Carolina09Spirit Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Personally, I don't think the design/concept/talent affects how many fans show up in the stands. Nor does it affect how many new fans the activity attracts. Because let's be honest with ourselves, did we really know what was going on design-wise the first time we watched a Drum Corps show? I certainly did not...I was more worried about the horns blowing my face off. Now, here's my 2 cents on something that'll improve a new fan base: expand the show locations and add some variety. Here's a list of some states and how many shows they host: California: 11 Texas: 7 Indiana/Iowa/Minnesota/Wisconsin/Illinois: 19 (And yes, I do understand the DCI HQ are in Indy and that most corps are located in the Midwest and West Coast. All the other states, I'm not concerned with counting (and sorry if my math is wrong.) Not only do these 7 states alone host at least 37 shows...but the way the tour is laid out concerns me even more. For example, the first week of the DCI tour, 12 different states hosted shows. June 20, there were shows in Michigan, Arizona and Tennessee. As a resident of a rural town in Alabama, I'm not saying cut out the small town shows, but instead of scheduling 19 shows in one region of the country over a span of 2 months, let's expand a little and offer the people who aren't even within 5 hours driving distance a chance to see a show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaseyW Posted June 26, 2012 Author Share Posted June 26, 2012 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. Very well stated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triple Forte Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 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. It's and interesting idea no doubt....but I think it would be next to impossible to implement. As you mentioned...how would you keep the fans in the stadium if they don't care for potentially half (or more) of the evenings performances? Is someone going to be willing to pay full price to watch half of a show? Also....how could you coordinate a somewhat even amount of corps in each division at local shows? Logistically setting the tour up is really challenging in it's current state. Not trying to rip your idea but...there are a lot of challenges...... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 (edited) Personally, I don't think the design/concept/talent affects how many fans show up in the stands. Nor does it affect how many new fans the activity attracts. Because let's be honest with ourselves, did we really know what was going on design-wise the first time we watched a Drum Corps show? Yes. Not only that, but I recognized 85% or so of all the music that the Corps decided to draw inspiration from.Pretty much all the themes were easily identifiable... if they even had " a theme " which some did not. So from your comments it appears that your first experience with Drum Corps was wholly different than my first experience. Which is not a bad thing by the way. But it does demonstrate that people's frame of references can be quite different and why we all sometimes approach these things from different ( not better...just different) perspectives. Edited June 26, 2012 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triple Forte Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 (edited) 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. Tough question..... Just a couple quick thoughts/ideas. Most of the population doesn't know drum corps exists. So...getting the word out to as many people as possible is crucial. Keep in mind...most of the population will probably not be interested in drum corps...so it's really important to get the word out to as many people as possible. Corps need to spend time each week promoting the activity. Best done through public performances. Store grand openings, concerts in the park, performances in the mall, performances at the beach, performances at summer camps....etc. An example would be lets say the Boston Crusaders are performing in a show on Thursday night in Sacramento ca. On Thursday, Boston Cru. would spend some of their day performing for the public near Sacramento promoting the show for that evening (maybe giveaway a few free tickets to that evenings show...maybe give away some shirts or drum sticks...or tickets for Loud and Live at the movies in August). Anything to entice people to give drum corps a try. Another performance opportunity might be corporate conferences. Who knows....maybe some big wig would love drum corps and pour 1 mil or a couple hundred thousand in to the activity. Lower ticket prices. Some of the prices are fairly steep....especially local shows Edited June 26, 2012 by Triple Forte 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 (edited) It's and interesting idea no doubt....but I think it would be next to impossible to implement. As you mentioned...how would you keep the fans in the stadium if they don't care for potentially half (or more) of the evenings performances? Is someone going to be willing to pay full price to watch half of a show? Also....how could you coordinate a somewhat even amount of corps in each division at local shows? Logistically setting the tour up is really challenging in it's current state. Not trying to rip your idea but...there are a lot of challenges...... :) Yes, fans coming and going in the stands could be a challenge that might be a " bridge too far " with the ultimate implementation of this concept. I do recognize this and mentioned this challenge above. That said, we can't kid ourselves and pretend that we don't ALREADY have some fans coming in only for the show of their favorite Corps, (or two) then getting up and leaving. And we do have fans that get up and leave when their " hot dog Corps " (or two) is about to come on, and for them its a waste of their time, so they go below the stands to kill some time (go buy a hot dog ). Both these type of fans paid full price too lets not forget. So we already have... albeit on a smaller scale... fans coming and going in the stands during these currently formatted shows. My proposal here is to try and get more of the fans of all persuasions to come through the stadium turnstyle to begin with...... now as for the possible uneven distrubution of Corps in each division for local shows, this does not seem like a logistical problem to me . We have some Open class Corps competing now separately at World Class shows now ( Stanford a recent example )and its uneven in number but nobody seems to mind this uneven number in this 2 part show division that we ALREADY have at some local shows. Edited June 26, 2012 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Njfritz Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Unfortunately there are very little "consumers" of drum corps that have not participated, or have a relative/friend who has participated in the activity itself. Only means of real advertising is through word of mouth and it's a very small consumer base. I think they need to get back on tv... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat61 Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Tough question..... Just a couple quick thoughts/ideas. Most of the population doesn't know drum corps exists. So...getting the word out to as many people as possible is crucial. Keep in mind...most of the population will probably not be interested in drum corps...so it's really important to get the word out to as many people as possible. Corps need to spend time each week promoting the activity. Best done through public performances. Store grand openings, concerts in the park, performances in the mall, performances at the beach, performances at summer camps....etc. An example would be lets say the Boston Crusaders are performing in a show on Thursday night in Sacramento ca. On Thursday, Boston Cru. would spend some of their day performing for the public near Sacramento promoting the show for that evening (maybe giveaway a few free tickets to that evenings show...maybe give away some shirts or drum sticks...or tickets for Loud and Live at the movies in August). Anything to entice people to give drum corps a try. Another performance opportunity might be corporate conferences. Who knows....maybe some big wig would love drum corps and pour 1 mil or a couple hundred thousand in to the activity. Lower ticket prices. Some of the prices are fairly steep....especially local shows That would be at the cost of the show caliber if they missed their rehearsal time. Taking 1 day a week is a lot of show cleaning throughout the summer. I would say you need to get connected with an event on TV and get a block of time they would let donate. Or get on some major talk shows and get exposure there. The problem is that it would need to be something they can do year round. People forget about stuff that they don't do often. If someone goes to a drum corps show that doesn't normally go to music things or such will forget about it by the next season. The problem with that is corps don't maintain a full size year round to support that. Not to mention you would need more entertaining and ear friendly for the average person (Crown 2010 for example).... The key is getting people interested first so you want them to recognize what they are doing and have some sort of connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumManTx Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Show them Jersey Surfs show this year. That is some FUN stuff. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liahona Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 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. In reference to drawing a new fan base... I like your idea of a TWO division World Class format (Avarde Garde Division versus Traditional) which might be pretty cool. While I did NOT like the idea of A or AA league, this is a bit more interesting. I think in order for it to work at least in the beginning though is you would need to split the top 6 or 8 or even 12 in half and have half go to one division and the other half go to the other division. Just an example... Avarde Garde Division: BD , Crown, Bluecoats Traditional Division: Phantom, SCV, Cadets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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