mendy328 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I wonder how much an 'entertaining' year truly has to do with this. If you are an alumni or drum corps die hard, you are going to see 'your' corps no matter what. Does the rest of the audience ('fringe' crowd) actually hear whether or not the year is good/bad and make the decision to attend based on that? Just wondering. Instead of marketing to non-corps/band/music folks in Indy alone, would it be better for DCI to market more to alumni? Many that I know hadn't been in years, myself included, but regained interest upon return. Just some thoughts. Also, as a member, I loved going to new and exotic locations every year for finals (Montreal, Miami, etc.). I can imagine that Indy might get old for those that march many years, especially coming from California. It would be interesting to hear from some of those members. Not having been to a show in quite a while, I was surprised to see how small the crowd was this year compared to the 35,000 I used to perform for. I'm glad DCI is working on this and I hope they never die! It's a wonderful activity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I can second this account. I spoke with most of the DCI office staff at varying points throughout the weekend, and this, along with 30% souvie sales increases across the board, was confirmed. Location had to help the souvir folks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 (edited) Fair enough. All I can tell you is I have no reason to doubt his account. He surely is privy to such information. And nothing in the circumstances surrounding our discussion gave me any reason to doubt what he said or why he said it. I realize I am just a pseudonym and some initials around here and thus no prophet proper. Neither however am I one to proffer false facts in these threads. Opinions I have plenty. Misleading with disinformation or innuendo? Not me. This might be as close as we get to the facts in this matter. Some might want to get ready to reconcile themselves to the possiblity that Indy isn't a total failure. HH These attendance figures will also be encouraging to those in the G7 that gave a power point presentation less than a year and a half ago that predicted a dreary future for DCI. My guess, the better designed fan friendly shows, the reemergence of the Madison Scouts ( that has a huge prescence now in Indiana ) as well as better treatment of the Open Class Corps during championship week, has all contributed to a little better attendance figures this year over last year in Indy. So it looks like things are a bit better than the G7 archtects predicted, once DCI made some moves to make fans want to come out more to watch these shows. So its a good new beginning. I also think that the new DCI BOD that has been put in place has been a plus as well in this new direction. They got behind Cesario's suggestions, supported those measures, and this has helped as well, imo. Edited August 16, 2011 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skywhopper Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I wonder how much an 'entertaining' year truly has to do with this. If you are an alumni or drum corps die hard, you are going to see 'your' corps no matter what. Does the rest of the audience ('fringe' crowd) actually hear whether or not the year is good/bad and make the decision to attend based on that? Just wondering. I think at the margins there are a certain number of people who either heard the shows were great this year or saw the shows for themselves earlier in the season and decided it was worth the effort to make the trip to Indy. I certainly saw some of that going on here on DCP. I'm not sure if that could account for the apparent boost in finals attendance, but I think it was definitely part of any increase over whatever the baseline was going to be before the shows were revealed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Balash Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 (edited) Also more open class corps were probably still in town than usual. That is a lot more corps members in the crowd. Entertainment, and they marketed better this year I believe. And it helped that the Cadets were up for the gold. Not that bad to travel from points east. I guarantee you that if it was a similar year as last year, (nothing interesting really going on) attendance would be similar. I STILL WANT TO SEE PUBLISHED NUMBERS FROM DCI. Word of mouth means #### to me this day. No offense to how credible your source and you may be. Haven't see a number since what? 2007? http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=e036bb58-e95e-4e9b-8f04-28b6081f8e94 World Championship Prelims, Thursday, Aug. 11 – 6,903 World Championship Semifinals, Friday Aug. 12 – 12,351 World Championship Finals, Saturday, Aug. 13 – 17,363 The attendance for the three-day event totals 36,617, which does not include corps and staff members who entered the stadium after performances with wristbands or staff/VIP credentials. “Finals-night attendance this year grew 9.2 percent from last season,” said Dan Acheson, Executive Director of Drum Corps International. “Given the difficult economic climate being experienced by many drum corps families and fans, we are pleased with the growth of our largest event. Edited August 18, 2011 by Dan Balash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 An even bigger indicator of an uptick in attendance was also in that some article: "The Open Class World Championship in Michigan City, Ind., welcomed 1,191 spectators to Ames Field during the two-day event, representing a 30 percent increase in attendance from a year earlier." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 Ticket sales do not always translate into actual attendence. That's why most baseball parks use turnstiles. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 Nice! Well done, DCI. Mike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 Great job, DCI, on two fronts: 1) Achieving an increase in attendance. There will be all kinds of analysis but, the fact is, attaining an increase in any environment (let alone one that stinks like this one) is a GREAT achievement! 2) Being forthcoming in quickly announcing it to the public. Way to go! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peel Paint Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 ...the fact is, attaining an increase in any environment (let alone one that stinks like this one) is a GREAT achievement! It really is. I read an article (I believe it was in Business Week) that USA travel is off substantially this summer compared to 2010 because of falling consumer confidence and tight family budgets. Many families are staycationing. Attendance at national parks is down sharply. Lodging occupancy everywhere is down, commonly 30% comparing summer 2011 to summer 2010. Resorts that last year had NO VACANCY had plenty of vacancy this year. Ancillary travel business in restaurants and attractions is off as well. Some vacation businesses have already folded and many more are expected to toss in the towel at the end of the summer and not reopen in 2012. It's possible that the increase this year came locally and not from people traveling to and staying in Indianapolis hotels. But it's still a significant achievement in this economic environment to get this kind of increase in attendance. And again, I think it's due to more entertaining shows that people got excited about. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.