are essentially action films? Whose dreams appear shot from a third-person perspective with scenes that don’t involve them?
Dreams are usually visualized from a first-person P.O.V., with the person dreaming involved in all the action. But forget the technical side — I don’t have to tell you that most dreams are bizarre, as if you’ve been doing mushrooms with David Lynch and Bugs Bunny while going backwards on a Disneyland ride during an electrical storm. Plus, they often contain a few good dream clichés. For example, if “Inception” were truly dreamlike, it would contain the following… [Read more →]
→ 2 CommentsTags:dreams·films·Hollywood·Inception·Leondardo Dicaprio·movies
Avoidng the BACN Purge: An E-Newsletter Done Right
July 14th, 2010 · Case Studies, How To Tips
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Incorrigible BACN Addict
I have few addictions, but I confess to loving me some bacon. I’ve tempered my addiction somewhat by subbing in turkey bacon, but that’s like seeking a buzz off light beer. It’s possible but hardly as satisfying.
Same thing goes for most e-newsletters. I think they’re going to be great, so I subscribe to a whole slew of them. Yet every morning the first thing I do when I check my email is delete almost every single one.
There’s a term for e-newsletters that we subscribe to but never read: “bacn” — which is a step above that other four-letter word, spam.
So what separates e-newsletters we read from bacn we don’t? [Read more →]
Nailed It: “Pearls Before Swine” Captures Us Hopeless Weboholics
May 24th, 2010 · Random Observations
I don’t usually share comic strips, but this one hit too close to home…
Coincidentally, Wired magazine just published a related (albeit much more scientific) article about how “The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains.”
Whale Fail: How Callous Marketing Busted The Hump
May 23rd, 2010 · Case Studies
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + No Fan of Captain Ahab
image by McAuliflower, Brownie Points Blog (click image to see the full original)
How do you go from being one of the hottest restaurants in town to being completely out of business in just weeks? Simply follow the example of The Hump, a trendy sushi bar in Santa Monica, CA, that shut down after being busted for selling whale meat.
That’s right: someone there actually said, “Mmm, beautiful, intelligent and endangered species — let’s eat it.”
→ 1 CommentTags:4C's·community·corporate social responsibility·ethics·restaurant business·Santa Monica·stakeholders analysis·The Hump·whale sushi
Business Journal Makeover: Enter the Harvard Obviousness Review
May 15th, 2010 · Media Review
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC & Business Lit Connoisseur
Note: The following is meant to be satirical. The author has no affiliation with the Harvard Business Review or any idea what its editors could possibly be thinking.
HBR: Gettin' in touch with a new generation of business readers.
For 88 years, the Harvard Business Review has been the authoritative voice of critical business thinkers, featuring such legendary thought leaders as Peter Drucker, Theordore Levitt and Michael Porter, and popularizing such paradigm-shattering concepts as the glass ceiling, marketing myopia and the balanced scorecard.
Well, enough of that… [Read more →]
→ 4 CommentsTags:academic journals·business publishing·Facebook·Goldman Sachs·Harvard Business Review·HBR·journalism·Mark Zuckerberg·satire·spoof·Twitter·Umair Haque
Pullin’ a Godin: Behold the Cheeseburger POV
March 14th, 2010 · How To Tips
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Practicing Metaphor Engineer
OK, sometimes it's a bit of a stretch...
Looks like it’s over for us marketing strategists.
No, I’m not saying that there’s no more need for marketing strategy. If you look at the anemic brands of most banks, airlines and Web 2.0 startups, you’ll see that the need for marketing is growing faster than Rush Limbaugh at a cheesecake bake-off.
But the opportunity to develop a revolutionary new marketing strategy may have passed. Sure, we marketers can still develop new tactics based on new mediums and new markets, but the big picture strategies have apparently all been done. Even worse, they’re now being recycled… [Read more →]
→ 3 CommentsTags:Al Ries·Blue Ocean Strategy·business books·Jack Trout·marketing·Marketing Warfare·Marty Neumeier·metaphors·Renee Mauborgne·Seth Godin·W. Chan Kim·words·writing·Zag
A Walk Down Memory 6th Street: My Vintage SXSW Ad
March 8th, 2010 · Atomic Tango News, Random Observations
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + former Record Industry Adman
Funny to see all the young ones chattin’ away on the Twitter ’bout this year’s South-by-Southwest festival, aka SXSW.
What used to be just a good ol’ fashioned music fest in the unvarnished heart of Austin is now this slicked-up multimedia shindig known as much — or even more — for its interactive media than its music. Seems to me that the latte-sippers are now outnumbering the Shiner Bock drinkers. The times they sure have a’changed… [Read more →]
→ 1 CommentTags:advertising·MCA Records·music industry·South-by-Southwest·SXSW
Not Clear On The Concept: Dell’s “Green” Ink
March 7th, 2010 · Random Observations
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC & Ink-Devouring Eco Junkie
I have a love-hate relationship with my Canon MP500 printer. Love because it prints out professional looking photos. Hate because its insatiable thirst for ink is robbing me dry, like NYPD cops in a perfume warehouse. [Read more →]
→ No CommentsTags:Canon·Dell·green business·greenwashing·NextLife·printer ink·Responsible Marketing
“Bank Run”: It’s an iPhone App. It’s an Interactive Movie. It’s All the Above.
February 27th, 2010 · Atomic Tango News, Media Review
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango & “Bank Run” Consigliere
Full Disclosure: The following post is about one of my clients at Atomic Tango…
Imagine waking up and finding yourself strapped to a chair. Standing over you is a strange man swinging a large golf club. He keeps asking you menacing questions, but you have no idea what he’s talking about. Frustrated by your lack of answers, he decides to take a massive swing at a spot right between your eyes… How do you escape?
Well, there’s an App for that… [Read more →]
→ 3 CommentsTags:Apple·integrated marketing·interactive movies·iPhone App·SilkTricky·video games
