by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC Maybe it’s the bacon. Every week, I shoot pool in the same joint. Is it the cheapest pool hall in town? Nah. It’s actually pricey. Is it the service? Not really. The people are friendly, but service isn’t a big factor when renting a [...]
Tags:Amazon·AOL·Apple·bacon·Bing·business·GoodSearch·Google·House of Billiards·iPod·Karen Dillon·loyalty·marketing·Microsoft·pool·Verizon
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango & Entrepreneurial Advisor Too many entrepreneurs treat their start-ups like Hollywood relationships: the affair begins with a lot of passion, is great for headlines, and might even lead to deals, but as soon as things get a little rocky — or something better comes along — the [...]
Tags:business·business plan·Deadpool·dotcoms·entrepreneurs·entrepreneurship·exit strategy·Google·Inc·IPO·Jack Stack·Silicon Valley·SRC Holdings·start ups·TechCrunch·Twitter·Wall Street·Web 2.0·YouTube
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Price Pacifist “War, huh, yeah What is it good for Absolutely nothing Uh-huh War, huh, yeah What is it good for Absolutely nothing Say it again, y’all…” – Edwin Starr, “War” Imagine you’re minding your own business, selling lemonade from your friendly neighborhood stand, when [...]
Tags:Apple·business·competition·Dell·differentiation·Intel·marketing·Microsoft·price war·pricing·recession·strategy·Walmart
You’ve all seen the standard romantic comedy: the lead character pines for a fantasy ideal — a millionaire, supermodel, quarterback, cheerleader, prince or princess — but in the end, our hopeless romantic finds true love with a best friend, worst enemy, nerd, prostitute, maid or bodyguard. Delusions dispelled, the true lovers lock lips and live [...]
Tags:Boxster·branding·business·marketing·Neiman Marcus·Porsche·positioning·pricing·recession·Saks·Saks Fifth Avenue·Starbucks·strategy
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC Customer: Do you have “I Just Called To Say I Love You”? Barry: Yes. Customer: Can I have it? Barry: No. Customer: Why not? Barry: Because it’s tacky sentimental crap that’s why. Do we look like a store that would sell that song? Do you even [...]
Tags:Amazon·business·Chris Anderson·Comcast·content·Daily Candy·High Fidelity·iTunes·Jamati·Long Tail·marketing·media·music industry·Netflix·strategy·Wired
The late Senator Ted Stevens was roundly mocked for his comment that the Internet was a “series of tubes.” Now, there were many reasons to ridicule venal Ted, but his analogy wasn’t that off the mark. Yes, it was technically wrong, but many Web 2.0 companies share the same purpose as public utilities: they exist [...]
Tags:business·Facebook·Mark Zuckerberg·marketing·Napa Valley·Silicon Valley·Ted Stevens·utilities·Web 2.0
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
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC Business professors love to dis popular business books, like the silly but frighteningly successful Who Moved My Cheese? We criticize them as lacking proper research and analysis and being the business-publishing equivalent of McDonald’s combo meals. They’re tasty and easy to swallow — which [...]
Tags:Bhaskar Chakravorti·books·business·Eating the Big Fish·Ezra Vogel·goal setting·Harvard Business Review·Harvard Business School·marketing·Patagonia·publishing·reading·Sopranos
Want to see a brand done right — and gone wild? Go to a Jimmy Buffett concert, but don’t bother with the music performance.
Tags:branding·business·Jimmy Buffett·LandShark Lager·Margaritaville·music industry·Parrotheads
Seeing iPhones sold at Wal-Mart is like seeing Wolfgang Puck chowing down at IHOP (not likely) or Rachael Ray pimping Dunkin Donuts (oh yes she did). Has there ever been a bigger mismatch in marketing history? What’s next, an Apple logo on a NASCAR vehicle? Or even worse, an Apple at a — what? What’s [...]
Tags:Apple·AT&T·branding·business·Costco·Dell·distribution·iPhone·marketing·Nike·Target·Wal-Mart
"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.
