OBD Obsessive Branding Disorder: The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion - Hardcover

Lucas Conley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1586484680 ISBN 13: 9781586484682

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2008

Synopsis

OBD Offers up a mirror of the world, questioning the nature of a national disorder, and the frightening costs it represents to all of us - ones financial and cultural - as branding initiatives creep closer to mimicking and replacing traditional forms of community. Full description

About this title

Review

"In this likeably acid take on the global business of "branding", financial reporter Conley travels to the industry's world capital, Cincinnati, Ohio, to listen in ironic puzzlement to the experts, and tells great anecdotes about the silly money spent on branding toilet papers, entire cities, and, increasingly, yourself. He has a serious message for commerce, too: companies are tempted to rebrand rather than developing better products, because the former is easier. And yet, Conley argues, branding doesn't really work (Coke and Pepsi spend millions on new products that flop): he argues, indeed, that when "inundated by junk, consumers simply stop listening".
-- The Guardian

Synopsis

This title presents a witty, trenchant investigation of a phenomenon that is shaping culture and business in unexpected, disturbing ways."Obsessive Branding Disorder" is a much-needed expose of a business disorder so rampant it has affected our entire culture. Blending trenchant analysis and insight with colourful reportage and humour, "Obsessive Branding Disorder" charts the shift from traditional advertising to the rampant rise of 'the brand'; examining how and why that change happened, and investigating what branding means for us: the often naive consumer.A business-initiative contingent upon consumer approval, branding in many ways determines our world on a daily basis; but in ways few of us have stopped to consider. In an unapologetic examination, Conley offers up a mirror of the branded world, questioning the nature of a national disorder, and the frightening costs it represents to all of us-ones financial and cultural-as branding initiatives creep ever closer to mimicking and replacing traditional forms of community.

About this edition

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1586484680
• ISBN 13: 9781586484682
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288