writing

4 Comments

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Copyeditor with an Attitude; photo by Free To Use Sounds on Unsplash… I’ve noticed an odd writing habit on LinkedIn — and I’m not talking about my pet peeves, the abuse of “authentic” and “humbled”…

Ask Freddy: What Books Can Help Me Write?

October 2, 2019

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

Q: Dear Freddy: Can you recommend any books that would help me with writing techniques for marketing? Or does your writing come mostly through a lot of practice? — KC at USC

The Great Fog Bank: Remembering Why I Didn’t Major In Lit

March 31, 2019

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + College Grad Still Deciding What He Should Have Majored In; image credit – modification of photo by Jakub Kriz on Unsplash… As much as I love reading and writing, I was just reminded how much I fear and loathe the study of it. Decades ago in […]

Underachiever: The Art (Or Not) Of Crafting A Manifesto

February 27, 2019

2 Comments

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

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?

How To Humble Brag (Hint: Don’t Say “Humbled”)

March 13, 2018

3 Comments

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Honored to be Humble… Every day I challenge my computer to chess. “Bring it on!” I say. And every day I vow, “Today’s the day I turn the tables on that non-sentient tormentor!” But every single day my computer beats me soundly. That humbles me. […]

Devoured: How The Dark Side Silenced The L.A. Weekly

December 6, 2017

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Misses Alternative Newspapers… I used to read the L.A. Weekly (the alternative newspaper of Los Angeles) when it was the size of deep dish pizza — and almost as delicious, filled with no-holds-barred political screeds and small-theatre reviews and creative writers who wouldn’t get […]

Heavy Metal Writing: 5 Pens Of Steel

July 4, 2017

Materialism

2 Comments

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Believes The Pen Can Be Mightier Than The Sword… You know what product attribute doesn’t get enough hype? Tactility — how something feels to the touch. While today’s manufacturers obsess over size and weight, promising us larger and larger capacity and lower and lower […]

The Creative Jetsetter: Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

May 27, 2017

Materialism

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Doesn’t Travel Nearly Enough… If a storm like this hit Los Angeles, the local news would cover it all day — make that all week — with sodden reporters stumbling around and calling it something like Mega Tempest 2017™. Here in Ireland’s aptly named […]

Jargon Alert: Time For Some “Market-Moving Dialogue”

April 10, 2017

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

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 […]

I Can’t Bear To Look: Why Johnny Can’t Write

February 25, 2017

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango, Professional Writer, and Professor; photo by Pwlps via Wikimedia Commons… Dear Class, Please evaluate the first sentence from this recent academic-journal article, “Progressive Mastery Through Deliberate Practice: A Promising Approach For Improving Writing”: “There is virtual agreement across all sectors (policy-makers, researchers, educators, parents, employers) that there […]

Writing Wrongs: The Classic Bait And Bate Switch

November 3, 2016

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Editor Who Can’t Resist… It’s a common mistake: writing “baited breath” instead of “bated breath.” I just didn’t expect it in the official publication of the American Marketing Association (October 2016 issue). But there it glared at me from an article about Apple’s born-to-be-lost AirPods. Of […]

Deja View: You Know A TV Show Has Run Out Of Ideas When…

April 19, 2016

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Hardcore Binge Watcher… You can sense it: you’re binge watching some show, and along comes a story line that makes you say, “I’ve seen this before…” Because you have… in a half-dozen other series… in the past year. They’re plot twists relied on by TV writers […]

Ask Freddy: Is My Copywriting Portfolio Too Long?

January 23, 2016

Missions

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Professor; photo by Beatriz Pérez Moya on Unsplash… Q: Dear Freddy: What’s a good length for my copywriting portfolio? Right now it’s 20 pages, which feels long, but it’s 6 writing samples, and most are multiple pages. Is that too long? – K in L.A.

Apple iPad Pro & Pencil Review: An Artist’s Take

November 18, 2015

Materialism

Posted by XDL

by XDL, Filmmaker… In filmmaking, we have the deadly production triangle: cheap, fast and good. If you’re lucky, you get two — usually at the sacrifice of the third. You can have cheap and fast, but it won’t be good. You can have good and fast, but it won’t be cheap. You can have cheap […]

“Authentically” Wrong: More Abuse of the A-Word

March 2, 2014

7 Comments

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

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?

The Walking Dead: The Only Thing Missing Is Fear Itself

January 26, 2014

2 Comments

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Aficionado of Undead Entertainment… I love the adrenaline-fueled rush of a good scare… provided it’s pure fiction. (The Republican National Convention is too creepy to bear.) Unfortunately, most American horror movies and TV shows indulge in torture and gore more than in actual chills and thrills. Or […]

The Unparalleled World-Class Mission-Critical Hero: Words Sucked Dry In Business

July 4, 2013

6 Comments

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

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 […]

Pullin’ a Godin: Behold the Cheeseburger POV

March 14, 2010

Marketing, Media

5 Comments

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Practicing Metaphor Engineer… Looks like it’s over for us marketing strategists. Now I’m not saying there’s no more need for marketing strategy. If you look at the anemic brands of most banks, airlines, and Web 2.0 startups, you’ll see that the need for marketing is growing […]

Expressing My Inner TURFgeek: How I Became a Professional Sportswriter for a Day

July 7, 2009

Missions

7 Comments

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC Somebody my size with my athletic ability doesn’t play for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Picture an over-caffeinated chicken on a greased trampoline. It’s just not in my genetic cards. So I did the next best thing: I wrote a bad-ass essay about the team. Actually […]

Why I Won’t Get a PhD: Exhibit 1A

May 28, 2009

Media, Missions

7 Comments

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + PhD Conscientious Objector… 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…

Must Read: Dan Neil Tattoos Christian Audigier

April 29, 2009

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Doesn’t Own Ed Hardy Anything… 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 […]

Soccer Moms Voted Off The Island For Jumping The Shark: 10 Odd American Expressions You Should Know

October 28, 2008

4 Comments

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Part-Time Shark Jumper… Although Americans don’t manufacture much anymore, we still excel at making media, including entertainment and news. We give good hype, and the Internet brings it to the rest of the world 24/7. One problem: all this unfiltered Yankee content poses a linguistic challenge […]

The Young Professor: How To Get Published

May 18, 2008

Missions

10 Comments

Posted by Freddy Tran Nager

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + No Longer a Young Professor… Dear Young Professor: Congratulations, you’ve been hired by a Top 20 business school… well, it WAS a Top 20 business school, but you know how these things go. So let’s just say, congrats, you’ve got a job with health insurance! But […]

Dan Neil: Your Automotive Word Slut

April 16, 2008