Sometimes, marketing is beautifully simple

I was walking up a street in San Francisco, and I saw the most brilliant, simple marketing I've encountered in a long time. On the sidewalk, in front of a rug store, was a nice, big rug. You had to walk over it to walk down the street.

This is sheer genius. Okay, you are going to have to replace the rug once in a while, as it gets dirty. But how many times have you passed by a store on foot, and not really noticed it, or what it was selling, or what it was called, or anything like that?

Everyone -- everyone -- who walked down this street knew instantly:
1) That this store was there
2) What it sold

People noticed this rug from halfway down the block. Against a grimy city sidewalk, a nice, big, red Oriental rug really stands out.

We all have a tendency to overcomplicate, particularly marketing. This rug was a vivid reminder that sometimes, perhaps usually, good marketing is simple marketing.