Obsessive Branding Disorder
Published March 30th, 2006
Branding is the self-help industry of corporate America. Sure, it may be difficult to admit–perhaps even a bit embarrassing–but let’s face it: Both branding and self-help have experienced booming growth over the past decade, seemingly in reaction to rising levels of personal and professional insecurity. Both fields are populated with self-anointed experts. And both seem to follow the same publishing principal: The less there is to say, the more literature there must be.
Like Peter Pan, determined to stitch his own shadow to himself lest it get away, executives are obsessed with branding their companies. It’s metastasized to encompass every aspect of business, from logos to supply-chain management, and every nook and cranny of our society. Pest Control magazine implored its readers last year to “make your customers ask for you by your name.” The jewelry trade publication Jewelers’ Circular Keystone declared, “Branding fever has overtaken the industry.” Even the mental health field is getting in the game. Jay Wang, an assistant professor of marketing at Purdue University, has cautioned mental health practitioners to ease up on words like “depression,” “anxiety,” and “schizophrenia,” which “make developing a brand more of a challenge.” Mental health services, he says, could benefit from a change to behavioral health services.
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