by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Lifelong Fan of the Warlord of Mars Forget the 10-foot-tall 6-limbed marauding Martians – the biggest challenge facing John Carter is his name. Or more exactly, the fact that Disney used his name as the title to his movie. Creating the second-worst sci-fi movie title [...]
Tags:Disney·focus groups·Hollywood·John Carter·marketing·naming·Pixar
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Old-Fashioned Newspaper Lover The other day I’m killing time on Twitter – which should be renamed “Fritter” because of how well it serves that purpose – when a trending topic caught me eye. Now usually, I ignore Twitter trends, which consist primarily of vapid paeans [...]
Tags:beaches·journalism·L.A.·L.A. Times·Los Angeles County·NDAA 2012·newspapers·social media·Twitter
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC It’s tough watching an old friend slowly die. Even tougher knowing that you’re helping to knock him off. Before you go calling 911, the old friend I’m referring to is my daily newspaper. For decades, I’ve started every day with my morning paper. I [...]
Tags:bloggers·blogging·Fox News·journalism·L.A. Times·Los Angeles Times·media·Michael Arrington·newspapers·NPR·Paul Carr·TechCrunch
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC MySpace is losing it. And I’m not talking about its members defecting to Facebook. Last year, the once mighty, world dominating social network that had crushed its predecessor Friendster suddenly found itself splattered on Facebook’s windshield. At first, MySpace responded by copying Facebook features, [...]
Tags:Disney·Facebook·Fox News·Friendster·gaming·Imeem·Jonathan Miller·MySpace·News Corp·Pandora·Rupert Murdoch·segmentation·social media·social networks·video games·Wall Street Journal·WSJ Connect
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC Orwell is not only spinning in his grave, he must be doing triple salchows. Amazon kindled a web-wide furor this morning when it yanked digital copies of two books from users’ Kindles: George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm…
Tags:Amazon·books·David Pogue·e-books·ebooks·George Orwell·Kindle·MG Siegler·Paul Carr·TechCrunch
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC Just over a year ago, Wired magazine proudly proclaimed that the future would be free, an argument based partially on ad-supported free sites like NYTimes.com. Of course, it was hard to take this manifesto seriously since Wired still charges for their magazine (cover price [...]
Tags:advertising·business·free·Google·Imeem·LinkedIn·marketing·micropayments·New York Times·revenue models·SpiralFrog·Splashcast·subscriptions·TechCrunch·Web 2.0·Wired·YouTube
Here’s expensive proof that I should stick to marketing and steer clear of the stock market: I invested in two radio companies. The first, Westwood One (WWON.OB), seemed like a stable cash flow deal. Westwood One produces radio programs for syndication, including broadcasts of NFL games. The way I saw it, demand for pro football [...]
Tags:advertising·Aerosmith·Apple·Bud Light·Clear Channel·focus groups·Google·Goom·investments·iPod·iTunes·KCRW·music industry·NFL·radio·Sirius·stock market·Westwood One·YouTube
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Multimedia Marketer I hear it all the time: “Advertising is a waste of money.” “If you have a great product, you don’t need to advertise.” “Word of mouth is more effective than traditional media.” “It’s impossible to cut through the clutter.” “Most consumers tune out [...]
Tags:advertising·Advertising Age·Apple·Apps·iPhone·MacRumors·television
Just like in the interactive zombie film The Outbreak, you keep running from the creatures, and just when you think you’ve found a new sanctuary, they sniff you out and keep coming and coming and coming… The creatures I’m talking about here are Hollywood stars and studios, and the “you” is the independent movie producer [...]
Tags:advertising·Brooklyn's Finest·Hollywood·Hulu·Lazy Sunday·Pop Rocks·Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire·Steelers·Sundance·UGC·user generated content·William Morris Agency·YouTube
Here’s how to exploit the Super Bowl without spending the $3,000,000 for a 30-second commercial…
Tags:Amy Borkowsky·buzz marketing·marketing·media·press·publicity stunt·single women·Super Bowl·Super Bowl Single Girl·viral marketing
"Common sense is the little man in a gray suit who never makes a mistake at addition, but it's always someone else's money he's adding up."
- Raymond Chandler
Let's hear it for uncommon sense: that inner itch that inspires you to stray from the herd, ditch the training wheels and leap into the fast lane. As we all know, it's the risk takers who get their faces on the cover of Wired magazine and their words on National Public Radio. No one ever remembers who won "honorable mention"...
Cool Rules Pronto celebrates uncommon sense in marketing and media. It's written by Freddy J. Nager, the Founder of the L.A.-based creative strategy agency Atomic Tango LLC, and marketing instructor at UCLA Extension and Robert Kennedy College of Zurich, Switzerland.
