Word came out that erstwhile Presidential candidate Mitt Romney spent $42.3 million of his own money on his failed campaign. My thought? Cool — it couldn’t have come at a better time, what with the economy looking like something my cat coughed up…
While reading an article by one of my marketing idols, Jack Trout, I came across this quote from the “father of business consulting,” Peter Drucker…
“If we don’t get some cool rules pronto, we’ll be bogus, too!”
– Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
It was one of those seminal Big Bang moments in pop culture: a single work that launched careers and trends while capturing the ‘tude of a whole generation. The 1982 film Fast Times At Ridgemont High featured Sean Penn in a breakout role that spawned hundreds of Hollywood slackers, from Bill & Ted, to Beavis & Butthead, to most of the characters in Jud Apatow’s recent movies. Penn’s Jeff Spicoli wore checkerboard Vans sneakers, turning them into instant icons. And the screenplay was written by Cameron Crowe, who went on to write and direct other culture shaping films, including Say Anything and Jerry Maguire. With all the pieces in place, Fast Times was crude, adolescent, shallow, and pure creative genius.
Now, a quarter-of-a-century later, I’ve created this marketing-and-media blog named after the film’s most quotable line, which is a joint-production of both Crowe and Penn. Crowe’s original script reads, “If we don’t come up with some cool rules ourself…”; Penn then swaps in the oh-so-critical “pronto” for “ourself,” demonstrating the inestimable value of a single word.
My goal with this blog is to promote other acts of pure inspiration in an increasingly cluttered mediascape, with a focus on advertising and marketing. The marketspace is currently enjoying new works of genius by the likes of GEICO, Apple and ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. At the same time, we’re enduring senseless acts of bogusness perpetrated by the likes of Wal-Mart, my beloved Democratic Party (sigh), and most of the so-called marketing execs in Silicon Valley.
I will be brutally critical, I will be tongue in cheek, I will be anything but professional in my search for other “cool rules” in marketing and media. Note that these are not “best practices,” to be followed or imitated; they are simply examples of brilliance that will hopefully inspire more seminal Big Bang moments in pop culture. While we can’t all be as culturally influential as Jeff Spicoli and the rest of the Fast Times crew, we should at least give it one hell of a shot… pronto.
Freddy J. Nager is the Founder & Fusion Director of the creative strategy agency Atomic Tango. For Cool Rules Pronto, he draws on insights attained from two decades of experience in advertising and entertainment, including over a dozen years in new media. He’s created marketing campaigns and projects for Saatchi & Saatchi, Toyota, National Lampoon, Nissan & Infiniti, MCA Records, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, the NFL on Fox and numerous start-ups. Freddy holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from USC (go Trojans!), and currently teaches marketing through the University of Wales/Robert Kennedy College. He also wrote the satirical book, Claw Your Way To The Top: Ten Things I Learned About Business From My Cat, which he’ll get around to marketing someday.
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Cool Rules Pronto logo designed by Vasco Morelli.
