[kaseyW]

This thread is a response to this thread: http://www.drumcorps...george-hopkins/

After listening to the podcast this is what I've gotten from it:

DCP has tons of different opinions of how DCI should operate, and what they should do with marketing strategies, how to sale tickets, and how to improve shows to draw in a bigger crowd. I think that we all agree that we need to draw in a new fan base (and I don't mean different (i.e. a hip hop fan base), but I mean draw in younger audiences to enjoy the same art that the older audience enjoys)). So as an effort to better understand DCP's opinions, how does DCI draw in a new fan base? Should there be more additions (i.e. woodwinds), less additions and recovering what drum corps had in the past (i.e. g bugels and no electrons), and should the shows be less "conservative" or more "liberal"? These are just many questions one could ask about this topic. I suggest everyone to be creative, yet have a legitimate reason for that opinion.

This post has been edited by kaseyW: 28 June 2012 - 07:27 PM

[kaseyW]

I guess the "Advertising Drum Corps" thread goes a long the same lines as this post.

[jplattSCV]

kaseyW, on 25 June 2012 - 07:35 PM, said:

DCP has tons of different opinions of how DCI should operate, and what they should do with marketing strategies, how to sale tickets, and how to improve shows to draw in a bigger crowd. I think that we all agree that we need to draw in a new fan base (and I don't mean different (i.e. a hip hop fan base), but I mean draw in younger audiences to enjoy the same art that the older audience enjoys)). So as an effort to better understand DCP's opinions, how does DCI draw in a new fan base? Should there be more additions (i.e. woodwinds), less additions and recovering what drum corps had in the past (i.e. g bugels and no electrons), and should the shows be less "conservative" or more "liberal"? These are just many questions one could ask about this topic. I suggest everyone to be creative, yet have a legitimate reason for that opinion.

green screen the back field?

[jplattSCV]

kaseyW, on 25 June 2012 - 07:35 PM, said:

DCP has tons of different opinions of how DCI should operate, and what they should do with marketing strategies, how to sale tickets, and how to improve shows to draw in a bigger crowd. I think that we all agree that we need to draw in a new fan base (and I don't mean different (i.e. a hip hop fan base), but I mean draw in younger audiences to enjoy the same art that the older audience enjoys)). So as an effort to better understand DCP's opinions, how does DCI draw in a new fan base? Should there be more additions (i.e. woodwinds), less additions and recovering what drum corps had in the past (i.e. g bugels and no electrons), and should the shows be less "conservative" or more "liberal"? These are just many questions one could ask about this topic. I suggest everyone to be creative, yet have a legitimate reason for that opinion.

more shows with ALL the corps present in bigger cities. Go to New York. Go to Chicago. Go to Miami. Go to Los Angeles. etc...

Finals attendance might go down, but overall attendance would go up...in my opinion.

[jplattSCV]

kaseyW, on 25 June 2012 - 07:35 PM, said:

DCP has tons of different opinions of how DCI should operate, and what they should do with marketing strategies, how to sale tickets, and how to improve shows to draw in a bigger crowd. I think that we all agree that we need to draw in a new fan base (and I don't mean different (i.e. a hip hop fan base), but I mean draw in younger audiences to enjoy the same art that the older audience enjoys)). So as an effort to better understand DCP's opinions, how does DCI draw in a new fan base? Should there be more additions (i.e. woodwinds), less additions and recovering what drum corps had in the past (i.e. g bugels and no electrons), and should the shows be less "conservative" or more "liberal"? These are just many questions one could ask about this topic. I suggest everyone to be creative, yet have a legitimate reason for that opinion.

I am a little hesitant to even say this since it is well thrashed in other threads, but having finals rotate to multipel cities would make a big difference to me.

[TRacer]

Take a good looking current or former marching member who has some driving talent, and put him or her in NHRA Super Stock or NASCAR Truck-- presto! a whole new fan base. Something along the lines of a Courtney Force/Danica Patrick or Jimmie Johnson of drum corps, and put the corps' logo somewhere on the car. OR, find someone in NASCAR or NHRA who marched, and go from there. Don't laugh, several of my FB friends who are SCV alums are seriously involved in motocross and/or off-road racing, so it isn't too far fetched. I personally have been an avid 1/4 mile drag racer since 1993; my 10-second '87 Buick Grand National which I built & drove had my "Alumni / Santa Clara Vanguard" license plate frame mounted on the back or SCV's old "Championship Years" souvie bumper sticker on the back window.

Drum corps and motorsports, there's a new one. Let's match race PR's Bus #1 and SCV's Bus #1, and see who wins.

[BRASSO]

One suggestion ( thinking out of the box here ) might be to set up 2 World Class Divisions. One for avarde garde, progessive Corps productions where the judging sheets in this division would reward creative nuances, and Corps show desiners would be allowed to bring in new instrumention if they wanted and so forth. Experimentaion would be the key identifiable characterisitic of this particular devision. Experimentation and creativity woould be encouraged and rewarded on the scoring sheets in this division.The other division would be traditional in nature. Corps here would agree on the instrumention allowed and permitted, and would be more traditional in the use of instrumention. Pleasing the average fan would be the chief indentiable characteristic of this deivision. Traditional shows with readily identifiable music to most audiences in this division would be encouraged and rewarded on the scoring sheets Corps here. This division would have a different judging sheet in the respect that the GE portion of the sheets would reward " engagement with the audience " as fundamentally crucial in scores and placements in this Division. Corps could announce in the preseason which division they intended to conpete in the upcoming season. They could change division from year to year if they so desired. At each local show, they'd be for example, 3 Corps performing in the Avarde Garde Division and 3 Corps perfoming in the Traditional Division, and each division with their own judges and scores and placements. In this environment, they'd be a place for the Avarde Garde shows and their fans and a place for the Traditional Corps and their fans. Lke anything else, this proposal is not entirely free of obstacles to practical implementation. What if more fans showed up for one of the divisions but not for the other, and there was a coming and going in the stands with fans. Maybe its not doable, but I always wondered if a 2 division format might keep more fans in the activity from leaving while allowing newer fans looking for something different to be attracted to the activity, ergo a growth in the overall fan base of the activity. In such an environment Corps and fans might find some better common ground, especially when judges now are being asked the almost impossible task in a one division format to compare and contrast such wholly dissimilar show productions where one show has pleasing fans as its driving force in the design of the show, while another show designer has pushing the envelope in total creativity and experimentation as its driving force behind its show creation. ' Just a thought anyway.

This post has been edited by BRASSO: 25 June 2012 - 08:30 PM

[JamMan]

Woodwinds.

[kaseyW]

BRASSO, on 25 June 2012 - 08:18 PM, said:

One suggestion ( thinking out of the box here ) might be to set up 2 World Class Divisions. One for avarde garde, progessive Corps productions where the judging sheets in this division would reward creative nuances, and Corps show desiners would be allowed to bring in new instrumention if they wanted and so forth. Experimentaion would be the key identifiable characterisitic of this particular devision. Experimentation and creativity woould be encouraged and rewarded on the scoring sheets in this division.The other division would be traditional in nature. Corps here would agree on the instrumention allowed and permitted, and would be more traditional in the use of instrumention. Pleasing the average fan would be the chief indentiable characteristic of this deivision. Traditional shows with readily identifiable music to most audiences in this division would be encouraged and rewarded on the scoring sheets Corps here. This division would have a different judging sheet in the respect that the GE portion of the sheets would reward " engagement with the audience " as fundamentally crucial in scores and placements in this Division. Corps could announce in the preseason which division they intended to conpete in the upcoming season. They could change division from year to year if they so desired. At each local show, they'd be for example, 3 Corps performing in the Avarde Garde Division and 3 Corps perfoming in the Traditional Division, and each division with their own judges and scores and placements. In this environment, they'd be a place for the Avarde Garde shows and their fans and a place for the Traditional Corps and their fans. Lke anything else, this proposal is not entirely free of obstacles to practical implementation. What if more fans showed up for one of the divisions but not for the other, and there was a coming and going in the stands with fans. Maybe its not doable, but I always wondered if a 2 division format might keep more fans in the activity from leaving while allowing newer fans looking for something different to be attracted to the activity, ergo a growth in the overall fan base of the activity. In such an environment Corps and fans might find some better common ground, especially when judges now are being asked the almost impossible task in a one division format to compare and contrast such wholly dissimilar show productions where one show has pleasing fans as its driving force in the design of the show, while another show designer has pushing the envelope in total creativity and experimentation as its driving force behind its show creation. ' Just a thought anyway.

That is a very very very interesting take on this BRASSO. Some of this is the difference between DCA and DCI. It also feels like it could create tension between both parties (i.e. turn in a "republican" vs. "democrat" debate). Do you think it could cause that?

[BRASSO]

kaseyW, on 25 June 2012 - 08:49 PM, said:

That is a very very very interesting take on this BRASSO. Some of this is the difference between DCA and DCI. It also feels like it could create tension between both parties (i.e. turn in a "republican" vs. "democrat" debate). Do you think it could cause that?

I guess I do see some conflict in approaches as probably unavoidable to begin with. At least in a 2 division World Class format, we might... might... be able to reach a liitle better common ground. In a perfect world, both sides might be accommodated. Plus, Corps would not be handicapped in whatever approach they adopted. I would anticipate that execution would still be rewarded as fundamentally the most important attribute on the scoring sheets... in both divisions. It would be primarily the " General Effect " captions that might have a somewhat different intepretation between the 2 divisions, and by choice.

The question on this thread is " drawing in a new fan base ". The key to success in my view is to try and bring in newer fans while still retaining many of the legacy fans that have been so loyal for years and years, and might have felt left out and left behind as changes took place. DCI might be able to accommodate a tad better both philosophies of what " good Drum Corps " can and should be in a 2 Division format perhaps.... as as a result perhaps grow the OVERALL fan base.

This post has been edited by BRASSO: 25 June 2012 - 09:22 PM