garfield Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 True! True! Whitewater was a great example as was DeKalb later on. Then suddenly they both stopped, altho I did see a great drum corps show this past summer at Whitewater - not quite the same caliber but still it was FUN! I think this actually touches on the root of this post: What, exactly, was "fun" about this year's show that reminded you of Whitewater. I marched at Whitewater and I don't remember it being "fun" per se, but if you can identify "it" ("fun"), I bet we'd be closer to why resurrecting the old "fun" format might not work (or might!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I'll just keep this brief... but... the type of sponsorship I am talking about would likely be an FMCG company. That would be a good fit.... not a Yamaha or something like that. These companies have budgets for exactly this sort of thing that are not out of line with what I have mentioned... just needs to be positioned right. About % of operating revenue... this is irrelevant.. as it is value-based pricing... according to the value to the brand, not the cost to execute. What I described with collecting demographic data and being able to have multiple touchpoints over the year... this is where the money is. Not a banner or a ad in a program or an announcement, or simply a branded event, etc. This would also be on top of ticket sales and would really only effect the current group buy tickets ... but there would be a major emphasis on boosting these group tickets. I am certain that there are loads of others that have envisioned this model... but I don't know if any of them have actually done this sort of thing (if you haven't done it, you think it is crazy hard... if you have... you understand it really isn't all that hard). Anyway, I can only offer concepts.... make some introductions... but am not allowed to get into any execution of something like this... even if doing it for free... at least for another nearly 2 years. What is an "FMCG" company? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 What is an "FMCG" company? Fast Moving Consumer Goods 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I'll just keep this brief... but... the type of sponsorship I am talking about would likely be an FMCG company. That would be a good fit.... not a Yamaha or something like that. These companies have budgets for exactly this sort of thing that are not out of line with what I have mentioned... just needs to be positioned right. About % of operating revenue... this is irrelevant.. as it is value-based pricing... according to the value to the brand, not the cost to execute. What I described with collecting demographic data and being able to have multiple touchpoints over the year... this is where the money is. Not a banner or a ad in a program or an announcement, or simply a branded event, etc. This would also be on top of ticket sales and would really only effect the current group buy tickets ... but there would be a major emphasis on boosting these group tickets. I am certain that there are loads of others that have envisioned this model... but I don't know if any of them have actually done this sort of thing (if you haven't done it, you think it is crazy hard... if you have... you understand it really isn't all that hard). Anyway, I can only offer concepts.... make some introductions... but am not allowed to get into any execution of something like this... even if doing it for free... at least for another nearly 2 years. Sorry, Dan; maybe I need another glass of sherry, but this doesn't make sense because it's so vague. Your statement about "value" is info in a vacuum. % operating revenue...value-based pricing...what the heck are you talking about? Gate pricing? The brand should be DCI only? (Don't forget that the corps themselves are the "brand", as it should be, and not DCI.) Are you suggesting that remarketing under a different brand would present more value, draw more values-based fans, and then we can adjust prices to match the ensuing attendance? What would be that other "brand"? "Multiple touch points"? From whom? We already collect demographic data and stay in contact with fans throughout the year. A different "branding" is going to do that better? Are you suggesting I can sell hats during the off-season and, presumably, make a profit if I would only "touch" multiple times a year? Surely you don't mean I can sell tickets...when we don't even know the lineup of the show next year? Your comments on groups tickets is unclear. Please restate. Is it safe to assume that DCI has NOT already talked to one of these magicians who you say "have done it" and, therefor, don't know about the validity of your magic elixer? Heck, I can't even figure out from your post what "done it" actually is. I'm interested in your comments, but only when I can figure out what the heck you mean. The Other Dan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Fast Moving Consumer Goods OK, thanks. Now I'll reconsider your post and see if it makes any more sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 (edited) Fundraising skills? What are you talking about? wasnt that long ago you were preaching about non profits,raising money..corps asking for a hundred grand how easy it all was....what people would donate in you grand scheme....and telling those IN the fundraising area and directors...............basically they were wrong and of course you right......have a nice day Edited October 12, 2011 by GUARDLING Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 wasnt that long ago you were preaching about non profits,raising money..corps asking for a hundred grand how easy it all was....what people would donate in you grand scheme....and telling those IN the fundraising area and directors...............basically they were wrong and of course you right......have a nice day I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, because he might just be...well..."sounds crazy, might work", smart. Not blowing snow up your butt, Dan, I still think we have fundamental disagreements. But I really can't tell until I can decipher what your posts mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 What is an "FMCG" company? First Manhattan Consulting Group Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Brands that might find potential in the activity won't really want older people there... at all... at least at some events. It is more valuable to them if the audience is almost exclusively young. Anyway, the main point is that the emphasis on what to focus on in the future is a bit off. Emphasis should not be placed on boosting the gate figures... the gate is small money in comparison to other opportunities. The real money is in highly-focused sponsorship and brand-integration with the events that is consistent throughout the entire tour. As an example, my old company used to promote a series of local events in various countries for a major global consumer brand. These events were targeted toward youth ages 18-24. The events were free, but required that attendees register online and complete a short demographic, lifestyle and brand preference survey and agreed to be contacted periodically throughout the year. Each event attracted between 7,000-12,000 attendees. For each event in the series, the client was spending generally between $120,000 - 200,000... and they felt that it was money well spent. If DCI were to take a similar approach and target youth with a similar subsidized ticket model, it could be an absolute game changer for the activity. For this approach to even be possible, some fundamental aspects of the tour and event experience need to change. First and foremost in this is a single tour brand. It is absolutely impossible to get a tour sponsor behind something that does not have a single consistent brand... impossible. Only once this step has been made can there be a serious discussion about sponsorship. The second thing that needs to change is that the very concept of local events needs to shift to something more like a franchise model... with a much more consistent audience experience (from entrance to exit), consistent branding, consistent methodology for pretty much everything. It becomes basically a turnkey event. Until these two core things change, the events are pretty much unsponsorable in any meaningful way and activity is jumping over dollars to pick up dimes. brands that see potential in the activity may want them there as well. See you're missing something here DCI has learned the last few years..... it can't solely rely on kids. It has to appeal to all, and DCI has done, IMO, a pretty good job the last two years in making their product something for EVERYONE ($1 to RAMD fans). Kids arent paying the prices for finals and regionals, THE SHOWS DCI makes the most money off of. DCI gets a set fee from each show sponsor. in fact, large groups of kids brought to shows usually do not even pay full price. so how does DCI make more $$ by aiming for just kids? It wasn't, DCI realized that. All G7 stuff aside, DCI realized it needed old farts too. So it became a little more friendly to all....and voila...attendance went up this year. Imagine that. Seems to me, for all of your marketing genius, DCI is doing a better job of running their product lately than you would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Heck, I AM being nice. The problem is only that you've never seen me be not nice (admittedly, a rarity). Out of hand I don't think the idea has merit because of the other regionals that are already on the schedule. I don't think you'd get enough "old style" (read: OLD) corps fans to come even if you could get corps to play an old-style show. The only hope would be to create a new series of DCI/DCA corps into a regional series, and that is probably not going to happen in the iteration of DCA today. As much as I love the idea, even the Marion Cadets (sponsor of the USOpen) has been dead and gone for years. Only a few in the activity even remember the importance of the show. Hence the odd-ball discussion that's pulled the thread off your original track. DCI and DCA are working together more than at any time in the last 40 years. 15 years ago, would you expect to see DCA corps ata DCI regional judged on DCA sheets? You do now, and that's a good thing. The real issue is right now, the DCAcorps outside of the NE are widespread geographically, so you don't see as many of them at shows aswe would like. But the last two years, Stanford, Atlanta and Minnesota each had DCA corps at the show, getting numbers on DCA sheets....and showed them all on theFan network too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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