No, I am not suggesting I will go around your office tearing up brochures or ripping logo’s off the wall. Although that would be fun. The strictly theoretical question for you to answer is; is your brand still recognizable when you smash any part of your marketing collateral into pieces? This is what Coca-Cola set out to achieve when designing their now famous contour bottle, and they succeeded. Smashing the bottle into pieces, you are left with shards of the original, but recognizing it is still easy.

This smashing test is still widely used as a test of a good brand. More than just about your logo, a good brand is recognizable in any part of any design. That photo you used for the print ad? That headline you use in your search ads? The colors used on your website? Yes, they are all part of your brand. Can you still recognize the ad you put out, when you remove the logo and mentions of the brand?