Marketing DCI

[Rimba47]

So, I think we all would like for DCI to have more fans, more corps, more... everything. And I think that one way to achieve a better DCI and drum corps experience is to Market. Market not only to DCI's target audience (whoever you may feel that is) but just to the American public in general. Make drum corps as american as Apple Pie and seeing a show during the summer as exciting and spontaneous as going to the movies on a slow summer night.

What creative ideas do you have to market drum corps? What partnerships do you think DCI should make? How can we spread the word about DCI and drum corps? What ideas in the past have worked? What old marketing ideas should we bring back?

Let's bring Drum Corps to a... whole... 'nother... level... (MAD TV reference)

Edited March 5, 2010 by Rimba47

[perc2100]

So, I think we all would like for DCI to have more fans, more corps, more... everything. And I think that one way to achieve a better DCI and drum corps experience is to Market. Market not only to DCI's target audience (whoever you may feel that is) but just to the American public in general. Make drum corps as american as Apple Pie and seeing a show during the summer as exciting and spontaneous as going to the movies on a slow summer night.

What creative ideas do you have to market drum corps? What partnerships do you think DCI should make? How can we spread the word about DCI and drum corps? What ideas in the past have worked? What old marketing ideas should we bring back?

Let's bring Drum Corps to a... whole... 'nother... level... (MAD TV reference)

That's a tough one, since it's a niche activity that's an offshoot of another niche activity. I mean, without woodwinds, we're talking about drum corps have a target audience of guard, brass and percussion members. With limited instrumentation you're limited in membership and fan potential. I've known plenty of ww players who have switched from a ww instrument to a brass instrument to march. But playing drum corps videos for woodwind band students it's obvious that they lose interest quick when they realize they're not watching anyone playing their instrument; there's a reason why so many reviews on here have qualifiers like, "I'm a drum guy, so my focus was mainly on percussion but I'll try to make one or two comments about other stuff."

I think DCI already does stuff like send literature to high schools, corps directors typically stay in contact with local band directors to promote membership drives and summer shows, and members talk to their friends to hype it up. We're kidding ourselves if we think the average newbie with no affiliations or history in the activity will see literature somewhere that will lead the to become fans. Plus, it's not like DCI has a large advertising budget and can afford to pay for TV commercials or something. I noticed all last summer they did have adds before movies for the Quarter finals theater thing. I thought that was a smart movie that probably maximized their limited funds and was a realistic way to market to new fans.

I honestly don't know what else they can do, though, given all of the variables involved

[The Other Mike]

DCI introduces a new flavor of Bland

DCI! come to the show, take home the Legacy

Edited March 5, 2010 by The Other Mike

[soccerguy315]

stop being youtube nazis.

youtube builds fans and potential marchers.

[perc2100]

stop being youtube nazis.

youtube builds fans and potential marchers.

impossible to track, and the vast majority of people who watch DCI stuff on youtube already know what drum corps is.

Plus, there are PLENTY of legit youtube and other free videos produced by member corps (assuming you're criticizing DCI for policing youtube for violating copyright)

[DKW]

Semifinals live. In IMAX 3D. :O

[lindap]

For years my neighbour Michelle and I were involved with school fund raising mostly for the music program. Each year we handed out a sheet of paper that explained what we do. Last year we put up posters that said 'If you like chocolate, come to room 2' or 'Want to be a teenager again? Go to room 2'. Got lots of good people to help with the chocolate fundraiser. Go figure.

Alberta Girls had an orange van 76-80 that was used as a staff vehicle or for pulling our cooking trailer on our short trips. On the van was lettering that said 'World Famous Girls'. Almost everytime we'd stop for gas, someone would ask "So what are you famous for?" and then we'd tell them all about drum corps ;-)

Creative marketing or 'word of mouth'? Can these terms apply to Websites and Forums in our modern world?

[sday88]

That's a tough one, since it's a niche activity that's an offshoot of another niche activity. I mean, without woodwinds, we're talking about drum corps have a target audience of guard, brass and percussion members. With limited instrumentation you're limited in membership and fan potential. I've known plenty of ww players who have switched from a ww instrument to a brass instrument to march. But playing drum corps videos for woodwind band students it's obvious that they lose interest quick when they realize they're not watching anyone playing their instrument; there's a reason why so many reviews on here have qualifiers like, "I'm a drum guy, so my focus was mainly on percussion but I'll try to make one or two comments about other stuff."

I think DCI already does stuff like send literature to high schools, corps directors typically stay in contact with local band directors to promote membership drives and summer shows, and members talk to their friends to hype it up. We're kidding ourselves if we think the average newbie with no affiliations or history in the activity will see literature somewhere that will lead the to become fans. Plus, it's not like DCI has a large advertising budget and can afford to pay for TV commercials or something. I noticed all last summer they did have adds before movies for the Quarter finals theater thing. I thought that was a smart movie that probably maximized their limited funds and was a realistic way to market to new fans.

I honestly don't know what else they can do, though, given all of the variables involved

I don't agree with this because it's like saying that just because I'm not a figure skater I have no interest in watching figure skating. It just doesn't make sense. (Disclaimer: I actually do not like to watch figure skating, but it's not because I don't do it.)

[Grumpy]

No matter whom you expose to the activity, they either "get it" and are hooked, or they don't. About 10 yrs ago, the alumni corps I was with did half time shows at the home football games for a local small college, for 2 seasons. Our payment was that we got to use the stadium (which was brand new) to host our own DCI show as our big fundraiser. As is normally the case at half time, there was constant coming and going into the stands as people used the rest rooms or got themselves a hot dog. I don't imagine that many of these folks are still following the drum & bugle corps activity. Around the same time, I took the woman I was dating (who had never even HEARD of drum corps before we met) to her first drum corps show when the championships were in Buffalo. Although we still dated for several more years, she never went to another show. She had no problem with me going, she just didn't enjoy it. My wife (different woman) was first introduced to drum corps by me at the Plymouth, MA America's Hometown Thanksgiving drum corps standstill. Although not as "passionate" about the activity as myself and some of our friends, she attends all the shows with me each year including DCI and DCA championships as well as local shows. Neither came from a musical background....some "get it", some don't. My own exposure to the activity was in the early '60's, when I used to tag along with my dad and can vaguely remember going to practices in Pittsfield, MA for the Pittsfield Cavaliers and listening to his Fleetwood LP's of the Hawthorne Caballeros. When the Cavaliers folded, there was no drum corps in Pittsfield for probably a good 15 years or so. My very small high school had no band. Then the local Fourth of July parade committee started hosting DCI shows as fund raisers. Although I had moved out of the area, my family was still there so I went to the show one year, got hooked again, and started going back for the show every year. When I was in my early 30's, I picked up an instrument for the first time and marched for the first time when a local alumni corps looking for members promised in their flyers that "experience wasn't required, they will teach". I "got it"....others don't. I find most of the people out there that have even heard of drum corps are older folks, who actually marched in neighborhood corps "BITD"-usually early to mid 60's. If they can be persuaded to watch a video or come to a show, it's usually nothing like they remember and they politely watch and smile but that's the end...those that return to the activity "get it"...the rest don't. DCI tried to reach the masses, first via PBS and later ESPN. Perhaps a video of championship highlights could be produced and distributed each year to be broadcast on some of the thousands of local cable access channels? That might at least put it in front of folks and pique their interest. If there is a drum corps show nearby, find a venue, any venue, even if it's a city park, for a corps to a free standstill performance a few hours or a day before the show...perhaps the corps staying in your town's school. Make sure that the public knows that this corps and four or five others of the same caliber will be performing at Stadium A in Your City at 7:00 pm. Put the product in front of the public...they will either "get it"....or not.

[bobjacobs]

stop being youtube nazis.

youtube builds fans and potential marchers.

Understand that if DCI knowingly and willingly allows copyright violations to occur, the publishers can simply revoke the rights to perform their music. In some situations, DCI could also be liable for additional fees.

With 22 World Class corps playing an average of four or five copyrighted works in a single performance, it doesn't take long for the licensing fees to add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. This translates to a substantial portion of the $$ the fans pay for CDs, DVDs and downloads.

This story from DCI.org explains much of that. The policing of YouTube and other sites is, for now at least, a necessary evil.