Today I learned about Wikifeet, which is just like Wikipedia, with one big difference. Where Wikipedia has a range of in-depth articles on things like gift wrapping and Sam Kinison, Wikifeet only has pictures, and only of feet.
The feet on Wikifeet belong to celebrities, like Ilona Robelin and Trisha Paytas. If you’ve never heard of these two celebrities, don’t worry. Neither had I before today. But both Ilona and Trisha apparently have an IMDB page (a requirement for getting onto Wikifeet), and of course, they both have feet.
I learned about this today through a woman named Laura Bassett. Bassett, who is not a big celebrity but who does have an IMDB page, wrote an article about discovering her Wikifeet profile.
Finding a page dedicated to your own feet would probably be strange enough. But what was even more strange was that Bassett’s Wikifeet profile was always up-to-date. Each time Bassett posted a new photo to Instagram where her feet showed, a few minutes later, she found the same photo, uploaded to Wikifeet.
Mysterious.
So Bassett posted to Instagram, asking the foot poster to get in touch (“No shade, I just have questions”). And to her surprise, she got a response. Bassett’s foot admirer came out of the shadows, and was willing to publicly share his name — and so much more.
I won’t reprint the whole article, but here are a few key statistics about the man who came forward, Robert Hamilton:
1. Robert is 58 years old, and he lives in northern New Jersey.
2. He works as a salesman.
3. He loves the Yankees.
4. He is also a big fan of live music.
Basset had a Q&A with Robert, which is printed in the article. Robert revealed the key childhood events that led to his foot fetish. He explained what he looks for in a foot. He listed his favorite celebrity feet.
He also said he is aware his foot fixation on Internet strangers might make those strangers uncomfortable. And he’s willing to stop if asked. Otherwise, he doesn’t think he’s harming anybody.
Which leads me to something A-list copywriter Gary Bencivenga teaches.
Markets are problems, says Gary. And by problems, he means problems, wants, desires, or possibly, fetishes.
Gary’s point is not to get hung up on demographics. How many other Wikifeet posters are 58-year-old salesmen from New Jersey? Probably not many. And yet all Wikifeet posters share something powerful in common.
So Gary says to focus on writing to that common problem. And even better if you can write to a slice of that market that has a more urgent problem.
But that urgent part is another topic, for another time. Speaking of which:
If you have a problem, or a fetish, involving persuasion, marketing, and copywriting, you might like my email newsletter. It’s just like Wikipedia, except it’s a short email that arrives to your inbox each day. In case you’d like to try it out, here’s where to go.