Branding Blog: I love the story about Rita’s Candy Shoppe! I work with lots of very small retailers. Their fear of doing something different keeps them small and keeps them in the shadow of the Wal-Marts of the world. They don’t need an inside champion for their idea. They need the courage to step up and do something different. Do you have a magic word for them or a medal of courage?

Seth Godin: It’s a lot of work to run a store. A lot of risk. A lot of money for rent and staff and ads and signage. You need to be there a lot, and you need to worry about theft and shrinkage and competition and insurance and Walmart and and and…

So, after doing all that, WHY ON EARTH BE BORING? After taking all that insane risk and doing all that excessive work, why blow it all because you’re afraid to put up a ridiculous window display for a day or afraid to have your cashiers dress funny or afraid to give people a discount because they’re cute…

I think sometimes we mix up the battering we get from the daily grind with the battering we MIGHT get for being too remarkable. The retailers who have the most fun and who make the most money are the ones that do remarkable stuff.

The best part is that most of the time, the Free Prize is just that… Free.