Endorsement Marketing Lies

Hi guys, first time on the forum, I,ve been reading with interest. Re: endorsement marketing lies; having never considered it as important or at all I agree with what drumtechdad said. It's really up to the individual buying the equipment to be informed about the sound they want. Having admired lots of drummers for many years, never felt moved to purchase their brand.

Honestly, when a company grants an endorsement and puts that drummer in an add, they're not really planning on the public to buy that players exact set up or even anyone just buy their product JUST because so and so uses it.

What it does is create brand recognition and keeps that brand name in the eye of the buyers, and creates a certain level of trust that people understand that said brand is reliable.

Case in point, from any basic marketing class: Coke is biggest name in terms of global marketing for a soft drink. Coke could stop advertising, and people would still buy their product in droves. But they don't stop advertising, they continue to pour millions into advertising, even though they don't need to, because they want to KEEP their image over the long term.

Same thing with drums. Tama/Pear/DW whomever isn't really thinking thousands of people are going to buy a their kit just because Lars/Chambers/Peart/whomever uses them, but if you're looking at two products, and one is a brand name you know and recognize, and one isn't, you'll go with the name you've at least heard of before.

Ringo made Ludwig a household name. Pearl and Tama went from small obscure foreign brands to two of the biggest names in drums by getting name players to use their products. Ddrum went from a company who had never made an acoustic kit before to a brand many drummers now give serious consideration to when making a purchase by getting drummers with a high profile to use them. Meanwhile, dozens of small name brands have come and gone over the years without nearly as much success.
The endorsement game clearly works as a sales tool, or else companies wouldn't bother doing it.
 
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Honestly, when a company grants an endorsement and puts that drummer in an add, they're not really planning on the public to buy that players exact set up or even anyone just buy their product JUST because so and so uses it.

Henno: This makes a lot of sense, and of course is the only way drum companies can stay strongly competitive within the market share, so reaching or maintaining reflected targets.
 
I accept that it is meant to attract to the brand, naturally. Not criticizing, mostly new drummers couldn't begin to look for what they consider the correct equipment only for they see their preferred product endorsed by one or other of their favourite band drummers, or known by their friends, which is sometimes as important. This is no bad thing, for equipment is very important, and really only through trial and error do many drummers eventually settle on their preferences.., Henno.
 
The only times I have seen companies produce copies of the original artists setup, they are painfully expensive.

The DW "public" version of the R30 peart kit: $30,000

Yamaha Gadd kit: $8,000

Tama Copeland police kit $9,000-$14,000

My personal favorites are also the least egregiously pricy.

The Ludwig zep set and Bonham vistalite reissue. Both about $3,500. But then again, they didn't have gold hardware or some insane paint job.

Tama, to their credit created an acrylic Bonham kit and later revised plans and actually produced mirage kits. It wasn't a case of something unobtainable.
 
Some more:

Yamaha:
Manu Katche (Oak)
Andre Cecarelli (Birch/Maple)

Gretsch:
Vinnie Colaiuta
Harvey Mason
Steve Ferone Gretsch

Pearl:
Joey Jordison (2 models!)
Chad Smith

The changes that stayed with me the most:
Peter Erskine from Yamaha to DW (after 2 signature snares, 2 stickbags and almost a lifetime of playing on the brand)
Vinnie Colaiuta from Yamaha to Gretch (after 1 signature snare and a long time of playing on the brand)\

Speaking of Mason:

Here in the States, Harvey Mason gave Gretsch an unusual plug during a Fourplay concert over the Fourth of July holiday in Atlanta, GA. Gretsch employees and their families attended as special guests of Harvey and the band, and during the concert Harvey introduced the Gretsch group to fans as the people who actually made the drums he was playing.
 
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Regarding NP:

Like it was mentioned before. I find it odd that he chose to forget about the years where he used 24" bass drums in the three-part DW ad he did.

Thank you.

I knew I wasn't the only one out there that notice that minorlittle detail.

Not to bash NP either, he was an early influence and I still dig his stuff.
It's the marketing and advertising BS that gets me--always has.

I was more perturbed by it being on NP's web site, and not even a mention ANYWHERE that he did play a 24 and not for just a short time that you could say OK, he used it for 2 years and went back to a 22, and let it slide as just marketing.
NP is part of the puzzle and trying to get he 23 off the ground, and it IS a cool drum, but for those that KNOW he used a 24 for a long time.....it's kind of irritating.
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned already but I know that Vinnie used his Gretsch a lot whilst with Yamaha. Mostly in the studio.
 
Hi guys,

Harvey Mason is now endorsing Tama Starclassic Bubinga kits at this time, he stopped endorsing Gretsch some time ago.

D
 
Not saying Yanaha don't make good drums but I can't help but think there's something slightly suspicious about Gary Novak ditching DW to go back to them. Yamaha... HUGE corporation and all that.
 
...NP is part of the puzzle and trying to get he 23 off the ground, and it IS a cool drum, but for those that KNOW he used a 24 for a long time.....it's kind of irritating.

Yah, what a travesty! And those ads he did with Schick razors insinuated that he shaved his mustache BEFORE Hemispheres. Totally false! I know that I'll never shave with a Quattro again.

Btw, anyone know where I can get my hands on a Rogers tom mount? I feel overly compelled to add one to my DW kit now.
 
I'm going to chime in here, and just agree with what a few of you said with a personal example.

I endorse peace Drums, I have only ever owned their Paragon series kits, yet in the catalogs and magazines you will see me advertising The Echoplasma, Chromadose, D-N-A, X3, Demolition, Millennium, and every other Series they make. They have even run ads with me playing PDP and Slingerland kits.

I don't think it makes me or the company a liars, because I endorse the brand. Not one single line of drums. The few times they used photos were I was playing another brand, they cut the photo up a little so no brand name was shown. (Though if you look at the lugs it was clear). And I didn't use other brands by choice, sometimes it was a backline kit that I had to use.

The same goes for guys who play something other than what they endorse in the studio. I have been places that had a studio kit that the artist wanted me to use because he or she liked that sound. At that point it's not up to me, it's up to them, and as long as no one is going to take photos or videos of it, well then no one has to know.
 
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