by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC What’s wrong with pizza? I love pizza! Yet fast food giant Pizza Hut is dropping the word “pizza” from some of its store names and packaging. While still officially called Pizza Hut, the chain will refer to itself as “The Hut” to reportedly make [...]
Tags:fast food·marketing·naming·Pizza Hut·retail·Spaceballs·Starbucks·teenagers·The Hut·Yum Brands
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC Three yuppies walk into a Starbucks. Sounds like the beginning of a joke, and in a way it is. Two claim a table, while the third goes to order. He asks the others what they want, and they both say “nothing.” He responds, “So [...]
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
That strange gushing sound that you’re hearing is hundreds of commercial landlords across the country salivating all at once: finally, someone to take over those vacant Sharper Image spaces! Microsoft is looking to make its image a little sharper by opening its own chain of retail stores…
Tags:Apple·Apple Store·Gateway·Microsoft·PC World·retail·Seinfeld·Sharper Image·Starbucks·Vista·Xbox·Zune
While it’s easy to blame the economy for business struggles, times like these also present a ripe opportunity for struggling businesses to reassess what they’re doing. One classic perspective on reassessing a struggling business — or an entire industry — is “Marketing Myopia” by the late great marketing guru Ted Levitt…
Tags:Apple·Dell·Live Nation·Los Angeles Times·marketing·marketing in a recession·Marketing Myopia·music business·newspapers·record industry·Starbucks·Steve Jobs·Theodore Levitt·Tribune Co
Plus: Why “Price” isn’t Just a Number on a Sticker by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC Tough times like these separate the plucky from the certifiably pluckless. Plucky companies see economic turmoil as a ripe opportunity to crush weaker competitors. The pluckless see a shrinking economy and resort to shrinkage [...]
Tags:advertising·Apple·branding·business·competition·marketing·pricing·recession·Southwest Airlines·Starbucks·strategy·value·Web 2.0
"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.
