One of my more rewarding discoveries in college was Samuel Adams beer. At the time, Sam was primarily a Boston phenomenon, so upon moving to L.A. after graduation, I found myself bereft and bewildered. For all its creative profligacy, Los Angeles was still dominated by the usual beer suspects: Budweiser, Miller and Coors (the bland leading the bland).
Naturally, I was thrilled when Sam started appearing in L.A. bars as an “import.” (I knew about the Lakers-Celtics rivalry, but describing Boston’s greatest export since Aerosmith as “foreign” was taking it a bit far.) Ironically, the Boston Beer Company (the maker of Sam Adams) is now the largest purely American brewer left. (Bud is owned by the Belgians, Coors is half-Canadian, and Miller is South African. But I’m sure you all already knew that.)
I was so stoked to see Boston Beer Co. expanding that I bought shares in the company, which has proven to be one of my few good stock investments. (SAM has also been battered by the current economy, but not as badly as my radio investments.) Not only do I dig a cold Sammy now and then, there’s a lot to be admired about the company:
CEO Jim Koch inherited three generations of brewing expertise
he’s a former Boston Consulting Group exec who doesn’t believe in long-term debt
and he treats his employees well.
Although Sam Adams’ product-centric TV commercials won’t win any creative awards — an experiment with a costumed “Sam” character was underdeveloped and short-lived — I’ve come to enjoy one expression of their marketing… (more…)
Last week I hit the Digital Media Summit in the coolly atmospheric Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. There I enjoyed several speakers providing intelligent and informed insights into the industry, including Zango’s York Baur, Quarterlife’s Mashall Herskovitz, and my MBA classmate Jake Zim of Safran Digital Group.
But many of the other speakers were so intently spinning facts and sidestepping questions, I thought I was watching a Bush administration press conference… (more…)
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 Wal-Mart 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 Cool Rules Pronto. Who Googled “Freddy Nager blog”? And why is somebody researching “Spicoli origin”?
Here’s the key factoid I learned from looking at these search-engine terms: name dropping works….
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…
"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 & Fusion Director of the L.A.-based marketing agency and production company Atomic Tango. For Cool Rules Pronto, he draws on two decades of experience in advertising and entertainment, including 15 years in new media. He has created campaigns and projects for agencies Saatchi & Saatchi and Magnet Interactive, and for such clients as Toyota, MCA Records, National Lampoon, Nissan & Infiniti, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, the NFL on Fox and numerous startups.
Freddy also serves on the Board of Directors of City Garage Theatre in Santa Monica, California. He holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from USC (go Trojans!), and currently teaches marketing through Antioch University L.A. and 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.
One of my more rewarding discoveries in college was Samuel Adams beer. At the time, Sam was primarily a Boston phenomenon, so upon moving to L.A. after graduation, I found myself bereft and bewildered. For all its creative profligacy, Los Angeles was still dominated by the usual beer suspects: Budweiser, Miller and Coors (the bland leading the bland).
