I can't explain it or rationalize it or quantify it. I just know I laughed really hard when I first landed on this site and couldn't wait to show it to other people.

That doesn't happen very often.

Unfortunately, Chewy's Flikr account got deep-sixed yesterday, so all of his hilarious photos are now gone. The site only has today's post on display. Too many hotlinks or some nonsense.

Sad, sad, sad. I wish you could have seen it before the photo dump. Hopefully, it'll all be back soon.

How is this relevant to branding or marketing, I hear you cry? Good question. I'll tell ya:

1) I serendipitously ran into this old post from John Moore's Brand Autopsy blog today, and it kind of put Chewy's site in perspective for me:

"I must receive at least 10 pitch letters/packages a week from advertising agencies extolling why they are the best agency in the land and that we should work with them to develop marketing campaigns that get results.

One such pitch letter intrigued me -- not because it was remarkable, but because it was so unremarkable.

This particular pitch letter was 100% cookie-cutter. Nothing in the letter was customized to appeal to me. No mention of key issues that my company faces. No mention of the challenges facing us in the age of parity and commoditization. (Note to ad agencies … sending out “cookie-cutter come-ons” is not going to get my attention.)

In unremarkably remarkable fashion, the pitch began this way:

John, over the past several months I¹ve sent you a number of things in the mail hoping to stimulate a conversation about my company, and our approach to marketing.
Let’s stop right there.

If this agency can’t capture my attention (which after sending me numerous pitch packages, they obviously haven't), then how will they capture the attention of our customers?"

The point: Chewy caught my attention, made me laugh, and made me come back.

To be fair, I doubt that Chewy could sell me anything, but he caught my attention... which is already a pretty good start.

Chewy: 1
Cookie-cutter ad agencies: 0


2) Flikr could have capitalized on this. Instead, they decided to play it corporate.

a) Wrong decision.
b) Wrong way to handle the problem.
c) I don't think there needs to be a c) at this point.

Kind of reminds me of that whole FedEx incident a few months ago.

When will people learn?


3) Apparently, Chewy lives in Greenville, SC, so I can't help but feel a bit of hometown pride.


So anyway... What I learned from Chewy today is simply this: Be remarkable. Be funny. Be relevant. Be unique. Unless you're at least one of these things, you're dead in the water.

Wookies sure are smart.