It’s a funny thing. As humans we’d never walk outside in a t-shirt that reads, “I love sports.” Not even the more narrow view of “I love basketball.” We choose teams, we express opinions, we provide meaningful beliefs that people care about in one way or another. This is how we bond with the human race, especially those who share our passion. But, metaphorically speaking, businesses routinely walk outside wearing shirts that say, “I love sports.” The truth is no one cares. It is not possible to effectively brand the predictable, forgettable, and meaningless. You can’t brand broad. But the more specific you get with your belief system, the more people will care. And why say anything if no one will care? You’re better off repeating your name as much as possible in the hopes that recall will make your message the least bit worthwhile. Do you love sports, or do you have a team? Do you wear a shirt saying, “We support all children,” or do you commit to a specific partnership of meaningful value to you, and to someone else? Do you have specific reasons for saying what you say, doing what you do, and believing what you believe? Where do you fall on the “I Don’t Care” Meter? I DON’T CARE We’re friendly We’re knowledgeable We’ve been in business since 1950We’re experienced We value our customers We’re family-owned We’re fast We save you money We offer a guarantee We’re different We’ll never ask you for your email address, here’s why We rarely have to do returns or exchanges, here’s why We’ve used the last six decades to perfect how you’ll feel when you leave, here’s why We believe that doing the same thing over and over makes us different, here’s why We meet every Friday to think of new ways to make you smile, here’s why We met Joey and decided to sponsor his Little League team, here’s why We don’t drag our feet, here’s why We’ve spent eight years determining how to outprice everyone else, here’s why We’ll never allow a buying decision to ruin your day, here’s why We believe every child with Down Syndrome deserves a champion, here’s why I CARE ~Lori