[Reposted due to database problem]

After a weekend jaunt to lovely San Diego, late last night my husband and I arrived back in Los Angeles tired and hungry, so we walked the small handful of blocks to a local all-night diner to grab a quick bite to eat. And it was there that we were smacked in the face with an example of unusual branding, to say the least.

We live in a neighborhood that is about as historic as you can find in L.A. -- 1920s-era homes and quaint shopfronts for small businesses that cater to everyone from folks like us to the elderly who live in the retirement homes on the opposite side of the shopping district. And it was one store catering to this population of older citizens that had my husband and myself in hysterics when we should have been concentrating on finding some grub.

You might think a shop selling wheelchairs would have it easy in such a neighborhood -- huge target audience planted right there, a captive audience if you will. And you'd be right. So maybe branding isn't so important for a shop like this, right? Wrong.

What stood out about this shop for me was an oversized poster in the window promoting a new model of wheelchair ... complete with a grumpy, overweight bulldog planted right in the middle of it.

Sure, it's lovely that the dog's fanged underbite finally got the recognition it deserved, but the photo overshadowed any credibility the store might otherwise have had in terms of their expertise in finding less-able people the right wheelchair for their needs. Why? Because apparently, they also help pedigreed pooches do the same.

Of course I say this in jest, but use this as a lesson for your own marketing materials -- whether a simple website, a brochure or even just your business card, are you branding yourself the way you want to be perceived by your customers? Use this tail -- I mean, tale -- and see if there's anything you can improve in your own branding.