Brand identity consultants are often the most critiqued of all in the communications business. Those unaware of the process and the complexity involved, ridicule these firms on the basis that they charge the earth for a few colors and squiggles.
Here's a nice YouTube film by Moving Brands that gives us an accelerated look at the depth and breadth of the work it did to develop a new identity system for Swisscom.
great explanation of a complex subject - thanks Ed