Branding And The Sixth Toe.

Last week a shoe retailer called out of the blue and said he’d like to “brainstorm” what made his brand different.

That should have been my first clue -- that he wanted to dream up a differentiator instead of identifying one based on facts and competitor research. “But research takes time and costs money,” he argued, adding that most shoe stores provide the same customer service. “We need to come up with something fresh and zingy. The younger generations like that kind of stuff.”

“Takes time and costs money” was my second clue.

The word “zingy,” the third.

I might send him this cat image.

Actually, it’s a polydactyl cat if you look long and hard enough.