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by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Always Buys Socks On Sale; photo by Jules Jardinier [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)] via Wikimedia Commons… It’s only a penny, but it’s compelling millions of consumers to rush out and stock up before it’s too late…Read More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Differentiation Junkie; cover image modified from Drucker On Marketing by William Cohen… While reading an article by marketing legend Jack Trout, I came across this quote from the “father of business consulting,” Peter Drucker… “Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two, and only these two, basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.” Upon reading this, IRead More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Influencer Marketing Instructor… She’s a money management wizard who’s pretty damn savvy about marketing. Of course, it helps when you team up with the greatest media mogul of our times. Last week on the Oprah Winfrey show — a.k.a. Nirvana for writers — author/financial consultant/TV show host Suze Orman announced that she would give away downloads of her new book, Women & Money, on Oprah’s website for 33 hours. The result: 1.1 million downloads! Wait, you might be thinking, is OrmanRead More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Writer Who Also Likes Numbers… Just thought I’d dash off a quick note to put a few recent media-business items in perspective. The first one you’ve heard about extensively; you might find these others somewhat amusing… Microsoft’s offer for Yahoo!: $44.6 billion Oil company Exxon’s profit for just the 4th quarter of 2007: $11.7 billion State of California’s budget deficit: $14.6 billion Purchase price of HotOrNot, the online dating & rating service, as reported by TechCrunch: $20 million HotOrNot’s annual revenue:Read More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Competitive Strategist… During the 2008 South Carolina Democratic debate, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spent the evening attacking each other instead of addressing the issues. I was completely irked by their misbehavior — then realized this was classic marketing strategy in action…Read More

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Semi-Pro Tree Hugger… From the industry that gave us the Kardashians comes another exquisite display of empty décor… Behold: a glossy oversized 12-page dead-wood booklet promoting the movie There Will Be Blood. This lustrous piece of eye-candy fell out of my L.A. Times, nearly crushing my toe. The heavyweight pages flaunted full-spread images from the lusciously shot film, along with quotes from critics, its Academy Award nominations and… nothing else. I don’t deny that this film deserves promotion. I’m thrilled toRead More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Longtime Blogger… I love checking my blog stats, not just the raw numbers of views, but also such info as where my traffic is coming from. That’s how I discovered that my article on Walmart had been cited by the Wall Street Journal. Woohoo — I’ve got Street cred! I’m most intrigued by the search-engine terms that lead to Atomic Tango. Who Googled “Freddy Nager blog”? Here’s the key factoid I learned from looking at these search-engine terms: name dropping works….Read More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Not A Walmart Shopper… “We live in a time when people are losing confidence in the ability of government to solve problems… Walmart does not wait for someone else to solve problems.” – Walmart Stores CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. I’m no fan of the big box behemoth. The list of Walmart misdeeds ranges from underpaying and underinsuring their employees, to driving mom-and-pop stores out of business, from ignoring the wishes of communities who don’t want the hideous boxes in theirRead More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Almost a Beer Snob… As a Samuel Adams drinker and stockholder, I don’t partake in Budweiser’s anemic brew, but I’ve always loved their brilliant, often hilarious marketing. Until now…Read More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Electronics Fiend… I recently attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, and yes, you can’t spell “excess” without CES. After traversing an area the size of Rhode Island brimming with gadgetry, blissed-out geeks, and scantily clad spokesmodels, I have but two regrets…Read More