Marketing

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Branding Junkie… I’m digging the rebranding of my friend Patrick Byers‘ agency, Outsource Marketing…

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Former Music Industry Guy… Many marketers get called “rock stars” — though most are more Milli Vanilli than Mick Jagger. Then there’s Bobby Borg, who is literally a rock star in the field…

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Influencer Marketing Instructor… Got a little more publicity this week: Hannah Jewell of the Washington Post quoted me for her video story on influencer marketing.

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + long-time Amazon customer and questioner… I’m reading Amazon’s press release about its Prime Day results (“Alexa, How Good Was Prime Day?”), and though it sounds impressive — “sales surpassed the previous Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined” — it left me wanting to know more.

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Packaging Aficionado… I must be part cat given my fixation with boxes. Shoe boxes, to be precise. While I like shoes, I don’t have a fetish for them. A few pairs will suffice. But the boxes?

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Influencer Marketing Instructor… File this under “surprising… but not really”: According to this BuzzFeed story, fashion “influencer” Arii failed to sell 36 T-shirts from her own brand, despite having 2.6 million followers.

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Planner of Marketing… A friend who runs an ad agency told me he just declined a prospective client. Even though that prospect was a great guy with a great business, he refused to pay for a campaign plan, and would only pay for the production work. […]

by Jeffrey Hirsch, USC Adjunct Professor + President/Founder of The Right Brain Studio; featured image by Hirsch; this piece originally appeared on The Right Brain Studio blog… On April 3, 2019, Adweek reported that “Droga5, the creative agency known for its acclaimed campaigns for brands like Chase, Google, HBO, IHOP, The New York Times and […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Influencer Marketing Professor… With the influencer business fraught with fraud — all while flaunting “authenticity” — what better way to reveal truth than pointed satire?

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Consultant to Nonprofits, Dotcoms, and Dreamers; photo by Kat Yukawa on Unsplash… What do charity organizations and most Web 2.0 companies have in common? None make a profit. (Apparently, someone convinced dotcoms that [intlink id=”1257″ type=”post” target=”_blank”]”free” was a viable business model[/intlink].) But they all still […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + LinkedIn Semi-Enthusiast… On the surface, this sounds good: social media platforms like LinkedIn are now promoting “higher quality” posts and burying junk posts. What’s not to love?

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Knows Jargon Enough To Avoid It; image by Mabdul via Wikimedia Commons… Many companies readily blame the competition for their struggles. For example, how many lackluster retailers have you seen blame Amazon? In many cases, it’s their marketing (or lack of it) holding them […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Nonbeliever in Lucky Numbers; photo by Maciej Pienczewski on Unsplash… The market space abounds with myths. Some state that social media is a substitute for advertising (never). Others claim that consumers want relationships with brands (rarely). And it’s not just amateurs who tout these myths; agencies […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Creative Strategist… OK, let me get this straight: A sports fashion brand run by savvy marketing pros and brilliant designers creates a text-driven promo piece… then ruins it with bad typography?

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Condiment Contrarian… Oy, what a disgusting mess.

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Copywriter Who Loves To Envy The Work Of Others… Here’s hoping magazines stage a revival so we’ll always have print ads like these…

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Dude Now Definitely In The Older Demo; photo by Jomjakkapat Parrueng on Unsplash… A running gag in my marketing classes was that every student-crafted plan consisted of “using social media to target Millennials.” Then the business world finally acknowledged that organic social media doesn’t really work.

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Influencer Strategies Instructor at USC; photo by Elijah O’Donnell on Unsplash… What’s the difference between a “celebrity” and an “influencer”? That’s one of the many questions I was asked by columnist Samuel Scott for the British marketing mag The Drum.

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Avid Reader; photo by Micaela Parente on Unsplash… In this hive of scum and villainy we call the Internet, you’ve likely met all shades of dubious characters: trolls, stalkers, spies, Republicans. Here’s one group that’s not nearly as harmful but just as annoying…

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Likes Watches And Brands… Knowing I love watches, Amazon recently recommended an Italian brand I’d never heard of: Brismassi Esetti. At least it sounds Italian. And at first glance, it looked pretty sharp: a clean design, only 8mm thick, with an Italian leather band […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Influencer Marketing Instructor… Although it’s April Fools Day, this is no joke. Everyone knows that most social media data can be faked. Likes, followers, views, even comments — name it, you can buy it. What most people don’t realize is how easy it is to do […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Loves a Challenge… Never shy from competition. You will face it, if not now, then as soon as you create a viable market. So if you see a field of competitors, don’t give up, even if they have a head start. Challenge them by […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Did A Fair Amount Of Shopping This Xmas; Photo by Daniel Jensen on Unsplash… Just this summer, many “experts” proclaimed the death of American brick-and-mortar retail, and that Amazon would eat everyone’s lunch. When Amazon subsequently bought Whole Foods (make that “organic free-range lunch”), […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Writer Who Likes Numbers; photo by Cory Doctorow via Wikimedia Commons… Digital advertising these days is like wandering into a room full of pickpockets. Obviously, you should avoid doing that altogether — you do have other choices — but if you must go, watch your wallet. […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Amazon Customer Since 1998… Call me an Amazon loyalist by default. As in, it’s da fault of the competition.

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder Of Atomic Tango + Guy With A Hang-Up About Phone Calls… As I typed my very first email in 1994, I thought, “Writer’s dream come true!” No more fumbling for the perfect words while speaking on the phone. No more trying to end a rambling call in a polite yet […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Will Miss Shopping In Stores; modified illustration from Weird Tales magazine 1941… Deep inside the HQ of Rapacious Retail Inc. — an office so sterilized and bathed in artificial light that live plants wilt within seconds — we find the head of marketing — Bob […]

Q: Dear Freddy: I’m setting up my own business in India where I’ll be teaching meditation and techniques on “mind management.” I’ve gotten a certification from the appropriate agencies and I also teach well, per the feedback I’ve received across different countries. How should I prepare my marketing plan and conduct local research? — A.S. […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Knows Jargon Enough To Avoid It; image by Mabdul via Wikimedia Commons… Quick, can you guess what this company is selling? “We provide a platform for market-moving dialogue by connecting decision makers through actionable exchange, revolutionizing the way 21st century companies create value.” Although […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Former Car Advertising Guy… Every now and then an ad campaign makes us viewers lunge for our TV remote controls, either to change the channel or simply mute the annoying spots.

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Communications Professor… Q: Dear Freddy: I noticed that this particular company sometimes leaves sold-out items on its website, and I was wondering what its tactic might be. – S.F. in L.A.

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Sure Likes To Talk… I had the chance to sit (actually, Skype) with Joshua Smith, a dynamic and popular podcaster, realtor, personal coach, and fitness expert (see his site, GSD Mode). As you can see, I’m not a video person — I prefer to […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Loves Kids As Long As They Belong To Other People… I’m not a mom (at least not the last time I checked). I don’t have a horde of kids running around the house (unless you count my cats). And I don’t scrap book (scrap […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Social Media Critic… I take Twitter too seriously — especially since I don’t think it will even be around much longer (at least in its current form). No, I still don’t see it as a great place for most brands and non-celebs to do mass marketing. […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Professor… Do marketing plans come from factory assembly lines these days? The advice is so generic and commodified, someone on AliExpress must be selling it for 40-cents a piece as long as you buy 100 of them. Take this article about marketing the L.A. Rams […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Website Content Director And Instructor; photo by youngthousands via Wikimedia Commons… My wife could hear me cursing from the other room. Did I hurt myself? Did the stock market crash? Did one of my favorite characters just get the axe on Game of Thrones? Worse: I […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango; photo courtesy of MarcyVeryMuch.com… Email is back! … Well, actually, it never left. It just got overshadowed by all the social media hype. But now that marketers have finally acknowledged that most social media marketing is a waste of time, everyone’s launching an e-newsletter. Or worse. While […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Professor Who Likes Giving Multiple-Choice Quizzes (so much easier to grade)… Despite all the research and analysis showing that most social media marketing is a waste of time, the hope persists among well-meaning business folk that somehow, someday, a well-timed Tweet or an unstoppable hashtag […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Usually a LinkedIn Advocate… I just found out that an old friend of mine got fired. No, he didn’t tell me — I haven’t spoken to him in years. Rather, LinkedIn told me. I’m connected with my friend on LinkedIn, and one day the social network’s […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Trader Joe’s Junkie… If we are what we eat, then I’m 99% Trader Joe’s. (In case you don’t know, Trader Joe’s is a beloved chain of low-priced gourmet food stores that’s more cult than grocery. Like Scientology with kale.) I’m lucky to live walking distance to […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Loves Millennials… And Many Other Segments; photo by Maru Lombardo on Unsplash… My Strategic Marketing students last year had a running joke. For every business challenge in the universe, they would say, “We plan to target millennials using social media.” That got a laugh […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Fairy Tale Weaver; image by DonkeyHotey / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)… [dropcap style=”default, square, or circle”]O[/dropcap]nce upon a time there lived an evil princeling named Zuckerella. Although he had more wealth than he could possibly ever spend, he craved much, much more. Specifically, Princeling Zuckerella wanted to […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Facebook Old Timer… I should have iced my Facebook Page three years ago. In 2012, Facebook tweaked its algorithm (called EdgeRank) to essentially screw over commercial Pages. Sure, I understand why Facebook doesn’t want to give corporations a free ride. It’s their snake oil sales pitch […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Loves Strong Brands… I couldn’t resist the bait. A direct marketing guy on LinkedIn posed the following question: “Why don’t most advertising agencies pay as much attention to results as they do to their creative and the awards that they can achieve?… Don’t get […]

By Freddy J. Nager, Founder Of Atomic Tango + Man Who Has Cursed At Furniture; featured photo by Dionysage… Two words that might strike fear into your heart: “ASSEMBLY REQUIRED” Or how about the four-letter word that will make you utter other four-letter words: “IKEA”

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Has Worked With Clients Of All Types In Agencies Of All Sizes… Finding the right client is like dating: You have to escape your comfort zone and make small talk with lots of strangers. Most prospective clients simply aren’t a match or a catch: […]

Q: Dear Freddy: How do I come up with creative ideas for this leather products company I’m freelancing for?

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Diehard Wired Reader… Back in the indie days of Wired magazine — when it was psychedelically colored, chopping-block thick, and as rebellious as James Dean on a Harley crying “MORE MORE MORE” — they wouldn’t have done this. Yes, they ran ads — early Wired was […]

by Pat Palleschi, Ph.D., President of the Executive Agency Dear Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn: I had no knowledge of you prior to this post, but I must admit that I have harbored a bit of a love affair with your company. I love the “thumbs up,” the endorsements, the comments, the posts — the […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Consumer Of Both Digital Media And Coffee In Vast Quantities At The Same Time… MBA programs today must be teaching young marketers to compare everything to a Starbucks latte. You’ll likely see this in marketing for digital media, which will boast that an app, download, or […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Diehard Newspaper Lover; photo by David Monniaux via Wikimedia Commons… Many marketers and media pros are buzzing about “influencer marketing”: hiring celebs of various stripes to spread the word in a social-media-driven marketplace. That’s why YouTube stars have agents and Pinterest mavens have endorsement deals. […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Was Taught Early On To Not Take Candy Or Facebook Posts From Strangers… So you’re killing time on Facebook, hoping to chance upon some juicy updates about your ex, or at least a cat video or three, but there, in the middle of your […]

by Kim Tronic, Resident Cocktail Expert + Jingle Writer… It’s happened to all of us. You’re in the shower lathering up or driving to work and you start humming a tune. Then you hum louder and bob your head. Before you know it, you’re screaming “Fresh goes better with Mentos, fresh and full of LIIIIIIFE!” […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Branding Enthusiast; Supreme Brick image via top-brands-shopping on eBay… In the marketing version of chicken-and-egg, we marketers love to debate which should come first:

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Communication Professor… Add another voice to the growing chorus of marketers stating the inconvenient truth — a truth that social media cheerleaders still refuse to acknowledge: When it comes to marketing brands, organic social media is a colossal waste of time.

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Likes Change… A few months ago a journalist interviewed me about “pivoting.” In case you missed the business-speak memo, “pivoting” means “changing direction” — it just sounds more athletic and deliberate than, “We changed our minds, alright?” It so happens that I have just […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Analyst… Add “effective” to the list of marketing terms that no longer mean anything, alongside “authentic,” “leader,” “revolutionary,” “disruptive,” and “engagement.” According to a misdirected study by research firm Ace Metrix, in 2014 Samsung had 7 of the 15 “most effective” ads in the tech […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + #Strategist… One hashtag, three problems… The other night I asked 50 marketing students what the Twitter hashtag #unstoppable represented. Some guessed it was for a movie. Others thought it was for a car company. None guessed the reality: it was for a Mexican tourism campaign — […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Beer Commercial Connoisseur… ‘Tis St. Patrick’s day, so what better way for a marketing blogger to celebrate than to write while totally drunk share a classic Guinness commercial: Beyond entertaining, that video also hits all 3B’s of my marketing promo framework: Brand: It makes the Guinness […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Member of Too Many Social Networks… Apparently, the leading social networks have given up on innovation. Now they just gaze covetously at each other’s “best practices.”

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Hardcore Word Lover… The other day I saw a billboard for a food company. I don’t remember the brand or the product (total ad fail), but I do remember the tagline: “Real Authentic Taste.” And I immediately thought, what the hell does that mean?

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Professional Non-Athlete | Photo by by Albert Yau via Wikimedia Commons I was the world’s worst little league baseball player. I’ve always had the hand-eye coordination of a sponge, so I couldn’t hit and I couldn’t catch. I didn’t even like baseball — watching people stand […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Wears Out His Credit Cards Too Soon… I dig my American Express card. Really. It enables me to buy pallets of cat litter at Costco, which won’t accept any credit card except AmEx. It extends warranties, so when my MacBook fried after the initial […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who’s Given Up Drinking Milk (And Kool-Aid)… “How to Build a Multi-Million Dollar Ecommerce Business With $0 Marketing Budget” No, that’s not the subject line of an email in your spam box. That’s the actual headline of a “case study” on Black Milk Clothing, as […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who’s Extremely Allergic To Snake Oil; featured photo by Mister Serum via Wikimedia Commons… “Snake oil” originally described the fake medicine that con men sold across 19th century America. The worthless ointments and lotions supposedly cured everything from basic pains to baldness, when the only […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Questions the Answers… A recent class discussion brought up one of my core tenets: the need to question everything in the market. We were discussing Charity: Water, a nonprofit that achieved near celebrity status because of its use of social media and videos: Great […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of the one and only Atomic Tango LLC (at least for now)… Nothing about the email set off my usually hypersensitive B.S. detector. It had landed in my business inbox with the subject line, “Confirm: About “atomictango” registration.” I didn’t recognize the sender’s name, Gerry Gu from p-xi.org, but emails […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Thinks That Words Matter… “The most important factor in selecting type is its readability. Type should be clear, easy on the eye, friendly, and inviting. Style is important — the choice of font is one of many elements that contributes to the image conveyed […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + No Relation To Right Said Fred… Inbound and permission marketers must be the sexiest people on earth. (Mis)led by their guru, Seth Godin, they abhor ads and other marketing promos that “interrupt” consumers. Rather, they simply build websites and social media profiles, then passively wait for […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Certified Non-Celebrity… Why do 60% of Twitter users quit within the first month? You could blame the inane trending topics, like these… #LightSkinGirlsDoStuffLike #ShorterThanBeyoncesHair Miley Cyrus #ThanksMiley #confessyourunpopularopinion Each trend is based on hundreds of tweets. Kind of makes your cerebrum cringe, doesn’t it? That said, […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Car Fanatic… Remember when Honda could do no wrong? Back in the ’90s and the ’00s, it seemed like every other person in L.A. drove a Honda, and they’d never have to take their car in for repairs or recalls. Indeed, my buddy is still […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Doesn’t Know Everything But At Least He’s Gotten His Hands Dirty; photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash… Anyone who teaches or writes about business should have actually run a business, or at least worked in one. Makes sense, right? Would you study surgery with […]

By Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Teacher of World Classes; photo by Greta Schölderle Møller on Unsplash… As yet another public service, I’ve identified a few words and phrases that have been so overused, misused, and abused that they no longer have any meaning. (Kind of like the joke in an average Saturday Night Live […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Social Media Evaluator I’m waiting for my payment of $138,552.96. I’m not sure who’s supposed to pay me, but I know the exact amount. According to the article “What’s the Value of a Tweet?” by the consulting firm SumAll, the “revenue generated from a business […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Likes Shiny Objects… People ask me whether marketing truly works. Sure, marketers claim they made Nike and Apple and BMW rich and popular — but didn’t these companies become rich and popular simply because they had great products? In response, I first explain what marketing […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Happily Married Guy; photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash… A client asked me how I measure “engagement” on Twitter. Now “engagement” is one of those overused, misused, and abused words in business — like “leading” or “authentic” — that no longer means anything. So how can […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, the ONE and ONLY, of Atomic Tango LLC So there’s a department at Twitter called Twitter Trust & Safety. For that alone, they should be sued for false advertising, since Twitter can no longer be trusted to protect the safety of your ideas and identity. I’ve been on Twitter for several […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Guy Who Likes To Question The Answers I used to read and recommend eMarketer, simply because they have numbers and pie charts and other examples of statisticulation. That made their articles seem more rational and realistic than 98.76%* of the blogposts written by social media […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Early Banner Ad Creator… The biggest reason why banner ads don’t work? People simply don’t see them. We marketers call it “banner blindness.”

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Professor… We need to stop treating social media like it’s some kind of miracle cure that will turn dictatorships into democracies, water into wine, and rats into kittens. (I know, I’ve tried.) Social media is just another communications tool. Because of its vast, always-on, right-here-right-now […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + E-Commerce Addict… I just had a shopping experience I can’t forget — and not because it was memorable in any way. I can’t forget it because the Internet won’t let me…

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Hype Assailant; image by Jantusia via Wikimedia Commons… I LOVE to dispel hype surrounding social media and marketing clichés like “engagement.” But sometimes, even my fellow hype-assailants go astray and perpetrate some nonsense of their own…

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Avid Inc. Reader If you’re an entrepreneur or run a small company, you should read Inc. magazine. One issue contains more insightful, practical advice than some of the semester-long classes I endured in business school. And a subscription to Inc. will put you back a […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Animal Enthusiast… I love to dis and dissect social media hype, but proving that I’m not all naysaying and negativity, here’s one social media success story that did make a difference. A BIG difference. In fact, it saved a life… Meet Charlie: Not Your Typical Social […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Professional Klout Abstainer… I often start my posts with a joke, so here it is: Klout. Not laughing? That’s because the joke may be on marketers who think Klout is a good tool to promote their brands. Why? Because not since spam has any marketing tool […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Social Media Realist; photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash… So a Harvard Business Review article will tell you what it means to be professional in the social media era. It begins with a compelling example of how the Susan G. Komen Foundation bungled its recent image […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Likes Tools (The Non-Human Kind)… My father ran a plant nursery up in Oregon, and for years he enjoyed a steady business with few disruptions beyond the weather. Then one day Walmart lumbered into town, and like a scene from a Godzilla flick, they […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Guy Who Actually Reads the Ads I confess: I clicked an ad on Facebook today. Really. Now, you know that Facebook ad clickthrough rates are so dismal (about 1 out of every 2000 views), that even Facebook execs are talking more about “branding” and “awareness.” […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Sucker for Shows about Advertising… Just saw AMC’s “The Pitch,” a reality show about ad agencies going head-to-head to land an account. Although it contained the usual heavy editing and over-dramatization of most reality shows, it was fun to second-guess real agencies in action. This episode […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Questions The Numbers; photo via Wikimedia Commons… Imagine that you own a basketball team, and you send your talent scout out to find a new player. He comes back and presents two options: Player A: averages 9 points a game, including 1 three-point basket […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC True story: A man walks by a pet store and sees rabbits for sale. He tells the clerk that he’ll take one, and she asks him what color he’d like. The man responds, “I don’t think the snake cares”…

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Prefers Talking Over Stalking; illustration by Shane Clester… If this is the social media revolution, wake me when it’s over. Social media was supposed to forge stronger relationships between companies and customers. It was also supposed to provide a massive improvement over traditional advertising, […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Practicing Skeptic; photo of uncut industrial diamond ready for hyping by Shieldforyoureyes Dave Fischer… I once met this millionaire who made his fortune selling diamond jewelry through supermarket tabloids. What kind of jewelry sells through the cheesiest rags on the planet — newspapers you wouldn’t dare […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + IMC Instructor and Practitioner; photo by BrokenSphere via Wikimedia Commons… So I’m reading IMC The Next Generation by Professor Don E. Schultz, the father of integrated marketing communications. This seminal book offers some good approaches to marketing management, such as value-based customer segmentation and goals-based budgeting, […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Buys Too Much Stuff for His Cats… They had me at “meow.” They lost me at “sign up.” I was flipping through Facebook when it caught my eye — an ad featuring a cat lounging in some Jetsons-age contraption: Since I’m addicted to furry […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Moderate Fanboy It’s predictable: Apple releases a new product, and the devout start camping out at the Temple O’ Jobs to be one of the first to lay their hands upon it. And just as predictably, people will ridicule these fanatics, usually with aspersions about […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Likes to Answer Questions and Question Answers My friend Nina writes… “I’m reading this article, and I can’t help but wonder: who comes up with the names for various consumer groups, like Millennials or, as in this piece, ‘X-fluents’? How do they gain traction? […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Professor of Marketing + Founder of Atomic Tango; photo by Sandrachile on Unsplash… Too many entrepreneurs and CEO’s tell me that they “don’t have money for marketing” or they’re “not ready for marketing yet.” What they’re really saying is that they don’t know what “marketing” means…

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Business-Lit Taste Tester… Seth Godin’s book Meatball Sundae lives up to its name: it’s a big mess. I won’t fully review an old publication here, but the following two paragraphs made me want to hurl the book against the wall (or just hurl). On pages 68-69, […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder Of Atomic Tango + Husband Of Anthropologie Fan… My wife LOVES Anthropologie so much, I should invest in the parent company just to get some cash back. With a religious fervor, she devotedly keeps tabs on the company in social media, and from what she tells me, Anthropologie sure knows […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Mad Men Fan… Don Draper would not be pleased. Don’t get me wrong — basing a fashion line on the TV series Mad Men is brilliant (albeit, about three years overdue). Since I dig the show and midcentury-modern design, I looked forward to it, and a […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + More of a Marketplace Fan than ever; note: buying via the links in this article may generate revenue for the Atomic Tango Martini Fund… In 2008, I blogged about [intlink id=”23″ type=”post” target=”_blank”]upstart electronics brand Skullcandy[/intlink], which I had encountered at the Consumer Electronics Show in […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Likes to Question the Answers So I’m reading an article in Inc., my favorite zine for advice on entrepreneurial matters, when I found this statement about one company’s social media campaign: “So far, about 7 percent of Step2’s customers have registered on the company’s […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Found of Atomic Tango + Aficionado of Daring Branding… Let’s say you start an athletic shoe company specializing in tennis, a sport mostly favored by upper-crust Europeans and the country-club set. You cement your brand image by naming your company after a tiny, extremely civilized European country famous for chocolate, watches, […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Occasional Coupon Clipper Just read a Mashable article by daily-deal entrepreneur John Amato, who trumpets how great Groupon and other discountosaurs are for everyone (“Why Daily Deals Are Here To Stay”). His key points…

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Former Banner Ad Clicker… When was the last time you clicked on a banner ad? If you’re like most people, the answer lies somewhere between “never” and “I don’t remember”…

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Part-Time Metcalfe’s Law Enforcer; image by Iriiina via Wikimedia Commons… OK, we get it: humans are social animals, and without positive interaction, we become Unabombers or maladjusted billionaires in David Fincher films (beware of alienated Harvard men). So while humanity desperately needs green energy and affordable […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Occasional Sportswriter NUKE: I love winning, Crash, you hear me? I love It. Teach me everything. CRASH: It’s time you started working on your interviews. NUKE: What do I gotta do? CRASH: Learn your cliches. Study them. Know them. They’re your friends. Write this down. […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Likes to Talk Shop… Social media isn’t “free.” As I tell my students and clients, there are several costs involved: The cost of hiring someone to do it for you. The value of your time if you do it yourself. The opportunity costs: what […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Social Media Realist Are you oppressed by a bloodthirsty dictator? Do you want freedom and democracy without having to fight for them? Well, now you can harness the same power that’s made Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber leaders of their respective generations! It’s as easy […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Board Member of City Garage Theatre; photo shows a scene from City Garage Theatre’s “Paradise Park”… I have this bizarre communication disorder. Every time I ask someone, “Would you like to see a play?” they hear, “How’d you like a root canal?” or “Let’s watch sausage […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + A Guy Who Loves His Customers (well, most of ’em)… Q: What consumer and market research guided the iPad development? Steve Jobs: “None. It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want.” – from the New York Times Customer centricity argues that companies should restructure […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Logo Design Undercharger; photo by Johntex via Wikimedia Commons… I had no idea I was leaving so much money on the table. I help clients develop new brand identities, including logos and look-and-feel guidelines. For this I charge a few thousand dollars, depending on a few […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Futurist in Training; photo by Kim Tronic… I was recently asked to contribute some mad prognosticatory science to Social Media & Content Marketing Predictions for 2011. My temptation: to unveil cold hard honest nuggets like, “Thanks to social media, American productivity will drop to levels not […]

by Raegan Thurlow, Part-Time Fashionista; illustration by Mark Armstrong… While watching “Brothers & Sisters” the other night, a very disturbing thing happened… I was curled up on my couch wearing my red-and-white-striped PJ’s (what with Christmas just around the corner) and was fully immersed in the show’s storyline: Sally Field is worried about her children […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Former AOL Chatroom User Dan Lovell is a writer, web developer, musician, and baseball expert – a regular 21st century renaissance man. So even though I think baseball is less entertaining than watching continental drift, I follow Dan on Twitter, where he often makes strong, pertinent […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Media Consultant; photo by Ben White on Unsplash… Call it Public Frenemy Number One. Google can be your best friend because it can help other people learn about you. Google can also be your worst enemy because it can help other people learn about you. What’s […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC & Social Media Consultant For decades, professional procrastinators relied on communal hydration technologies (i.e. water coolers) to support their best practices. Unfortunately, that particular tool maxed out bladder capacities, and even the dullest middle managers quickly learned that employees chatting while holding little paper cups weren’t […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC & Dotcom-Bust Survivor “If you buy a share of Facebook and flip your shares in a few years, you could make millions. Oh, but wait: You can’t. Facebook isn’t a public company. The only people who can invest in it already are millionaires. The hot IPO […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Incorrigible BACN Addict I have few addictions, but I confess to loving me some bacon. I’ve tempered my addiction somewhat by subbing in turkey bacon, but that’s like seeking a buzz off light beer. It’s possible but hardly as satisfying. Same thing goes for most […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + No Fan of Captain Ahab… How does one of the hottest restaurants in town go completely out of business in just weeks? That’s what happened to The Hump, a trendy sushi joint in Santa Monica, California, that shut down after getting busted for selling (get this) […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Former Music Industry Advertising Guy… Funny to see all the young ones chattin’ away on the Twitter ’bout this year’s South-by-Southwest festival, aka SXSW. What used to be a good ol’ fashioned music fest in the unvarnished heart of Austin is now this slicked-up multimedia shindig […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + And Marketing Mix Veteran… The hardest part to believe about “Superman” isn’t that a man can fly with no physical means of propulsion. It’s that Lois Lane, a reporter, can’t tell that Superman and Clark Kent are the same guy because of a pair of glasses. […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Business Relationship Counselor… Dear John Corporation: Let me begin by saying that our times together have been good for me. I mean it! I definitely see the value in being with you… to a certain extent. So what I’m about to say might seem cold and […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC & Japanese Food Lover So you manage a small chain of sushi restaurants, and business is not exactly stellar, so you decide to run one of those coupons that winds up in people’s mailboxes en route to the recycling bin. And that’s when this happens…

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Board Member of City Garage Theatre Whenever I get hungry in a strange city, I hunt out brewery restaurants. My belief: anyone who cares about the taste of beer is going to make pretty good food — or at least a decent burger. And so far, […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango & Hardcore Caffeinated Beverage Addict So Pepsi is skipping the Super Bowl, ending a 23-year run of entertaining ads. Contrary to what the social media cultists would like to believe, Pepsi is not doing so because it prefers social media. (As much as I use social media […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Italian Cuisine Junkie; photo from the movie “The Big Night” (see below)… The way social media-philes talk, you’d think that businesses had been ignoring customers for thousands of years. The socmeds ascend their virtual mounts and issue pronouncements like “2010 will be the year of listening […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Occasional Chiseler Warning: The following blog post contains full frontal liberal snarking and might not be appropriate for all audiences. If you’re a Republican with a thin skin, please escape now to somewhere you might feel more at home. The way I see it, ridiculing […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC, and Veteran Marketer Trying to Get Jiggy with It In my quest to find value on Twitter, I began by following a lot of marketing people, including several ad agency heads and veteran PR people. I wound up unfollowing most of them — except for the […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Advertising Admirer… You see them in every fashion magazine: Preternaturally gorgeous young models squeezed into sadistically form-clinging outfits that require three assistants, an elf, and a can of WD-40 just to get into. And after the shoot, the model needs four hours in a hypobaric chamber […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango & B2B Rabble Rouser… He’s violent. He’s funny. He’s different from anything you’ve ever seen in business insurance advertising — or imagined you’d ever see. He’s Arnie the Armadillo, the new mascot of Britain’s Kingsbridge Professional Solutions (KPSol). And it’s creating quite a stir among business-to-business marketers…. […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Social Media Instructor… The belief that Twitter is more than just another communication platform continues to spread, kind of like swine flu for media geeks. And like the flu, it’s plunging victims into feverish hallucinations: “Twitter saved the Iranian protestors!” they cry, neglecting the fact that […]

by Freddy J. Nager, the guy at Atomic Tango LLC who calls himself a “Fusion Director” Not since Sarah Palin claimed “executive experience” has anything this silly been uttered about top management…

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Twitter Critic (Twittic?)… Critical times like these spawn critical questions: How do we provide healthcare to 300 million people? Can conflicts over culture and religion ever be resolved? If wind blows into one of Sarah Palin’s ears will it come out the other? But the question […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Loves To Question The Answers… Sometimes you look at a chart and it seems clear as day. Then you look closer and that “day” turns into a foggy afternoon at San Francisco Airport with everything completely grounded. For example, check out the above Cato […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Occasional Publicity Seeker; photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash… Handling your own public relations is like serving as your own lawyer in court. Possible? Yes. Advisable? Not so much. I write this in response to the NY Times article “Which P.R. Firm Do You Use?” by entrepreneur Jennifer Walzer. Walzer […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Wonders Why He’s Still On Twitter… INT. CORPORATE CUBE FARM – DAY One guy is following another guy really closely. “I’m following you, so just follow me back, OK, OK, just follow me, please follow me, follow follow…” A woman goes from desk to […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Social Media User, Instructor & Consultant… So let’s trip back to 1876, the year the telephone was invented… Hmmm… something’s missing… and I’m not talking about Starbucks on every corner…

Veteran YouTuber Kevin “Nalts” Nalty just let loose his take on social media. He calls his article “The Stupidest,” but we found it way more insightful than most of the tripe posing as social media advice. It also came on a day when many Twitterphiles were twitterbating about Tony Robbins at their conference. Yes, that’s […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Crabcake Junkie; photo by Stu Spivack via Wikimedia Commons… In my ongoing quest to find anything of value on Twitter, I started following Umair Haque, a strategy advisor who writes for Harvard Business Publishing. Haque recently blasted someone else’s article: “i strongly rec everyone read https://bit.ly/GdroN […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Had To Memorize Too Many Formulas in Business School… “… fear of the unknown and our desire for certainty lead us to throw ourselves into the arms of perceived ‘experts.’ … We trust quantitatively flavored constructs to escort us away from the gloomy reality […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Professor… Just read an article by Brant Cooper entitled “Is social media worth your marketing dollars?” Most of the advice is fairly standard and could apply just as well to non-social media. But what made me say “hmmm” is Cooper’s definition of market segments: “Market […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Is Authentic When Necessary… The movement du jour among marketers is “authenticity.” This approach dictates that companies should be open and honest about who they are and what they stand for — not just because that’s a good thing to do, but because that’s […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Semi-Professional Bull Wrangler; photo by Forum concoursvaches.fr via Wikimedia Commons… Pass the paper bag, I’ve got emotion sickness. I’m perusing Harvard Business Publishing’s website, and a headline snags my eye: “Use the Downtown to Your Advantage“. Hmm, that sounds compelling. What kind of killer advice could […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + And Guy Who Questions The Answers For all our talk of freedom, we Americans LOVE rules… Our favorite sport, football, has the most rules of any sport on the planet. America poker players make up new rules with every hand (“threes and hearts are wild except […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Professionally Names Things… Previously here on Atomic Tango… Pizza Hut became “The Hut,” evoking images of Jabba — or worse. Now word comes that another iconic American brand has likewise simplified: Radio Shack is now “The Shack,” evoking images of a giant basketball player. […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Long-Time Amazon Customer Who Thinks Amazon Should Know Him Better By Now… Amazon’s ability to recommend products based on my purchases usually impresses me. It’s a smart way to get current customers to buy more. But tonight I purchased a product at Amazon and got a […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Longtime MySpace User… MySpace is losing it. And I’m not talking about its members defecting to Facebook. Last year, the once mighty, world dominating social network that had crushed its predecessor Friendster suddenly found itself splattered on Facebook’s windshield. At first, MySpace responded by copying Facebook […]

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

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Creative Strategist… File under “What The Hell Were They Thinking?!” A few days ago, Microsoft leaked a new ad for Internet Explorer 8 — though I’m not sure if “leaked” is the right verb. More like spilled, yakked up, upchucked, and Technicolor-yawned it. The ad is […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Pizza Addict… What’s wrong with pizza? I love pizza! Yet fast food giant Pizza Hut is dropping the “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 make it a […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Appreciates A Nice Cold One… It’s no fun picking on Coors now that they’re no longer run by right-wing zealots from a mountain stronghold in Colorado. I did razz ’em for their faux microbrew, Blue Moon. But since Coors became the Molson Coors company, […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Social Media Analyst; photo by Guillaume Paumier, CC-BY, via Wikimedia Commons… 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 […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Loves A Good Sandwich; photo by JoeInQueens via Wikimedia Commons… Maybe it’s the bacon. Every week, I shoot pool in the same joint, The House of Billiards in Santa Monica. Is it the cheapest pool hall in town? Nah. It’s actually pricey. Is it […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Aspiring Snackologist… Of course, you already know Pringles aren’t really potato chips. One bite told you that. You just ate ’em because they make delicious midnight munchies. And they come in that cool tube. But the blogosphere buzzed when parent company Proctor & Gamble publicly proclaimed […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Price Pacifist; photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash… Imagine you’re selling lemonade from your friendly neighborhood stand when — BAM! — you’re torpedoed by a rival who cuts his price in half. That inglorious bastard! Here you two had settled upon a comfy price point — […]

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

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Guy Who Likes Brands With Personalities… So my longtime bank, Washington Mutual (WaMu), recently got taken over by megabank Chase. ‘Twas a sad day for us WaMulians, because for all its faults — and it had a few — WaMu was a friendly place to […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Professor… It’s like an episode from the HBO series Sex And The City (or any romantic comedy of your choice): the lead character pines for a fantasy ideal — a millionaire, supermodel, quarterback, cheerleader, prince or princess — but our hopeless romantic ultimately finds true […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango & Website Strategy Instructor; photo from FOTO:FORTEPAN / Németh Tamás via Wikimedia Commons… 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 […]

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.

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Long Tail Marketing Enthusiast… 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 […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder Of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Values Public Utilities But Wouldn’t Want To Work For One; photo by Gretar Ívarsson via Wikimedia Commons… The late Senator Ted Stevens once claimed that the Internet was a “series of tubes.” Now, there were many reasons to ridicule venal Ted, but his analogy […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Taco Junkie… 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 […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Believes Everything Worthwhile Has A Price… Just over a year ago, editor Chris Anderson of 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 […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC 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 […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Sam Adams’ Fan and Investor… One of my more rewarding discoveries while attending college in Boston was Samuel Adams beer. In the 80’s, Sam existed primarily in New England, so after I moved to L.A., I found myself bereft and bewildered. For all its creative profligacy, […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Multimedia Marketer I hear it all the time: “Advertising is a waste of money.” “If you have a great product, you don’t need to advertise.” “Word of mouth is more effective than traditional media.” “It’s impossible to cut through the clutter.” “Most consumers tune out or […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Professional Collaborator… 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 […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Former Sugar-Cereal Junkie… This week I had my students develop ideas 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 continuously seek ways to minimize our sugar consumption […]

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

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Still Looking For His Lost Shaker Of Salt… Want to see a brand done right — and gone wild? Go to a Jimmy Buffett concert, but don’t bother with the music performance.

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC Nice work, WVU! And I’m not just talking about your football team.

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Branding Purist… Seeing iPhones sold at Walmart is like seeing Wolfgang Puck dishes at IHOP (not likely) or Rachael Ray pimping Dunkin Donuts (oh yes she did). Have you ever seen a bigger mismatch in marketing? What’s next, an Apple logo on a NASCAR vehicle? Or […]

While it's easy to blame the economy for business struggles, times like these also present a ripe opportunity for struggling businesses to reassess what they're doing. One classic perspective on reassessing a struggling business -- or an entire industry -- is "Marketing Myopia" by the late great marketing guru Ted Levitt...

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Member of a Few Segments… A few years ago, my wife and I strolled into Forth & Towne, a new fashion chain from Gap Inc. targeting women over age 35. It was solemn and dignified with muted lights and muted music — and muted people. While […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Misses Flip-Phones… 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 good for everything but use as a floor wax or dessert topping: web […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Has Weathered Some Economic Downturns; photo by Chris Sabor on Unsplash… 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 […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Really Does Like Ads… As this economy continues to just lie there, unmoving and unappetizing as cold turkey giblets, some businesses are trying to save money by re-airing their old holiday commercials. After all, those ads cost a lot to produce, so why not […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Proud Obama Supporter… One of marketing’s primary responsibilities is to make your brand stand out from the competition — ideally in a good way. So even though I’m a marketer who supports Obama, I’ve hesitated to write about Obamarketing, because every other marketer with a blog […]

by Freddy Tran Nager + Guy Who Watches The Super Bowl For Both The Footbal AND The Ads… How can you exploit the Super Bowl without spending millions for a 30-second commercial?

So there’s this common symbol that’s being used to justify everything from industrial pollution to obscene spending. No, I’m not talking about the letter “W” — that’s become a punchline. I’m referring to the once humble and inoffensive % sign, now exploited as a tool of self-righteous justification. I stumbled across two flagrant examples of […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Usually Likes Direct Mail Offers… You gotta love asterisks* — those little stars that tell you some juicy bits of information are lying far from the statement you just read. The late great novelist David Foster Wallace turned the footnote into a powerful literary […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango… Originally published September 30, 2008. Reflecting on Monday’s abject failure of the Wall Street Bailout bill, it would be totally remiss of me not to say it: Could the marketing of that bill have sucked more? First, there’s the nickname: “Wall Street Bailout.” Who came up with […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Social Media Realist; bee photo by Rowan Heuvel on Unsplash… I recently had lunch with an entrepreneur to discuss her marketing problems. She had launched her company with PR, and the initial results included major media coverage and a torrent of traffic to her site, but […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Integrated Marketing Advocate; photo by Christian Bowen on Unsplash… I have a serious weakness for ice cream. GOOD ice cream. As in 200% butter-fat-full-sugar-with-no-artificial-ingredients ice cream that makes me break into R-rated facial expressions and one-man gospel choruses. (Yeah, you don’t want to witness that.)

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Marketing Forensics Practitioner… As an L.A. interactive-media guy, I’m expected to blog about sexy new developments online or in Hollywood, but today I’m writing about Mervyns department store. And, yes, that’s the only time you’ll ever see the words “sexy” and “Mervyns” in the same […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Survivor of Multiple Dotcoms; Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash… 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 […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + No Fan of Double Standards… Delia Rose is mad as hell. The L.A. teenager is calling for a boycott of Unilever. The reason? The skin-whiteners that the corporate behemoth distributes and promotes in Pakistan and other Eastern countries under the name Fair & Lovely…

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Wishes His Personal Name Were “Atomic Tango”… I recently read a book that recommends naming your company after yourself to make your brand “authentic.” Hmm… Freddy Nager Productions? Uh, no — sounds like a nightmare on Elm Street. My personal name issues aside, here’s […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Occasional Dog Lover… When the economy gets rough, many businesses cut their marketing. Now, as a devoted reader of this blog, you know that’s a big mistake. The best time to launch a full-on marketing offensive is when the competition is crying and cowering like Dick […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Forensics Expert… Paige H. got a huge surprise this week. The 20-something Midwesterner had attempted to keep a low profile online: “no MySpace, no Facebook, no blog” — indeed, she’s long had a “distaste for the world of social networking websites.” And yet, thanks to […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Frequent Customer… Last week I hit the Digital Media Summit in the coolly atmospheric Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. There I heard speakers so intently spinning facts and sidestepping questions, I thought I was watching a Bush administration press conference… My favorite line came from a Hollywood agent […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who’s Survived And Thrived During Some Serious Down Times… When the economy slows to the speed of a three-toed sloth after one too many hash brownies, the knee-jerk reaction by most marketers is to reduce ad expenditures. For some brands, however, a recession presents sweet […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Donut Junkie… Like many people, I want 01.20.09 — Bush’s last day in office — declared an international holiday. But even with “the End of an Error” in sight, right-wing extremists continue to wreak their corrosive damage, and are now invading the seemingly sheltered world of […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC & Press Release Connoisseur… It’s amazing the difference between what you learn in school and actual business practices. I once took a class in public relations where we learned how to write a press release. The basic rule: write an actual news story about your company […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Donut Addict; photo by Tony Webster from San Francisco via Wikimedia Commons… I once found myself confronting a tower of gourmet donuts — and a whole lot of do-nothing. It was in the high-tech conference room of a multinational PR agency. The agency rep was telling […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Just Got Turned Off Vodka; image – scan of actual magazine ad by Belvedere Vodka… So I’m thumbing through my favorite geek magazine, Wired, when I’m suddenly confronted by this Belvedere Vodka ad that features a woman applying lipstick in the reflection of a […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Husband of Beetle Owner… He sits there before his mic, round and retro, emanating the cuteness that made him an icon in America. On this occasion, he wears formal black, though he’s usually seen in the wild dressed like a jelly bean. Then he speaks… And […]

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC American Apparel CEO Dov Charney acts like he’s missing his calling. The controversial and flamboyant entrepreneur could parlay his promotional genius and predilection for the prurient to become one hell of a porn producer. (The San Fernando Valley, the porn capital of the world, is just […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Forensics Expert… The epic saga continues… I’ve received a few messages and comments from upset college women about my Monica Rockle article. They think that I’m harassing one of their own. Please let me assure you that, as a professor, I would never ever pick […]

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Forensics Expert… 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. First […]