Pop Quiz: Which One of These Things is Not Like the Others?

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

I’m usually impressed with Amazon’s ability to recommend products based on a purchase. It’s a smart way to get current customers to buy more.

But tonight I purchased a product at Amazon and got a recommendation that I wasn’t quite expecting. Can you tell which one it was?

click image to enlarge

Yes, we Mac users are a wild bunch indeed…

The Brand is the Result: In Defense of Image-Only Advertising

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

I couldn’t resist the bait.

A direct marketing guy on LinkedIn posed the following question:

“Why don’t most advertising agencies pay as much attention to results as they do to their creative and the awards that they can achieve?… Don’t get me wrong, I believe that branding is important to a company, but feel like you can do both at once and achieve much more. … Respectfully, please help me in understanding why clever creative, especially on the Internet, is the basis of awards instead of client results.”

Too Soon? iTunes Features Michael Jackson

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

The news of Michael Jackson’s death just hit the internets a few hours ago, and the iTunes Store already has Michael Jackson featured on top and center…

“Stay!”: How to Create Loyalty — or at Least Laziness

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

Hunger-inducing visual courtesy of PhotoXpress.com

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 pool table. Is it the ambience? I do love pure pool halls like this — not some bar with a coin-op table, but a dedicated pool hall with 8-foot Brunswicks and a jukebox playing Soundgarden. What about the location? The House of Billiards is one of the few remaining pure pool halls on L.A.’s west side, and although L.A. is a car culture, we Los Angelenos generally hate to drive, so it wins there. And then there are the BLT’s…

iCandy: What iPhone Apps and Hershey Bars Have in Common

Recession? What recession? Apple enjoyed a 15% surge in profits for the first quarter of this year and, more sensationally, just sold its one billionth iPhone App. That’s one billion in just nine months! That would be remarkable during boom times, but during the worst economy in 70 years?

Well, of course. It makes perfect sense. In fact, perhaps the recession is the reason it happened…

They Cried More, More, More: Getting Current Customers To Eat Up

My wife just paid off her car two years early, and she’s ecstatic about it. Getting the new car was fun; but shedding that debt felt even better. It’s like getting to eat an entire package of freshly baked Trader Joe’s Snickerdoodle cookies in one sitting and losing all the weight the next day.

Welcome to the Microsoft Store! Are you sure you want to enter? Are you sure? Are you sure?

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

"Would you like fries with that?"

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!

According to an amusing article in the L.A. Times, Microsoft is looking to make its image a little sharper by opening its own chain of retail stores…

Radio Killed The Radio Star: How Clear Channel Lost The Signal

Illustration by Jeremy Hidalgo (www.borntodesign.net)

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 is insatiable, and since we mere mortals can’t invest in the NFL, this is the next best thing, right? Well, apparently not. As advertisers fled from radio, so did investors. Westwood One is now worth 9 cents a share and was recently delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.

The second, Sirius satellite radio (SIRI; now called Sirius XM — at least for the time being…), is worth even less: 6 cents a share. They’re seeking Chapter 11, and according to Rory Maher of paidContent.org, we Sirius common shareholders are about to get hosed. My investment in Sirius was pure speculation, since I was looking for some wild risk to balance out my boring bank CD’s. (Yay, excitement.) Since my friends who have Sirius love it, I thought it might have a future. Of course, I violated my own personal rule: don’t invest in anything that I don’t personally use. If I wasn’t willing to shell out $13/month for radio, what made me think the rest of America would flock to it?

But Wait, There’s More…

Who Says No One Watches Commercials Anymore? Ads Move iPhone Apps

A screengrab from a YouTube video of an Apple television commercial about reading a book on your phone now appearing on a blog.

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 or TiVo past commercials.”

While these declarations might be true in some cases, many bullheaded companies still invest millions in advertising — and not just during the Super Bowl when everyone is paying attention to the commercials.

Are these companies just clueless losers who are stuck in the past? I don’t know — would you describe Apple that way?

Marketing During a Recession, Part 4: Come Together Right Now

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

"I can... almost... reach... it..."

Collaboration: The Fine Art of Hookin’ Up

Partnerships, alliances and cross-promotions date back to Eve giving Adam that “come hither” look. I once worked on a cross-promotional website between Nissan and Crayola. Apple and AT&T are now making a killing with the iPhone. You can’t buy a McDonald’s Happy Meal without some movie-related toy in the box. And Yoplait has done well — and done good — by collaborating with the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

Unfortunately, you don’t see many small businesses or startups thinking in terms of collaborations. Here’s what they’re missing out on…

A Mismatch Made In Heaven? Apple Does Wal-Mart

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 that, you say? You want to know what’s the big deal?

Hey There Mighty Brontosaurus: Marketing Myopia Lives On

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

"Don't worry, Bob, we're too big to fail."

Hey there mighty brontosaurus
Don’t you have a lesson for us
You thought your rule would always last
There were no lessons in your past…
– The Police, “Walking In Your Footsteps”

If you unfold the business pages and vultures start circling overhead, you know times are tough. (And if you start seeing visions of the Grim Reaper, you know you’re reading a Tribune Company newspaper.)

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. Kind of like cardiac arrest makes you reassess whether chicken-fried bacon with cream gravy is the most sensible bedtime snack.

PWN Your Competition During Tough Times: How To Leverage The Value of Your Brand

Plus: Why “Price” isn’t Just a Number on a Sticker

Feeling plucky, punk?

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 themselves: they reduce their services and their advertising till they’re but a shriveled ball of what they once were…

Listening at Maximum Volume: NIN’s Trent Reznor Connects

Burn your copies of Harvard Business Review. Forget anything you’ve ever read by Al Ries or Seth Godin. And skip that conference on best practices. If you want to see how marketing is really done, follow the rock stars….

Betting To Lose: Don’t Blow Good Gambling Money on Warranties!

I just got back from Vegas, and though I thought I had left the gambling behind me, I found TWO letters from companies offering me extended warranties on products I bought last year. One was from my favorite technolust provider, Apple, offering to extend the warranty on my MacBook for three years for $249. Like most Apple creations, the pitch was good, using terms like “peace of mind” (in bright red letters at the top) and “protect your investment.” The only things missing were the free drinks as I laid my bet…

Now THIS is What It’s All About: The Making of the Atomic Tango Trailer

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”
- Steve Jobs

There’s nothing I love more than creative projects with talented people. I don’t even need a major role. In my first play in L.A., all my character did was glare at people and laugh. I didn’t get paid, nor did I have much stage time, but I had a complete blast…