OBD: The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion - Hardcover

"Boston Globe," August 3, 2008 "Tartly written.... [Obsessive Branding Disorder] is instructive, even entertaining.... Conley is a keen observer and a trenchant critic.... [A] timely call to arms." Andrew Keen, author of "THE CULT OF THE AMATEUR: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture" "Lucas Conley has exposed how the ubiquity of advertising assaults us in today's always-on society. While products and innovation suffer, the cacophony grows. As both a parent and a media critic this is the most important book I've read on the dangers of our brand-obsessed culture. We all have a responsibility to read this book." Rohit Bhargava, SVP, Ogilvy Digital Strategy & Marketing and author of "Personality Not Included" "Contrary to what most marketers would have you believe, better branding is not always the answer. Lucas Conley brilliantly examines our branding obsessed age and offers an urgent call for a return to innovation, authenticity and quality every business should heed." Douglas Rushkoff, author of "Get Back in the Box" "The disease is real. Here's a cure."

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.