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

"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." 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." 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." Douglas Rushkoff, author of "Get Back in the Box" "The disease is real. Here's a cure."

The world is more branded than ever before: Americans encounter anywhere between 3,000 and 5,000 ads a day, and increasingly brands vie for our attention from insidious angles that target our emotional responses (scent, taste, sound, and touch). In an ever-faster, more competitive global landscape, branding, or identity-making, has begun to replace the research and development of yore. From the fertile crescent of branding (Cincinnati) to the laboratories of sensory specialists (musicologists, and "noses"), Lucas Conley investigates the phenomenon of rampant commercialism (often backed by little substance), offering an illuminating portrait of an age of obsession.