Core Messaging - Why Should I Care?

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.

The Sweet Smell of Success

Throughout the book Conley provides myriad examples of successful campaigns that underscore the power of effective branding.   Marketers and business owners can learn a lot about both the ethics of branding and how to use it to their profit potentials by reading OBD.

My favorite anecdote is that of Charmin’s traveling toilet, a.k.a. the “Potty Palooza”.  There is something intriguing about a road commode that speaks to both my creative and leisurely selves.  Charmin became the main attraction at one annual festival and a crowd favorite by using this branding strategy at events ranging from state fairs to the Super Bowl itself.

Most companies do not provide unique or special products and in order to compensate for their lack of innovation they brand and rebrand their products and services on a continual basis.  This provides them with distinction in a crowded and competitive marketplace.  The traveling toilet has had its itinerary scaled back dramatically, but Proctor & Gamble continues to introduce new images and strategies in order to ingrain Charmin into consumers’ minds.

Stale Products

One of the author’s primary concerns centers around the impact that obsessive branding has on product improvement initiatives.  OBD demonstrates how modern businesses have abandoned the research and development needed to foment innovation that meets consumers’ needs in order to fund ever increasing branding costs.

The example of name brand snacks competing with store brands on “big box” retail shelves reveals how national companies must constantly find new and better ways to attain customer loyalty in the face of less expensive versions of commoditized products such as potato chips and cereal.

With branding domination of quarterly profit strategies constantly marching forward, businesses tend to concentrate more and more on the quick impact that image and consumer identity can impart on their bottom lines.  The result is an ever increasing number of commoditized products in every market sector and fewer innovative features that bring real change in customer experiences.

What Is That Odor?

Conley also delves into existing and emerging branding methods that adversely impact people living in a dysfunctional society dominated by image and illusion.  Obsessive branding  has created a spiraling marketing culture that inundates every consumer whether they be watching television, reading periodicals, riding city buses or even using public restrooms.

While businesses have become less innovative with their products, marketers are generating boundless ways to intrude upon our daily lives - and even our privacy - in the quest for brand identity.  Barely perceptible auditory messages and the use of scents with powerful effect on emotions are being employed in the expanding battle to win our loyalty and dollars.  As technology advances, Conley warns that these and new branding methods will become more pervasive and more difficult to discern.

A Compelling and Informative Read

Conley has presented a compelling and complicated theory on modern marketing and how it impacts business, product development and culture.  Though some of the arguments he makes at the beginning of the book may seem contradictory, he has skillfully sewn the threads together to create a symmetrical and cohesive piece that fits and wears well.  I highly recommend that marketers, business owners and consumers read OBD and contemplate what it portends for their own prospects and for the future of society at large. 

Available through Amazon.com.