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

A successful brand creates a positive association in a customer's mind, sells a promise, and tells a story about who we are. The virtues of creating brand identity to attract product sales have been acknowledged for decades. But branding-once considered a helpful, rather than necessary flourish-has assumed status in today's world as a key ingredient to winning business.

America pours upwards of $300 billion dollars into branding every year. On any given day, each of us is bombarded by betwee...