Hilarious story from Ernie about setting up his mom’s new computer. My favorite part:

Ernie: And here you go. Look, it even has Yahoo! Taiwan on the front page! You don’t even have to type anything.
Mom: I don’t want Yahoo!. I want the one with the butterflies.

“The one with the butterflies,” of course, is MSN.com, the service she had when my parents were on dial-up.

Ernie: But Mom, I work for Yahoo!. You know that, right? That I work for Yahoo!? See that link to your left? Mom, I WORKED ON THAT.
Mom: Yes, I know. But the butterflies, they are so colorful!
Ernie: The site is in English. MSN Taiwan doesn’t even look right on Safari with big fonts. Are you going to be using the page at all?
Mom: Change it to the butterflies!
Ernie: …

Ah, yes. For probably 90% of the population, it doesn’t matter which option (search engine or otherwise) works better. It’s about the butterflies. Or whatever quirk/pizazz/nuance your brand holds.

I love the butterflies. (Well, okay - not these butterflies. But the role they play. The quirk they add.)