When it comes to brand identity, even some of the biggest companies fall flat. Case in point, Coca-Cola’s mid-eighties snafu, New Coke. If you aren’t old enough to remember that strange time, allow me to give a bit of a recap: we had a former b-list actor (featured in several 50s-era spaghetti westerns) as our president, fashion highlights included Jams, parachute pants, Ocean Pacific t-shirts, and lots of acid-washed, paint-splattered clothing, Dippity-Do hair gel was a staple for both men and women, every popular song was required, by law, to have a synthesizer and/or drum machine (see Flock of Seagulls, Tears For Fears, Berlin, the Eurhythmics, et al), hip-hop was still fun and “safe” and the spot for the coolest television show on air was a toss-up between Miami Vice and Knight Rider (yes, Hasselhoff was a god). It was a strange time, indeed. So strange, in fact, that the hands-down, number-one soft drink company in the world decided to abandon its original formula and its long-standing, globally-recognized brand to introduce a new keystone product with a “computer generated” talking head as its spokesperson. It was truly a branding disaster.

Coca-Cola’s biggest mistake was its failure to commit to its brand identity. It’s strange to think that a company with such a recognizable brand would ever fall into such a trap, but the reality is that most companies, at some point or another, struggle with embracing their brand identity. Why? Well, it’s simple: markets change, people get nervous, triggers get pulled. In the case of Coca-Cola, though it was on top in the world of soft drinks, it was being threatened by relatively-new-kid-on-the-block Pepsi Cola. Coke was struggling to compete with Pepsi’s newer, hipper branding strategy. There was a real need for adjustment. However, adjusting to a market and completely abandoning one’s brand identity are two entirely different beasts (and the former will almost always explode into an ugly mess). What Coca-Cola should have done (ah, hindsight) was to embrace its brand identity and innovate it, building on its existing strengths (namely, its position as one of the most recognized brands on the planet!) and invigorating its standing in the marketplace.

Embracing brand identity is key for success in any business. And no matter if you are refreshing an existing design or starting from scratch, whether you are a one-person show or have 100 employees, embracing brand identity cannot be a fickle act. The brand is as much a part of a business as the products that business sells. It may seem that branding is the easy part of running a successful company, but, as our friends at Coke taught us in the 80s, many businesses struggle with brand identity everyday. In terms of brand development, it becomes even harder. Brand development is oftentimes a tug-of-war between designers and company owners and executives over the myriad of details that go into the process. The smarter execs recognize their limitations and allow designers to do what they are trained to do. The greatest failures in marketing history happen when the opposite occurs.

What makes branding so hard for some business owners? Well, that’s really a question about trust. It’s the trust involved with turning over, what could be, their biggest investment to another individual to develop. It’s like handing over the keys to your house to a new acquaintance and saying, “Okay, make it pretty.” Granted, the branding process isn’t a blind endeavor; yet, no matter how much information a client gives to a designer or how involved he or she may be in the process, it can be truly hard to “let go” and trust the designer’s decisions.

But, trust is exactly what every business owner should do. If you’ve taken the time to research and find the right designer for you, entered into a contract with that designer, invested the time and energy in providing information to that designer and given the “okay” on the designer’s choices, then you should embrace those decisions and trust to the designer’s expertise in regard to your brand and all the design elements that accompany it. In other words, embrace your brand identity.

In a recent ezine article, “Embracing Your Brand,” Charen Smith notes that branding goes beyond marketing materials, but should be a part of every aspect of one’s business – that it needs to be a part of every aspect of the business. Smith writes:

To spread your brand you need to ensure that everything your company does is linked with that brand name. You need to get custom printing done to have letterheads on everything you send out. If someone gets something from anyone in your company you should be sure they’re going to see your brand name in a prominent position.

Smith makes an important point. Having a smart logo and a clean, sleek website aren’t enough when it comes to embracing your brand identity. Everything from the tag line to stationery to business cards needs to incorporate the brand on some level. Even seemingly banal things, such as the language of your website, need to incorporate this philosophy. For instance, if your brand is something fun and whimsical, then the language of your site should also be fun and whimsical. If your business is sleek and stylish, then, again, the language on your website – everything from your personnel bios to your blog – should be a reflection of that sleek and stylish element of your brand. This principle extends to every aspect of one’s business self or personae. It should appear in your personal style, the design of your work space, your letterhead and even, perhaps, your choices of where you hold business lunches. The more a business can incorporate the brand into the day-to-day, the more that brand becomes recognizable to clients and potential clients.

In another aspect of the process, you must EMBRACE YOUR NAME. It’s amazing how simple this concept appears on the surface, yet how difficult it becomes for a company to follow through. If your new brand identity is named “Surfing Unicorn” and indeed employs a unicorn on a Santa Cruz surfboard, cresting a “bitchin” wave, then you need to embrace that name to the fullest. Surfing Unicorn, LLC doesn’t need to have a bird as its logo. Nor does it need to be a simple, script logo. If you’ve signed off on “Surfing Unicorn” then, by golly, there needs to be a unicorn! (unless you’re going for irony, in which case there needs to be an ogre or, at the least, some play on  the idea of a surfing unicorn like one of those narwhal thingies that Norwegian fishermen thought that was a sea unicorn) Furthermore, every other aspect of your branding needs to be, in one way or another, an extension of that name. Surfing Unicorn, LLC needs to be communicated in everything from the tag line to the website to the stationery.

Once again, this all comes down to trust (though, if a design firm throws “Surfing Unicorn” your way, you can trust that somebody is either A) using illicit substances, B) out to destroy your business, or C) carries a Trapper Keeper … possibly with unicorns and kittens on it). When working with a design firm, trust to the fact that everyone involved in the development of your brand are individuals who are A) highly experienced in what they do, B) just as invested in the success of your company as you are and C) have a broader perspective of branding principles than you do. That’s why you hired them. These designers, illustrators, and copywriters are branding junkies . They live for this stuff. And what’s wonderful for the client is that they are applying all of that knowledge to create a look and feel for your business that is entirely unique to that business and are ensuring that your brand is something that clients will recognize as a relevant, quality and necessary part of their lives. Trust your designers. Trust your identity.

Tyrie Smith is the copywriter and editor for Luxecetera. He has worked in journalism, public relations and marketing for 10 years, none of which took place in the 80s (and that is really sad, because he like totally missed out on some bitchin’ professional fashion trends and like, ya know, could have totally been one of those gnarly marketing dudes with a Delorean and a rad Don Johnson sport coat).