Big Badges - why?

Jeremy Bender

Platinum Member
Why do drum manufacture's place these on shells? Serial number/model designation (which could be done on inside of each shell), or simply pride of ownership through advertising ?
Perhaps they were originally intended to replace the simple grommett that surrounded the vent hole from splinteing on snare drums and it became this?
I don't know how many people could actually read that from an audience or dance floor.
But to me some are more visual distraction to what could be a nice clean look. Thoughts?

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Marketing, marketing, marketing....anywhere they can.

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

To hell with aesthetics, marketing is more important.

If there were no badges there, people would be really irritated. People are conditioned to immediately look for a brand name, and when it's not there, they feel inconvenienced, like now they have to go and google it. The brand name is the real goal. I'm not downing anyone, it's just how it is.
 
Marketing, marketing, marketing....anywhere they can.

The brand name is the real goal.

Exactly. That's why cymbal logos became larger and began appearing on the underside, and why bass drum front head logos became so big.

It's interesting though that Ludwig has gone back to the classic small keystone badge - both cast and flat versions - for all of their US lines. I think the Keystone series cast badge is a little beefier, but still small compared to most other companies. Of course in their case, the lugs are instantly identifiable and larger than the badge as well. Very easy to spot a Ludwig kit just by the lugs. Same for DW, maybe Gretsch if the lighting is good.

Bermuda
 
We crossed a line somewhere a ways back from "classy" to "braggart".

It is everywhere from Ford truck badges the size of bread plates to the "my kid" bumper stickers....

We have become so impressed with ourselves that have become walking billboards for our own greatness. And that includes huge badges, tags, and labels on everything.

So much for walking softly and carrying a big stick. Nowadays we walk sround banging pots and pans and shouting "look at me" at the top of our lungs and carry a toothpick in our shirt pockets....lol.

Wait...sorrry, what was the question?

:p
 
I like Ludwig's Keystone venthole badge on the SuperSeries snare drum.

Interestingly enough, Sonor gives us the option to leave the mallet logo off when placing an order for SQ2 drums, while this is slightly less money, people still opt to keep the logo. Aesthetics or pride of ownership perhaps? I dunno.

Noble and Cooley are now wood burning their logo onto the shell. Which looks quite nice to some folks.

I realize it's a first world problem, but with drumkits costing several thousand dollars apiece we can be picky about how things not only sound but look, no?



PS Larry you're dating youself with that TV quote! But thanks for the morning laugh.
 
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With the keystone and parallelogram Ludwig also has the benefit of having two of the most distinctively shaped badges in the business. You don't actually need to read the badge to know that's a Ludwig.

Off the top of my head I think the Rogers "Big R" badge is probably the worst offender in the big and distracting category. You saw that thing coming even before you knew what color the drums were.
Almost worse to me were the silver rectangle badges on old Mapex Saturns; not only big, but from even two feet away you couldn't read any text on it; so what was the point?
 
While I guess you could quibble about badge size ..... they've been putting badges on drums as far back as I can remember.
Ludwig, Gretsch, Rogers, Camco and Slingerland all had "classic" style .... and then Rodgers came out with the "BIG R" .... and there were some drummers who flipped out 'cause the badge was taking up too much real estate. Oh well. I've never minded having them on any of my kits. But right now, I'm playing a 10 piece kit, and only 3 drums have badges. The bass, snare, and 1 floor tom. Roto Toms and Octobans don't have badges.
 
It doesn’t offend my sense of style.

They could be removed easy enough when they were attached at the grommet, but now they’re attached with screws.

Back in the early 70s my father bought a VW bug. He wouldn’t pay for it until they removed the giant logo on the back. It was huge.

I got stopped by the police because I removed the emblems on my car. They couldn’t easily identify the brand and make.
 
There is a fine line between product identification and overt advertising. While I don't mind those that straddle the line, it seems disingenuous for manufacturers to abuse/cross it. I'm not an advertising conduit.

When I toured and wasn't under sponsorship/contract, I would typically cover my amp branding with gaffers' tape to hide the Marshall and Vox emblems.
 
I'm reminded of Mapex drums for some reason......

I prefer the Yamaha badge they used in the early 80's over what they use these days.
The Ludwig badge is small, so it's not distracting.
Slingerland's was non distracting too, but you knew they were Slingerland drums.
I used to like the Tama "T" badge. That was a cool one.
I always hated the square Pearl badge. The badge they had in the 70's was nice though, and it was distinctive.
 
it's the quality of the badge that is crap as well. Trophy screw ons.
 
Can we agree that the Mapex badge is obnoxious?

Their new logo Zoidberg badge is just an ugly design, so I'm not really fond of that at all. There was a work-around on the Saturn badge; if you moved which lugs had the suspension mount you could hide the badge easily, which is what I did when I had Mapex drums. Now that they (and several others) have gone to three-point suspension mounts that trick doesn't work anymore.
 
There is a fine line between product identification and overt advertising. While I don't mind those that straddle the line, it seems disingenuous for manufacturers to abuse/cross it. I'm not an advertising conduit.

When I toured and wasn't under sponsorship/contract, I would typically cover my amp branding with gaffers' tape to hide the Marshall and Vox emblems.

Do you remove/disguise the logos on your car? Home appliances and electronics? Laptop logo on the lid? Starbuck's logo on their coffee cups and java jackets? Name tag or logo on your sport shoes? The names and logos on cymbals, sticks and heads?

Just wondering if/where you draw the line to not advertise.

Bermuda
 
I return from being away for a few days, there's a thread about badge sizes that contains the "M" word in a post, & it hasn't erupted into a full on ballistic exchange. This certainly is a new forum :)
 
We need a forum poll for drum badges. Pictures of each badge with the option to give it 1 through 5 stars. It would be interesting to see what averages out to be the highest and lowest rated badges.

I don't think this forum has the capability for that type of poll though.
 
Same as automobiles . Every panel almost has some insignia, every wheel cover, steering wheel
 
Do you remove/disguise the logos on your car? Home appliances and electronics? Laptop logo on the lid? Starbuck's logo on their coffee cups and java jackets? Name tag or logo on your sport shoes? The names and logos on cymbals, sticks and heads?

Just wondering if/where you draw the line to not advertise.

Bermuda
For the most part, automobiles and tech (Laptop, phone, tablet).
 
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