TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Deciphering The Importance Of Branding

ADVERTISEMENT

By RICHARD PACHTER McClatchy Newspapers

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 13, 2008

"Obsessive Branding Disorder: The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion" by Lucas Conley; PublicAffairs, 288 pages ($22.95).

Lucas Conley is on a quest, but he's not necessarily seeking enlightenment - more like bemusement, it would seem.

The author begins by pointing out that some Japanese women so value Louis Vuitton goods that they forgo motherhood so they can afford to purchase the expensive handbags. From there, Conley looks at the virtual cults that have grown around some brands and how their corporate progenitors are working overtime to create and spread new ones.

Though he's a bit outraged at the endemic materialism evidenced in the deification of consumer goods, Conley manages to report the proceedings seriously.

He is a deft journalist and asks a lot of good questions. Conley is suitably skeptical of such things as product placement (alleged) in James Patterson novels, corporate-sponsored "grass roots" movements and personal branding by marketing guru Tom Peters and other less notable individuals who want to be recognized and celebrated more than they probably deserve to be.

Conley sees branding as an illusion, a trick, a way to conceal, mislead and seduce.

Of course that's all true, but the opposite is the other side of the coin (so to speak). Some brands are real, or at least they evoke reality.

The difference might be negligible.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT