Music, film, and interactive media - that’s the menu at South by Southwest, one of the nation’s most anticipated annual festivals. OBD fans: Swing by the Interactive “panel picker” and vote for me to appear at next spring’s event. Voting closes tomorrow. Thanks for your vote!

(In the name of blocking voter fraud, a quick registration is required.)

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks promoting the book. Spent last week in sweltering NYC, running around Manhattan and speaking with various media outlets. I discovered some great programs in the process - more on those below. Before I get caught up in tour highlights, a heads up to all OBD readers: I’m currently scheduled to appear on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report this coming Monday, August 4th. Tune in and watch me get eaten alive! Better yet, send me your feedback (and hey, should you have any tips or suggestions in advance, I’m all ears).

Returning to last week’s NY mini-tour… The week kicked off with an hour-long studio interview with Tim Bennett and John Nash of XM radio’s “The Focus Group” (Mondays, 8-9 AM ET on XM’s “Take Five” - Channel 155). Smart guys - great discussion covering much of the book. The actual air date is pending - I’ll keep you in the loop.

Up next - www.BigThink.com - “a YouTube for ideas.” Really cool; give it a look (great profile in the New York Times [sub. req.]). BigThink adopts an unusual and intriguing format - kind of a new-media cocktail of documentary-style film making, online broadcasting, and, as the name implies, compelling soapbox topics. Think old-school Fast Company meets YouTube. (The first thing my agent said when I told him about it: “Interesting. Is there a book about it yet?”)  Actors, authors, senators—the site features big ideas from all corners of media, politics, art, entertainment, and more. For a good example of what it’s about, check out this great feature package on “The Bleak Future of the Internet,” including perspective from Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales, the CEO of Netscape, and others. I’ll put out the word when they upload my bit on OBD.

Wrapping up the week on Friday, I drove up to New London, CT, to meet with John Troland, the creator and host of Business Beat Live. An accountant by trade, Troland took up an interest in television 1994. Today, he’s syndicated in a number of US states and 17 other countries. John and I had an hour to speak about the book, and he even incorporated a number of questions about my Top 10 Overrated Brands list for the Boston Globe. Lively discussion. As with the others above, I’ll post once I hear when the show will air.

If you’re still reading, it’s time to move on… check this out.

The irony was inherent: In order to publish a book about Obsessive Branding Disorder, I would inevitably have to engage in a bit of branding myself. And indeed, even before the writing was done, the publicity effort had begun. Months from the launch of the book, agents, publishers, and publicists were already networking, brokering introductions, and currying favor in the media. Mock-ups of the jacket began filling my inbox, awaiting my feedback and approval. Had I reserved every imaginable Web address associated with the book? Were the new business cards—complete with the shiny red OBD logo—ready to send out with the advance reader proofs? What about the blog—was I going to build it myself or hand over the job to a designer? After a year-and-a-half cocooned in my home office, it was time for the voyeuristic journalist to metamorphosize into an exhibitionistic showman. But first, a word about the disorder…

In today’s brand-saturated culture, everything—and everyone—is susceptible to Obsessive Branding Disorder (OBD). Snow, oxygen, water, dirt—no matter how ubiquitous the “product,” today’s marketers will brand it. Sounds and smells are branded. People are too, be they celebrities, middle managers, or unborn children. Even branding itself comes in various branded flavors, from cult brands and Lovemarks to primal branding, passion branding, profit branding, and pirate branding. Weddings sponsored by liquor brands? Sure. Vatican-branded credit cards? Absolutely. Branding has become an obsessive disorder.

At their most elemental, brands are simple mental shortcuts to broader concepts. This has always been the case—from the maker’s mark on a prehistoric piece of pottery to the Apple logo on a glossy new iPod. But in recent years, as traditional media has splintered, branding has come unhinged from its principles. Once, brands rose from the bottom up, founded on quality products and services. Now the reverse is true: products and services are subject to top-down branding. And while brands are supposed to offer clarity, the intent of many of today’s branding campaigns is just the opposite—to confuse or fool consumers. Something fundamental has fallen out of order.

Of course, as I discovered in writing and promoting this book, brands and branding are unavoidable byproducts of how we live. It is difficult to imagine society without them. Not to say that some haven’t given it a shot. No Logo, Naomi Klein’s polemic against corporate brands? “A brand,” admits Klein, “in spite of itself.” Adbusters—the anti-consumerist magazine? Swing by the magazine’s “culture shop” to pick up Adbusters’ DVDs, calendars, and even a pair of sneakers—”for kicking corporate ass.” Like them or not, brands are a fact of life.

So it is that I introduce you to the book, the blog, and the brand called Obsessive Branding Disorder—irony and all. By drawing attention to the extent of OBD throughout society, it is my hope that we will be able to gain perspective on brands’ natural place in our lives and reclaim some of the order we’ve lost in the frenzy of branding that surrounds us. In the spirit of continuing to build the brand from the ground up, I welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions. And should you spot me at a book reading or a branding conference, I invite you pull me aside and introduce yourself. We can trade contact info. I’m serious—you really ought to get a look at these new business cards…