Prepare for Takeoff. Again. And Again. And Again… JetBlue Offers “All You Can Jet”

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

Never unpack again.

Suddenly, millions of Americans are making lists of where they would like to go. Others are wishing they hadn’t wasted all their vacation days during the summer. College football fans are checking their team schedules and packing extra jerseys. And Gov. Mark Sanford can park the state jet for a month.

In a deft bit of marketing, JetBlue is offering an “All-You-Can-Jet” pass that lets you “fly JetBlue anywhere you like, as often as you like, from September 8 to October 8″ for only $599.

Out of the Office — and over at Drew’s Marketing Minute

Today I’m guest blogging over at Drew McLellan’s esteemed blog, Drew’s Marketing Minute. In my post, “Not Safe For Work”: Chief Reputation Officers & Other Executive Excess, I dissect the silliest statement about management since Sarah Palin claimed “executive experience.”

“Syrup”: The Antidote to Boring Business Books. And Klingons.

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

"I write business books for a living. What do you do?"

I’m pissed. I just read one of the dullest business books ever — and I’ve read some pretty awful ones, including a few that I think are actually alien invasion plans written in code. You know, like anything written by economist N. Gregory Mankiw. He’s the guy who advised Bush on the economy, and reading one of his books is like chewing a sheet of tin foil. Mankiw’s baffling prose and Earth-inappropriate ideas lead me to suspect that he’s really a Klingon. Though I’m just guessing.

What’s The Deal With Rebates? (And How Can Your Business Use ‘Em?)

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

"Let's talk about a sensitive subject: breakage..."

So you finally found that gadget you’ve been dreaming about — you know, the one with the 60″ screen, built-in WiFi, and ability to make a perfect crème brulee at the touch of a button. Better yet, you found it advertised at just the right price… but you didn’t notice the fine print. Only after getting to the store do you notice the word that causes blistering steam to blast out of your ears and nostrils…

United States of Generica: Pizza Hut Becomes “The Hut”

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

No pizza for you!

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 it a more appealing place for teens to hang out. Hey, we’re not a fast food joint, we’re a cool clubhouse!

Creativity without Borders: “Beat It” Tehran Style

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

Score one for the Iranian protesters — at least when it comes to marketing.

Just last week, the Iranian protests dominated conversations across the media and the Internet. Then yesterday, not at all surprisingly in our celebrity-obsessed culture, Michael Jackson’s death wiped the Iranians off the evening news, the front pages of newspapers, and the social media trending topics.

Ahmadinejad couldn’t have asked for anything better.

“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…

Why I Won’t Get a PhD: Exhibit 1A

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

Since I love teaching and talking about marketing, friends often ask why I don’t get a PhD. I’ll think about it… and then I stumble upon an example of the actual work perpetrated by PhD’s in my field…

The Chips are Down: A Lesson in Branding

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

Faux Sure!

You already know that Pringles aren’t really potato chips. One bite told you that. You just ate ‘em because they make good midnight munchies. And they come in that cool tube.

But the blogosphere buzzed when parent company Proctor & Gamble publicly proclaimed that Pringles aren’t entirely made from potatoes…

How to Win a Price War (Hint: Don’t)

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

"Hmmm... should I move a piece or just eat it?"

“War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y’all…”
– Edwin Starr, “War”

Imagine you’re minding your own business, selling lemonade from your friendly neighborhood stand, when — BAM! — you’re torpedoed by a rival who cuts his lemonade price in half. That bastard! Here you two had settled upon a comfy price point — legally, of course, with no collusion whatsoever — and he had to upset the balance…

Must Read: Dan Neil Tattoos Christian Audigier

The perfect wine for your next Harley rally.

Intrigued by the Ed Hardy wines at his local Whole Foods, Pulitzer Prize winning writer Dan Neil performed exploratory surgery on that insatiable branding machine Christian Audigier. The resulting L.A. Times article is a brilliant and funny study of branding gone wild…

Saks and the City: How to Lower Your Standards for Fun and Profit

"That's when he said he was a marketer! Imagine that? A marketer expecting to date me?"

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 happily ever after. Or until Hollywood makes a sequel.

Today, thanks to the recession, many businesses are undergoing the same head-spinning realignment of expectations. Their dream consumers — namely, the filthy rich — are suddenly coming up short. Damn them. So these once discriminating businesses must now pursue less profitable paramours: potential mates who were once considered “beneath them.” Some businesses even undergo extreme makeovers to appeal to the masses. And you know where that could lead…

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…

You Can Lead a Horse to Water But… The Limitations of SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is that magical science of making Google and other search engines fall madly in lust with your website. The more your site is optimized, the higher it appears on search rankings. The challenge?

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.

Want Tail? Watch Your Head: Secrets of Long-Tail Marketing

Customer: Do you have “I Just Called To Say I Love You”?
Barry: Yes.
Customer: Can I have it?
Barry: No.
Customer: Why not?
Barry: Because it’s tacky sentimental crap that’s why. Do we look like a store that would sell that song? Do you even know your daughter, there’s no way she likes that song. Oh I’m sorry, is she in a coma?
– from “High Fidelity,” the movie

A buddy and I were reminiscing about small independent record stores. Remember them? No? Damn youngsters…

Pipe Dreams: Did Silicon Valley Pick The Right Role Model?

just a series of tubes

Former Senator Ted Stevens was roundly mocked for his comment that the Internet was a “series of tubes.” Now, I can think of a hundred reasons to ridicule venal old Ted, but his analogy wasn’t that off the mark. Yes, it was technically wrong, but many Web 2.0 companies share the same purpose as public utilities: they exist to pipe stuff to users…

I Survived The L.A. Kogi Truck Line: Masterful Marketing Meets Meaty Munchies

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

How do you say "potentially addictive" in Korean?

I just waited an hour-and-a-half in line for a taco.

Make that 97 minutes for four tacos and two burritos, to be exact. I had started out wanting only a bite from the legendary Kogi Korean BBQ taco truck, but by the time I made it to the front of the line, I was hungry for more and had to justify my adventure.

There’s great marketing at work for ya…

“Free” Market Freefall: The End of Free?

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

Web 2.Uh-Oh

Just over a year ago, Wired magazine proudly proclaimed that the future would be free, an argument based partially on ad-supported free sites like NYTimes.com. Of course, it was hard to take this manifesto seriously since Wired still charges for their magazine (cover price $4.99).

It was also misleading because it appeared during the height of the second dotcom bubble, when most of the free websites and services weren’t really living off their ad revenue. Some still aren’t. The New York Times website, for example, couldn’t exist in its current form without the financial and content support from its parent company.

Ivory Towers vs Empty Calories: The Best and Worst of Business Publishing

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

How I feel after reading some business books...

Business professors love to dis popular business books, like the silly but frighteningly successful Who Moved My Cheese? We criticize them as lacking proper research and analysis and being the business-publishing equivalent of McDonald’s combo meals. They’re tasty and easy to swallow — which is fine if you’re trapped at the airport — but if you rely on them for sustenance, you’re destined to crash…

Writing a Newsletter? Heed the Beer Dudes and Pour It On!

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

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…

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…

Sugar By Any Other Name… Avoiding The “S” Word

This week I had my students at Antioch L.A. develop ideas and marketing plans for new energy drinks. Some of the health-conscious students had trouble determining how to sweeten their drinks without sugar or chemically contrived substitutes. (We Los Angelenos all look for ways to minimize our sugar consumption — it so clashes with our daily smog intake.)

Untweetable: Why Twitter Fever Isn’t For Everyone

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

It was all about that sharpener...

When I was a kid, the object of all crayon lust was the Crayola 64 box with the built-in sharpener, because a dull crayon was almost as bad as soggy Cocoa Pebbles. And yet, that Crayola 64 contained some bizarre colors like Maize, Burnt Sienna and the fun-to-say-but-rarely-used Raw Umber.* While Black was quickly worn to a stub — one could never have enough Black — Maize lasted longer than the Shredded Wheat that mom tried to get us to eat in place of Cocoa Pebbles. (Sorry, mom, miniature bales of hay are for miniature horses.)

The point of this contrived metaphor? Just because a color exists doesn’t mean you have to use it. The same holds true for new media like Twitter…

“Show Me Your V”: It’s about sports. Really. I think.

Why? Why? Why?

Raise your hand if you’ve heard of Versus… Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Apparently, not too many people know about the small sports network, which I personally appreciate for bringing me football games from the PAC-10 and the Ivy League. Where else would I be able to catch the Harvard-Cornell game in L.A.?

Obviously, Versus wants more than us middle-aged marketing geeks. So in an effort to generate awareness, Versus is asking for more than a show of hands. They’re literally asking people to “Show Me Your V.”

Really.