“Untitled by Anonymous: An Ode to Branding”
by Steven Kroeter, Design Observer
Branding received a thorough thrashing in Lucas Conley’s 2008 book, Obsessive Branding Disorder. In the discussions that followed its publication, there were those who agreed with him (see Obsessive Branding Disorder I) and those who disagreed (see Obsessive Branding Disorder II). Conley himself seems conflicted. Ironically, in the biography that he includes at the end of his book he ends up demonstrating his identification (obsession?) with branding. Twenty of the 46 words in his biography are brand names. In listing his professional experiences he names The Atlantic Monthly, Fast Company, The Boston Globe and ESPN: The Magazine. You would think that an author so riled by branding might instead want to take a stand against it, maybe forgoing the biography; maybe naming the book “Untitled” or attributing it to “Anonymous.” But perhaps he found that “Untitled” and “Anonymous” were brand names already trademarked by others!
Ultimately, the primary takeaway from the debate that was generated by Conley’s book is that there’s a lot of confusion about the concept of branding: what it is; what its history is; and what its value is.
[read article]
Notes