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Badges + Branding. An Introduction.

georgeachorn·
0000 NewsletterOp / Ed
·07.16.2025

ooooIYKYK, ISSUE #0017

Badges, It seems like a simple enough subject, yet the reality is it’s anything but. Badges are the core identifying mark of the brand, and in as much are a major part of the brand identity itself. When it comes to any brand’s hierarchy of needs pyramid, the brick of brand identity is part of the foundation. It’s from here that the brand is built.

THE BEEF

Two weeks ago, the @Auditography YouTube channel published a feature-length film entitled “Speak up for Audi”. In it, the intentionally anonymous human behind Auditography laid out his concerns for where the Audi brand is and/or is currently headed. Arguably central to his case is the subject of badging and identity.

Why “arguably”? The first fifteen minutes of the hour-long video is dedicated to Audi’s latest product badging. In recent model years, the brand has been rolling out a new lexicon of badges that includes some of the following changes.

  • no grille badges including ‘quattro’ or ‘S’ and ‘RS’ model designation badges
  • no model graphics on instrument clusters, with ‘S’ and ‘RS’ interior badges lacking numerical model-specific designation, i.e. “RS 6” or “RS 3”
  • no S line badges, instead replaced by a simple red rhombus no different from the one used on more expensive “S” and “RS” models.
  • no metallic finish – black lettering is all that’s available,
  • Simpler four rings logo – in addition to no metallic finish, Audi’s now using a simpler four ring logo only available in dark grey and white, or fully flat without any 3-D feel on the steering wheel.
  • Audi Type font only – using the main graphic phone of the brand, further stylized characters and numbers are gone, as are the use of italics for “S” and “RS” models

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly, but it seems like the move to the current badging and product-branding model began in the fall of 2022 when Audi AG put out some PR around the move to update the four rings.

Use of the four rings can be traced back to 1932 at the forming of the Auto Union, a merger of four companies including Audi, Horch, Wanderer and DKW. Those rings have evolved any number of times over the years, with this most modern and simplified version leading the charge into brand schema we know today.

DO WE HAVE A PROBLEM?

Clearly, critics of the move such as Auditography take issue with these more recent changes. These problems are outlined in detail in his video, something we dug even more deeply into during our discussion with him for the ooooIYKYK Podcast.

Are his criticisms valid? It’s a subjective call. On one hand, you have a brand aficionado’s opinion on these many changes that are unwelcome in his opinion. Some perceive these changes as change for change sake, or perhaps a cost-cutting exercise. It’s doubtful we’ll ever know for sure, but I’m not so sure this is the story.

On the other hand, you have the thinking of designers within the Audi design team who have implemented the change. It appears they’ve moved toward a graphically purist approach aligning Audi’s graphic and digital brand presence with the physical world of product.

So, there’s thinking behind these branding changes, a thought process that goes deeper than cost-cutting. Even still, that doesn’t make the visceral feelings of brand aficionados any less valid. Auditography’s work clearly elicited a response from the ownership enthusiast community, revealing a much broader consternation over some of these changes.

SO WHO’S RIGHT? NOBODY. EVERYBODY.

I’m going to confound those seeking an easy answer here by not picking a side. As a journalist and a historian it’s my nature to want to inform my opinion before I share it. Digging into the history and the thought processes seems the more rewarding approach that can either inform designers tasked to redesign the family silver. Alternatively, it can also inform the audience of the reasoning behind the changes, contextualizing the differences and thus making the more palatable. Optimally, it can also engage both sides to create a stronger buy-in built on a foundation of all sides feeling invested in the end result.

Audi has already moved to make a few changes. While Audi CEO Gernot Döllner has addressed the Auditography piece directly, we’ve also seen the removal of simple Audi Sport rhombus logos from S line models and added grille badges to cars like the just-out Audi S4 B10.

BRANDING, THE MORE YOU KNOW

Consider this then the beginning of an ongoing series. Much like the ongoing Mittelmotor Saga series on this site, the Badges + Branding series will endeavor to dig into Audi branding, celebrate hits, criticize misses, contextualize themes,

Like Mittelmotor, this is going to be an ongoing series because there are so many facets to tell. I’ll start next week with a deeper dive on the four rings themselves. I’m working on an outline of subjects to focus on from that point, though we’ll also ride the branding currents and see where it takes us from there.

The upcoming second episode of the ooooIYKYK podcast will also tackle this subject head on. While I don’t want to give too much away, I will share that I’ve lined up two of my favorite Audi aficionados for an open discussion about the brand. Both have their own professional experience and unique take on brand strategy and equity, which makes for a most excellent place to move next in this discussion.

This week, I’m trading my RS 5 competition daily driver with its old branding for the updated SQ8 and its new branding. Days later, my family and I will be piling in the SQ8 and heading out to Maine for our annual vacation roadtrip – one that includes downtime I can spend with my nose parked in a book.

Given this subject, required vacation reading for me will include Magazine B, the monthly brand documentary magazine that digs into the world’s greatest brands. Issue No. 33, a gift from one of my podcast guests, focuses on Audi. If you’d like to get ahead of the class, you can find your own copy on Amazon HERE.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE ooooIYKYK NEWSLETTER

This story is the basis of the 17th issue of the ooooIYKYK Newsletter on Substack. If you’ve got too much going on in your life and don’t want to keep coming back to this website just to check in and see what I’m writing about, signing up to the ooooIYKYK Newsletter is an excellent way to get this content coming directly to you in your inbox. Subscribe at Substack via the link below, and consider becoming an optionally paying subscriber if you want to help support the viability of this title.

Subscribe to the ooooIYKYK Newsletter on Substack HERE.

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