Sabian's New Logo
- Thread starter Lennytoons
- Start date
The new logo wouldn't have affected any cymbals that you've heard, unless stores have started carrying the new product, which is doubtful at this early stage of the revisions. (Very little new product is actually available when it's shown at NAMM.)
But you're right, Sabian does have a "huge catalog" and it's hard to imagine not finding something that sounds good to your ear. Granted, there are a lot of different characteristics associated with cymbals, but IMO, except for Paiste, the major companies cover a lot of territory sound-wise. Even the Turkish companies have expanded their sounds beyond the niche genres that they were known for.
I don't think any other company offers as wide a sound palette as Sabian.
Bermuda
But you're right, Sabian does have a "huge catalog" and it's hard to imagine not finding something that sounds good to your ear. Granted, there are a lot of different characteristics associated with cymbals, but IMO, except for Paiste, the major companies cover a lot of territory sound-wise. Even the Turkish companies have expanded their sounds beyond the niche genres that they were known for.
I don't think any other company offers as wide a sound palette as Sabian.
Bermuda
LittleLegs
Senior Member
I'm really enjoying this thread and it's too good to let go!
We can all see Larryace's point when it comes to a cheap product like bread, and for all of us there will be purchases that we don't care about. But how many of us would buy something that performed like a Maserati, for the price of a Maserati, and not care if it looked like a Ford Fiesta?
Buying expensive things is never just about performance. You can tune a $1500 kit and a £3000 kit to sound so similar in a blind test that most couldn't tell them apart (and through a PA you could widen that range by a lot). You can get even get the same Keller shells in kits with a wide disparity of pricing. So what are you buying for that extra £1500? You're buying brand - that intangible something that makes you feel a certain way. (That intangible something turns into very tangible profit.)
Looks really matter to our buying decisions - sometimes more than sound. After all, if they didn't, there either wouldn't be a choice of finishes, or someone wouldn't care if their new Gretsch USA jazz kit was wrapped in this
View attachment 85206
or this
View attachment 85207
That might sound depressingly shallow but if the logo is bad you're entitled to feel it diminishes the whole thing ESPECIALLY when the logos are this big.
Anyway. My beef isn't that Sabian have rebranded - it might be just the right time to do it - I'm just so sorry they have been taken in by an agency that are so delusional (but happily also comical with it). If you haven't seen it, here's there website:
https://www.stealingshare.com/sabian-creative/
If they weren't so arrogant I wouldn't care as much, but as they are, here's why they have done a bad job:
This new Sabian brand is supposed to be 'for drummers that make up their own damn mind.' Great, the brand is about capturing a mindset - that's branding 101. In Sabian's case that mindset has to be shared across the globe, both inside and outside the company, and across ages and generations buying a very diverse product range (and let's face it, most of these cymbals are so expensive only older drummers are going to be able to afford them). I'm 50, and I'm a drummer in England who can make up my own damn mind. There will be 80 year old drummers in Canada who feel the same way and 20 year old drummers in India who feel the same way. A great brand - an honest brand - will connect us all into a like-minded community that makes all those other differences irrelevant when it comes to Sabian.
However, the creative expression of this strategy is aimed exclusively at some notional 14 year old emo kid who thinks a punk aesthetic represents sticking it to their parents. The brand is not capturing a broad mindset, it is targeted to a narrow demographic. Their design doesn't match their strategy which makes them a bad creative agency.
(And if anyone from the agency is reading this - I do know a visual identity is much more than a logo, but as the logo is so big on the cymbal it's actually more important than most, and this logo's punk aesthetic is really badly executed - not to mention the practical concern that it's a total misfire for digital applications).
You can be sure this agency is full of BS because if Sabian were really going after a youth market who know their own damn minds, they would be looking at the design that these kids are looking at not some generic wrestling logo pastiche. Check out skateboarding, surf and snowboard brands and see how cool, considered and imaginative they can be.
There's also the heritage angle to think about. Sabian have a long history and with that comes something priceless in the brand world, authenticity. Sure, you can't get stuck in the past and every classic brand needs to stay relevant. However, it's interesting that the agency wants to position Sabian clearly in the 'now' rather than the 'timeless'. Most brand are trying to do exactly the opposite as they know that the 'now' soon becomes the 'yesterday'. I guarantee that in the not too distant future Sabian will be desperately trying to remind everyone that they were around long before many of the brands that are coming into the market from China and Turkey.
But maybe there's method in the madness? I've been siting on the fence about ordering a Fierce Ride for ages but now feel I should get on and do it before the logo changes!
Last edited:
equipmentdork
Junior Member
Agreed 100%. Even after I did some recent looking around(which I do anyway), I really do believe that Sabian has more ground covered than anyone, plus their renowned service is second to none. That is why this recent PR push is heartbreaking, because it doesn't play to their strengths, and neither does it make longtime customers feel like they are part of the family. Just my opinion.
Still, I'm not giving up on them yet. Somewhere in there is my favorite cymbal company--heck, my favorite musical instrument company. I will absolutely check out their new cymbals, because many of them sound REALLY good, and that's why I play what I play.
It's like seeing your best bud dating a chick who doesn't go over well with you and your circle of friends. You all wonder what the hell he's thinking, but you don't abandon him--you stay in his corner, awaiting the fallout.
Dan
oldskoolsoul
Silver Member
pbm2112 said:
That would be a better comparison in my opinion than the one you gave..
Those cymbals have not changed, the shape has not changed, the material has not changed, the feel of those cymbals has not changed..
Nothing changed, except the logo thats putted on the cymbal..
From what i understand from this thread, some people seem to spend a lot of time staring at the logo from their cymbals when they practice or play a gig..lol..
In my opinion, people who played Sabian cymbals for almost all their life because they like how they sound, and who now make the choice to play another brand because of a logo or marketing campaign, those people act way more as an 'empty head' than all the people at this marketing team together..
But, thats just my opinion, which ofcourse should not matter for anyone else..
That's an important point. Is Sabian really trying to reach their longtime customers? Haven't they already accomplished sufficient retention over that demographic during the past 35 years? I've been a Sabian artist for over 25 years, and I'm not going anywhere because of the logo or the new ad campaign. I understand that they're laying the groundwork to reach younger/future customers, as they should (and as any company does that wants to stay in business.)
Perhaps it says something that the over-30 crowd seems to dislike Sabian's new approach. Maybe we're just 'old'. I'd be interested to know if the drummers in their teens and twenties feel the same. Sabian might be onto something, but only time will tell.
Bermuda
BertTheDrummer
Gold Member
Maybe I am just old. Maybe the 30+ crowd are the only ones who dislike the new approach. The problem is I would think that it is the 30+ crowd that are buying their expensive cymbals. It is the teenagers that are trying to scrounge up money and grabbing whatever they can find on the used market. So if they are marketing to that lot, it doesn't seem like that would really help Sabian sales since they aren't the ones benefitting from the used market.
Also, it would be one thing to go all edgy and whatever to market the SBr or B8X line, but to do a whole company revamp of that?
Overall, it just doesn't make sense to me... but maybe that is because I'm an out of touch 35 year old. I also don't have 25 years of being a Sabian artist to tie me to the company. I don't even have 20+ years of playing Sabian as part of my collection. I don't have anything tying me to them and I guess I just don't get their marketing and to me it seems like they are saying they don't want me as a customer.
From a market share standpoint it doesn't make sense to me because like you said, Sabian isn't a new company. It seems their goal should be to gain as many new customers as possible, not to alienate a large group of them. Like mentioned earlier, it is like they are marketing themselves like a new company trying to gain a foothold with a demographic, not one that is the #2 company trying to gain more share. I guess someone just decided they couldn't fight Zildjian at their own game and had to try something controversial and different.
Hey, either way they have gotten a lot of people to talk about Sabian, for better or worse.
Last edited:
MaskingApathy
Member
Is that actually how their endorsement program works?
MaskingApathy
Member
I'm in my twenties and I don't like the new logo or approach. I've been interested in Sabian ever since I was in high school and saw Brent Fitz playing with Slash on TV (2010 I think). Not long after I started using Sabians when I got the chance at church, etc then finally this past year I got rid of my remaining Zildjians and put together a set of Sabians. I share that to say that I've been interested in the brand for almost a decade and I'm not going to stop playing their cymbals but it saddens me to see this happening. I hope they will come to their senses soon, however, until then if I buy any more cymbals I'm going to make sure they are pre 2019 with the classic logo.
They do have a few artists who have enough exposure and influence to be comped, but they primarily sell direct (have you ever seen new Soultones in a store?) Every customer is eligible to be on the roster as an artist, and who doesn't want to be an endorser of something?
So yeah, that's how it works with them.
BertTheDrummer
Gold Member
Exactly. You can actually find them at a couple of stores. However, like bermuda said most is direct. Their "endorsement" depending on what tier you are in, is basically that they'll sell you the cymbal for a percentage off MSRP. The problem is that means your 18" cymbal is like $534 minus your percentage. Which even if you are getting a hefty percentage off is still basically what it would cost you to buy say a nice Sabian cymbal.
BertTheDrummer
Gold Member
I succumbed to the new marketing.... I bought some Sabians.
Well on a serious note, it wasn't because of the new marketing it was in spite of it. I ended up getting a really good deal on a closeout XSR Big and Ugly pack.
That being said, I wondering if the new Sabian cymbal bags say "Welcome to the Family" like the old ones do or if there is something more edgy on there.
Well on a serious note, it wasn't because of the new marketing it was in spite of it. I ended up getting a really good deal on a closeout XSR Big and Ugly pack.
That being said, I wondering if the new Sabian cymbal bags say "Welcome to the Family" like the old ones do or if there is something more edgy on there.
Attachments
vyacheslav
Senior Member
V-Four
Senior Member
Coming soon to a store near you: Sabian Classic
Maybe when they change back (I'm assuming they will), the "new logo" cymbals will be collectable..?
(Tried to find fonts that were fitting.)
T.
Attachments
TK-421
Senior Member
It's just a stock vector image I found. But I love the thought of Chad Smith throwing up at the new logo