It would not have surprised me if Luis Conley had named this book after the CNN show, “American Greed”. Through the course of reading Obsessive Branding Disorder, I have seen many illustrations and stories that made me think that branding was used as a cover up for branding owners rapacious desire for wealth. For instance, when the movie Chronicles of Narnia hit the scene, Disney utilized religion by offering pastors a chance to win a trip to Europe or $1,000 for mentioning the movie title from the pulpit. Likewise, an online casino offers a woman $15,100 for naming her child after the company, Goldenpalace.com. These are just two examples in this book in which money hogs (branding owners) utilizes branding as a means for their greed. Conley uses these extreme examples to further his point that even though consumers haven’t warmed to the majority of brand’s efforts, there are still some mainstream examples of branded entertainment that is finding its niche with audiences. I clearly agree with Conley that such extremes are sobering indications that ad creep and product placement have so polluted our cultural landscape that they have warped fundamental social and cultural institutions. For this reason, I feel that the Disney strategy to utilize pastors in the pulpit to advertise is an example of a branding obsession. On the other hand, the casino offering money to a woman to name her child Goldenpalace.com is just an idiotic and senseless act. Though Conley berates the extremes of branding, he fails to know at which point branding is no longer considered branding, but rather some foolish cognitive elapse by money hogs.
Conley reveals branding as the all-in-one ideology that encompasses everything from advertising, position...
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...te TV shows, leaving us no way out of this branding obsession.
Conley’s perspective of companies in America is that branding is becoming comparable to a religion or cult that is leading to the dereliction of honest and moral principles pertaining to business in favor of branding idealism. He rebukes top management for becoming more fastened on the muscle of the all-encompassing idea “the brand”, that they turn their heads to the tangible properties that construct it. In other words, why mess with expensive upgrades when a spiffy physical makeover will work just as well for a small cost.
Conley views corporate America as the cause of these branding obsession disorders. Especially, when branding is seen as swift, alluring and relatively cheap. It’s about image, impression, and positioning. Branding offers the satisfaction of a sense of change without the hard work.
Consumerism is the idea that influences people to purchase items in great amounts. Consumerism makes trying to live the life of a “perfect American” rather difficult. It interferes with society by replacing the normal necessities for life with the desire for things with not much concern for the true value of the desired object. Children are always easily influenced by what they watch on television. Swimme suggests in his work “How Do Kids Get So Caught Up in Consumerism” that although an advertiser’s objective is to make money, the younger generation is being manipulated when seeing these advertisements. Before getting a good understanding of a religion, a child will have seen and absorbed at least 30,000 advertisements. The amount of time teenagers spend in high school is lesser than the amount of advertisement that they have seen (155). The huge amount of advertisements exposed to the younger generation is becomi...
Although they are regarded by many as threatening to our health, destructive to our environment and corrupting our children, brands are an important part of the postindustrial commercial life.2 Many recent books have been chanting an anti-brand rhyme: Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation (2001), François Dufour and José Bové’s The World is Not for Sale (2001), and most importantly, Naomi Klein’s No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies (2000). But still, brands are everywhere: “products, people, countries and companies are all racing to turn themselves into brands — to make their image more likeable [sic] and understandable.”3 Madonna, Canada, Starbucks, Martha Stewart, The European Union, Microsoft are all selling the greatness of being alive, surrounded by their music, culture, coffee, craft, money, software, etc.
Advertisements thrust products and services at consumers that they deem necessary in order to be loved, beautiful, happy, and fulfilled. Without these “necessities,” we feel judged, out casted and criticized. These possessions, however, make us self-loathing. Subsequently, we lose our sense of significance and find it hard to accept love and friendship from the people surrounding us. People begin to evade meaningful relationships and commitments—choosing instead to fill the personal hollowness with a display of power they attain from their material possessions. The society we live in reduces us to things; it diminishes our personal relations and portrays connections as transactions, only advisable if there is something to gain. These ideas can be found within John Kavanaugh’s book, Following Christ in a Consumer Society, in which Kavanaugh creates a name for the American way of life--the "Commodity Form." The Commodity Form values products, marketing, and consuming while promoting strategic manipulation that more possessions equate to increased happiness. Within the Commodity Form, people are seen as “replaceable and marketable” objects (Kavanaugh 26)...
More important than product, people, and advertising, branding is going forward as one of the most important factors in a business. While Klein has a bias against branding and wishes the reader a word of warning, in this specific essay she focuses on what branding means for the future. Klein starts off her minor claims with the bloating of corporations. “A consensus emerged that corporations were bloated, oversized; they owned too much, employed too many people, and were weighed down by too many things (Klein 769).” Through the use of branding, these same businesses could cut down all of their problems and payrolls through importing and simply putting their brand name on the product. Then when the dreaded “Marlboro Friday” happened, and it seemed that all brand significance was for naught, Klein showed us examples of businesses that thrived from a new age of marketing. “For these companies, the ostensible product was mere filler for the real production: the brand (Klein 774).” With brand driven marketing rather than product driven sales, businesses soared with selling the idea of their products more than their products quality. Using the example of Starbucks, Klein also supports her claims of branding not through marketing but weaving its name into products and culture. “The Starbucks coffee chain was also expanding during this period spinning its name into a wide range of branded projects: Starbucks airline coffee, office coffee, coffee ice cream, coffee beer (Klein 775).” By spreading its name not through marketing, but through spreading the brand through new and different products Starbucks found success in turning their brand concept into a virus and sending it through cultural sponsorship, political controversy, consumer experience and brand extensions. These forms of image building could make a company like Starbucks successful with branding over
Increasing awareness of a personal and unique identity distinguishes us from the pack. A brand mantra differs from a tagline, explains Guy Kawasaki, as a mantra describes internal business, a standard for a company to abide by. A tagline is for customers and what they can expect to be delivered (Martinuzzi, 2014). John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing defines branding "the art of becoming knowable, likable and trustable” (Martinuzzi, 2014). Many specialists on the subject agree that trust building is essential in success. Being honest is one of the top five steps Forbe’s advises when it comes to brand building (Biro, 2013). Some suggestions to follow from, How to Build an Unforgettable Personal Brand (2014) include, making sure customers are provided what is promised, leading with unwavering quality and being consistent in making good on one’s word. The article also warns that the public will assign a default brand if a
If companies wanted to be successful in the marketplace, then they needed to understand the idea that their true product was not their product, but a lifestyle and the meaning of life itself. This is lifestyle branding. This philosophy explains why we see products internationally and specifically marketed toward teens and young adults. Lifestyle branding is why we are hearing more and more of sweatshops, “McJobs”, and the quality of the product diminishing. Nearly every corporation in America has been McDonaldized: where companies sacrifice individualization in employees and quality products for cheap, mass-produced, assembly line production. The promise of choice seems to ironically create less choice. No logo is the spirit of anti-corporate resistance. The process of branding in its simplest form is
“Dior Addict” was in a comparatively formal font, whereas “Be Iconic” was in a casual hand-written type font. The slogan which placed on top took away roughly one-third of the whole screen. The position of “Dior Addict” was on top, which size was much bigger than “Be Iconic”, and “Be Iconic” was placed right below “Dior Addict.” Two contrasting fonts show how the “way” to be iconic. “Dior Addict” shows the elegance of the brand “Dior;” it associates Dior users are all elegant; “Be Iconic” makes the users stand out particularly from the other users. By seeing the slogan as a whole, “Dior Addict Be Iconic” is selling the idea of using Addict series perfume automatically makes the person unique. As Jack Solomon argues in his article “Master of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising,” saying “...[America’s great myth of equality] also lures us to achieve social distinction, to rise above the crowd and bask alone in the glory” (167). Equality has always been believed as one of the most essential qualities in order to build the America society in a piece, but advertisers also encourage individualism on the other extreme. Receivers are trapped in a paradox of going both North and South poles;
• Gifford, Jr., Dun, “Brand Management: Moving Beyond Loyalty”, Harvard Business Review, March-April 1997, pp.9-10.
In every given business, the name itself portrays different meanings. This serves as the reference point and sometimes the basis of customers on what to expect within the company. Since personality affects product image (Langmeyer & Shank, 1994), the presence of brand helps in the realization of this concept. Traditionally, brand is a symbolic manifestation of all the information connected with a company, product, or service (Nilson, 2003; Olin, 2003). A brand is typically composed of a name, logo, and other visual elements such as images, colors, and icons (Gillooley & Varley, 2001; Laforet & Saunders, 1994)). It is believed that a brand puts an impression to the consumer on what to expect to the product or service being offered (Mere, 1995). In other application, brand may be referred as trademark, which is legally appropriate term. The brand is the most powerful weapon in the market (LePla & Parker, 1999). Brands possess personality in which people associate their experience. Oftentimes, they are related to the core values the company executes.
This paper argues why both brand identity and packaging are vital to a successful marketing strategy, and that they are more powerful intertwined, than as two separate elements.
It has become impossible to avoid marketing and branding. Everywhere a consumer turns, they are being persuaded and influenced by all sorts of symbols, logos, slogans etc. These aspects of a brand create the culture we live in. “The effect, if not always the original intent, of advanced branding is to nudge the hosting culture into the background and make the brand the star. It is not to sponsor culture but to be the culture.” 30 no logo. Humanity has become one large sponsored event, making it impossible in order to escape.
Retailers are constantly breathing behind consumer’s necks to persuade the individual that their brand is the best. In a result, these retailers are hoping the shopper will give in, buy the product(s), tell another friend about the brand, and push them to buy/show off the name. It is an ongoing and viscous cycle for individuals to keep their self-image updated with society. Moreover, the pressure to be accepted by others is influenced by buying a name brand item to avoid a negative response from peers. Jim Guest, author of Consumers and Consumerism in America Today, explains “In the current economic climate, consumers are constantly pressured to buy expensive, often unnecessary products and serves, and to live beyond their means” (148). A major reason for the overconsumption of brands are due to the popularity of brand ambassadors. As consumerism continues to grow, companies are becoming smarter and smarter; they will hire celebrities to endorse their brands and create an image of superiority for others to follow. To name a few examples, LeBron James, a professional basketball player, is endorsed by Nike; Carl’s Jr., a famous fast food chain, displays ads with beautiful models in bikinis eating their burgers; Kim Kardashian, a famous celebrity and fashion mogul, has endorsed Skechers sneakers. These are a few big named celebrities that
A brand can be described as the sentiments people have regarding a product offered in the marketplace; however, it is not the name, logo or the symbol of a product. The brand is an expectation which individuals have for as establishment’s commodities or amenities. Branding is defined as the process of producing reactions and impression between the business and the consumers of the products they offer. It is commanded by the audience, and an establishment has no control over what the consumer's perception of the commodities. In the marketplace, branding commands the reputation that a business produces for itself. The content which I have selected to concentrate on developing in this paper will take a comprehensive analysis of the brand “Coca-Cola.”
An empowering sign of modern day society includes the famous golden arch symbol of the grand francise, McDonalds. According to an article, McDonald’s spent over $978 million on advertising in 2013 (Statista, par. 1). McDonald’s is just a big chunk of the 40,000 advertisments that children and adolescents see on TV in a year alone (Strasburger, par. 1). Advertisments have been essentially known as a marketing strategy to improve sales, but has now become a way to mask away the reality of issues. Research shows that, “markets spend over $500 billion a year towards advertising… The average 65 year old in the U.S. would have seen an estimated two million television commercials within their life span” (“55 Interesting Facts About… Advertising”).
[1] Aaker, D.A. and Jacobson, R. (1996) Building Strong Brands. New York: The Free Press.