OBD - Obsessive Branding Disorder
The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion
By: Lucas Conley
Published: Jun 2, 2008
ISBN: 9781586484682
Format: Hardcover, 288pp
Publisher: Public Affairs
Branding offers a unique example of a business philosophy that has jumped the tracks, barreling through popular culture unchecked, writes Lucas Conley in his important and thought provoking book OBD - Obsessive Branding Disorder: The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion. In a society where everything and everyone is being branded, writes the author, the concept has been diluted at best or turned into a quick fix panacea at worst.
Lucas Conley demonstrates how branding as part of a marketing strategy has usurped center stage in many organizations, and has very often replaced innovative thinking itself. In the short term thinking, and fast executive turnover that permeates many public and private organizations today, branding has become a substitute for innovative research and development, customer service, and process development. Instead of real improvements to a product or service, money is spent on the cosmetic coating applied in the form of a brand name. The results, according to Lucas Conley, have been disappointing for many organizations.
Lucas Conley (photo left) makes a compelling case about the limitations of branding as a business strategy. He sees branding used by many organizations as an easy to apply substitute for traditional long term business development practices. The author says that instead of addressing the real issues facing a product or service, branding is used to sweep the problem under a rug. While the branding solution may be even intended overtly as an illusion for the customer, it very often becomes a mirage for the organization as well. A brand is a promise, and is too often over promising and under delivering, causing even more demands on brands to make good on their word.
For me, the power of the book is its open and honest assessment of the over reliance on branding as a solution to organizational problems. Instead of examining the real issues facing the organization or company, the hasty application of a brand campaign is the default solution. Very often, that expenditure in time and money is wasted and is counterproductive, resulting in loss of brand image. The modern trend toward personal branding also comes under scrutiny, and it too very often backfires as a tactic, with disastrous results. Presented with wit and an eye for telling details, the book is an eye opener for managers everywhere.
I highly recommend OBD - Obsessive Branding Disorder: The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion by Lucas Conley to anyone who takes the concepts of marketing and the brand promise seriously. The potential success and failure of a brand focused campaign could be examined and reevaluated as a result.
Read OBD - Obsessive Branding Disorder: The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion by Lucas Conley, and change the way you think about personal, business, product, and organizational branding. The brand you save may be your own.
