by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC
A job so cool, you even get a bitchin' hat.
Talk about truth in advertising: this really is a dream job.
Murphy-Goode Winery in Sonoma County, California, is offering one lucky applicant a six-month gig to be their “social media whiz.” The job involves blogging/posting/tweeting/videotaping the winery, its products, the lifestyle and the surrounding community… (more…)
Categories: Case Studies
Tagged: branding, buzz marketing, careers, contests, jobs, Murphy-Goode, social media, viral marketing, Web 2.0, wine
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC
L.A. contains miles of velvet ropes that pack more protective power than the Great Wall of China. They’re fronted by large scowling men armed with high-caliber clipboards. And they’re assaulted nightly by swarms of wannabes, who are then repelled by blatant acts of discrimination based strictly on looks… (more…)
Categories: Manifestos · Random Observations
Tagged: business, Facebook, NIN, social networks, Spam, Super Chirp, Trent Reznor, Twitter, Web 2.0
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
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. (more…)
Categories: Manifestos · Media News
Tagged: Aaron Levie, advertising, Box.net, business, free, Google, Imeem, iStock, LinkedIn, marketing, micropayments, New York Times, revenue models, SpiralFrog, Splashcast, subscriptions, TechCrunch, Web 2.0, Wired, YouTube
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC
Cue track 8: "Falling off the edge of the world"
A long time ago, in an Internets far far away, the people were promised a galaxy free of corporate-empire dominance, where the little guy would have a fair and equal shot at being heard, where small businesses could claim riches once envisioned only by multinationals, and where unsung individuals would finally be sung. The playing fields would all be level, and there would be many goals to shoot at… (more…)
Categories: Random Observations
Tagged: AOL, dotcoms, Facebook, Kevin Nalts, LinkedIn, mobs, Reddit, social media, Twitter, Web 2.0, YouTube
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… (more…)
Categories: How To Tips · Media Review
Tagged: blogging, Crayola, Facebook, Fail Whale, marketing, network effect, podcasts, Second Life, social networking, social networks, TechCrunch, Twitter, virtual worlds, Web 2.0, Yammer
Nice work, WVU! And I’m not just talking about your football team. (more…)
Categories: Case Studies
Tagged: advertising, college admissions, College Marketing, college recruiting, higher education, Web 2.0, West Virginia, West Virginia University, WVU
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… (more…)
Categories: How To Tips
Tagged: advertising, Apple, branding, business, competition, marketing, pricing, recession, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, strategy, value, Web 2.0
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
“… 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
Categories: Random Observations
Tagged: anticipointment, Blair Witch Project, Claire Barry, GOOD magazine, lexicon, lushalicious, neologism, unitarded, Urban Dictionary, Web 2.0, words, wordsmithery
Dear Monica Rockle:
I got an invite to your “Psychology Marketing Project” on Facebook. (Note: Facebook has since removed this “Project.” Too bad.) And as someone who professionally conducts and teaches marketing I have to hand it to you: pretty damn clever…
Categories: Case Studies
Tagged: advertising, buzz marketing, Facebook, marketing, Monica Cook, Monica Rockle, networking, online marketing, social networks, viral marketing, Web 2.0
So I’m hanging out at this bar, but there’s no one around — no bartender, no waitress, no other patrons. Everything behind me is fuzzy, but I have the power to change the way I look at the touch of a button…
A strange burrito induced dream? No, that’s the scenario at SportsBLOX, a new virtual world run by one of my former MBA classmates.
Categories: Case Studies
Tagged: avatars, brackets, chat, football, sports, sportsblox, USC, virtual worlds, Web 2.0
“In this very real world, good doesn’t drive out evil. Evil doesn’t drive out good. But the energetic displaces the passive.” — Bill Bernbach, advertising legend
I recently spoke about media careers to college students at the National Broadcasting Society AERho Convention. We were in the heart of the Disneyland Resort, amidst thousands of tourists wearing Mickey Mouse ears and celebrating America’s greatest media brand. It was the perfect place to discuss the future of media and how these aspiring young professionals could rule it. It also was a great demo of the difference between old school and new school mentalities…
Categories: How To Tips
Tagged: advertising, Barzak, business, career advice, careers, college, creativity, Dane Boedigheimer, employment, entertainment, internships, job advice, jobs, media, personal development, resumes, self-promotion, Steve Jobs, talent, unemployment, Web 2.0
by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC
Who ever imagined that naming a company would become a game of speed and chance?
Categories: Atomic Tango News · How To Tips
Tagged: advertising, AFLAC, Atomic Tango, Bing, branding, business, Client 9, Eliot Spitzer, Kaplan Thaler Group, marketing, Marty Neumeier, Microsoft, naming, Neutron LLC, Pinkberry, strategy, The CW, 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
"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.
