So, it’s a really amusing, intense story that you can’t possibly have the time, energy, or frame of reference to appreciate, but okay. In 2001, I bought a coffeehouse in Hamtramck, MI, an unimaginably diverse blue collar enclave held in a sturdy headlock by Detroit.

It was tough-going at first. Being the client is HARD. And I soon developed an intense affinity for every client I’d struggled with—especially their irrational need to SAY EVERYTHING! in an ad. But after a short while of asking folks if they’d seen my ads in the local free papers (plural) and getting blank stares, I knew I needed to switch up my approach. Buying bigger ads wasn’t an option, so I began to follow my old advice. By focusing on one thing at a time (okay, sometimes one-and-a-half) in my ads, people began to register them, and figure out exactly what I was doing with the place and what I was about. In short, a brand.

The Brand Relationship is real. I’ve lived it. And I learned that it’s not about being clever or fancy: it’s about being true to what you care about, and being repaid with customer loyalty (and ideally, customer money.) I care about community, providing a platform, being good to one another, and making something unexpected and irresistible. That’s what The Break was, to its guts.

Thinking this deeply about branding set me on a new path after I moved on from The Break. You see it in the work I did for the late (great) Circuit City’s Firedog Tech Support service.