OBD: Obsessive Branding Disorder – The Illusion of Business and The Business of Illusion (Perseus Books Group, 2008) by Lucas Conley takes us through a revealing, instructive and entertaining examination of branding’s dominance in the world of marketing and how it permeates our daily lives.

As the title suggests Conley argues that obsessive branding and it saturation into the field of marketing can generate negatives for businesses and society as a whole.  However, the author also points out the effectiveness of creative branding and how it can help companies rise above the noise of thousands of products that share seemingly similar traits and benefits.  In that way, this book is instructive to both consumers and to marketers.

Creating collateral materials can be an expensive proposition when producing first generation items such as flyers, brochures and letterhead.  When producing materials for new lines or start-up companies, budgets can be tight and marketing may not be adequately developed to justify large print runs.