by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC
"God I need an exit strategy... or a man... maybe both at the same time..."
Too many entrepreneurs treat their start-ups like Hollywood relationships: the affair begins with a lot of passion, is great for headlines, and might even lead to deals, but as soon as things get a little rocky — or something better comes along — the entrepreneur is outta there faster than you can say “Renee Zellweger”… (more…)
Categories: Random Observations
Tagged: business, business plan, Deadpool, dotcoms, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, exit strategy, Google, Inc, IPO, Jack Stack, Silicon Valley, SRC Holdings, start ups, TechCrunch, Twitter, Wall Street, Web 2.0, Yahoo, YouTube
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC
"WEB TWO!!!"
Over my fifteen years of working in website development, I’ve encountered some bizarre and fascinating characters rivaled only by the people who gravitate to show business. Here are just a few I’ve met — perhaps you recognize some of them?… (more…)
Categories: Random Observations
Tagged: dotcoms, Flash, satire, Silicon Valley, spoof, Twitter, Web 2.0, web design, web development
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… (more…)
Categories: Random Observations
Tagged: business, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, marketing, Napa Valley, Silicon Valley, TechCrunch, Ted Stevens, utilities, Web 2.0, wine
So I’m walking through my neighborhood counting the foreclosure signs when I develop this mighty thirst. Fortunately, I find a lemonade stand run by an enterprising six-year-old named Zucky. Just as I’m about to pay $4 for a cup (obviously, Zucky graduated from the Starbucks Preschool of Management), I see another lemonade stand across the street run by another enterprising six-year-old. This one, however, has a sign saying “Free Lemonade.” Free? I like free. Free is good. Plus, I’m trying to save enough money to fuel up my car. So I cross the street to the land of the free, and find myself talking to Zucky’s arch rival, Sergei… (more…)
Categories: Random Observations
Tagged: business, dot-com, dotcoms, humor, new media, satire, Silicon Valley, social media, social networking, UGC, user generated content, VC, Web 2.0
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC
Video site Stage6 got the deep-six and called it quits. This comes on the heels of the fire sale at Revver, which ultimately sold for $5 million — less than half of the original investment that was pumped into it. But these weren’t the first signs of an industry decimation…
Categories: Case Studies · Media News
Tagged: advertising, branding, bust, differentiation, dotcom, entrepreneurship, Joost, marketing, online video, recession, Silicon Valley, Stage6, start ups, technology marketing, VC, venture capital, Veoh, Web 2.0, YouTube
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: $5 million
Budget for the movie “Cloverfield”: $25 million
“Cloverfield” box office gross for just its first four weeks: $76 million
Total investment received by video site Revver.com: $12.7 million
Debt currently owed by Revver.com: $1 million
Asking price to purchase all of Revver.com (and to assume its debt): $300,000-$500,000
And you thought the real estate market was irrational?
Categories: Media News
Tagged: Hollywood, media business, Silicon Valley, Web 2.0
“I’m so full of action, my name should be a verb.”
- Big Daddy Kane
I meet far too many dotcom execs and entrepreneurs who claim marketing isn’t necessary. “Just look at Google,” they tell me with smug grins. True, Google never spent a dollar on advertising their world-dominating search engine, but they did perpetrate some wicked marketing…
Categories: Case Studies
Tagged: branding, business, Chrome, Google, marketing, mission statement, naming, search, search engines, SearchMe, Silicon Valley, technology marketing
"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 ChandlerLet'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.
