by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC
The following is a satirical work of fiction. Those easily offended should surf to safer territory now…
"You ain't seen nothin' yet..."
In the wake of Michael Jackson’s massive, media-saturated funeral, several Hollywood celebrities are reportedly looking into how they can make sure their own forthcoming funerals are as sensational. (more…)
Categories: Media Review
Tagged: celebrity, CNN, ego, Hollywood, journalism, media, Michael Jackson, satire, spoof, television
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC
"A TV series based on 'Blade Runner.' Really, is that too much to ask? But no, you give us 'Real Housewives of Orange County' instead... Time to die!"
When “Battlestar Galactica” concluded, its fans lamented that the series had to end, but were thrilled that it departed on a good note. Compare that to the fans of “Lost,” who are saying “WTF?!” after its later episodes. Then there are the still-hurting fans of “Firefly,” who saw Joss Whedon’s brilliant series nipped in the bud by a network that seemed intent on destroying it. (The subsequent “Firefly”-based movie, “Serenity,” helped alleviate the pain. A little.) Whedon’s next experience with “Dollhouse” drove him from TV for good. And, of course, there’s “Star Trek,” that short-lived 60s series that’s been born again in movie theaters thanks to the man behind “Lost”… (more…)
Categories: Media Review
Tagged: Battlestar Galactica, Blade Runner, Dollhouse, entertainment, Firefly, Hollywood, JJ Abrams, Josh Friedman, Joss Whedon, Lost, satire, sci-fi, science fiction, screenplay, script, spoof, Star Trek, television, Terminator, TV, Versus
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
It's everything but a floor wax or a dessert topping...
Now here’s a site that takes borrowed interest to a new extreme.
The Pomegranate Phone is an all-in-one device that makes the iPhone look like a hockey puck. It’s got it all: web surfing, MP3 player, video projector, voice translator… Sounds pretty cool, right? Then, of course, there’s the built-in coffee maker, harmonica, and a shaver for eliminating those pesky five o’clock shadows… (more…)
Categories: Media Review
Tagged: advertising, viral marketing, Flash, spoof, Pomegranate Phone, iPhone, borrowed interest, cool website, CGI, gadgets
image created by Keinishi
INT. DINING ROOM – MORNING: HANK PAULSON and his teenage daughter PRINCESS are having breakfast. We can’t see his face because he’s reading the Financial Times, chuckling to himself. She’s toying around with her half-eaten Froot Loops in a fine china bowl… (more…)
Categories: Random Observations
Tagged: business, business plans, economics, finance, Henry Paulson, humor, investing, satire, spoof, Wall Street Bailout
My friend Nalts, a top YouTube director and marketing whiz, found this brilliant spoof of focus groups:
Tip of the thinking cap to TheIdeaGroup for creating this video. My only criticism is that I didn’t think of making this myself. (BTW, why is everything funnier with a British accent?)
Focus groups have notoriously rejected minivans, Seinfeld, and telephone answering machines. (“What do I need a machine to answer my phone for? I’m perfectly happy doing it myself…”) They’re statistically irrelevant — indeed, statistically worthless — and the participants are under huge “group think” pressure to conform. In fear of making a mistake, participants tend to favor the familiar and reject the unusual. That spells doom for innovation.
Yet, because focus groups are “scientifically” conducted by overpaid consultants in controlled environments, people take their feedback seriously. I’d rather conduct one-on-one interviews with each person, with the goal to determine their needs and issues.
For more sensible approaches to marketing research, please read my post: Freeze: “Paralysis by Analysis” and other Joys of Marketing Research.
Categories: Marketing 101 · Media Review
Tagged: spoof, focus groups, customer research, business satire, marketing research
The liberal blog Daily Kos just unleashed a scathing and hilarious spoof of the “uproar” around Barack Obama’s supposed “elitism.” It perfectly captures the pathetic state of American journalism, where “freedom of the press” has become “freedom to act like squirrel monkeys.”
Categories: Media News
Tagged: Daily Kos, journalism, media, news media, Obama, politics, satire, spoof
“… While the internet is new and exciting for creative people, it hasn’t matured as a distribution mechanism… It will be a few years before digital distribution of media on the Internet can be monetized to an extent that necessitates content producers to forgo their fair value in more traditional media…” – Kyle, South Park
I know, I shouldn’t be quoting cartoon characters as proof of anything, but sometimes the greatest truth is found in satire. And the April 2 episode of South Park, “Canada on Strike,” is satire at its best, skewering everyone from the Writers Guild of America to Denmark to the stars of YouTube… (more…)
Categories: Media News
Tagged: Canada, satire, South Park, spoof, Web 2.0, WGA, Writers Guild, YouTube
"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.
