Champion Merchandise

[dcinut85]

I know when a corps wins the DCI and DCA World Championship, that corps usually creates a line of clothing to commemorate the title (shirts, pins, sweatshirts, hats, collectables). Do you think it would be worth while for DCI to put out a line of champions merchandise like what is seen in the NFL, MLB, NHL, NCAA, and even NASCAR?

I understand that it is for a "smaller crowd" as compared to the major sports in the USA, but I still think it would be cool to see. I also don't want to see the items that the individual corps puts out get taken away. Maybe just one t-shirt or sweatshirt design and thats it. Just leave other items to that winning corps.

Maybe this has been done in the past and failed. Just trying to get some opinions on this.

[BD9]

There would be a lot of Blue Devils and Cadets shirts floating around in that case..

[rkfdPRphan]

Are you talking something like the patches you can buy for the different DCI events?

Only put that same logo/idea on t-shirts, caps, sweats?

[dcinut85]

I guess another way to put this is like this....

Whenever a major sports team wins a title, they have "Locker Room Edition" clothing, like hats and shirts saying "2012 Super Bowl Champion" and the team logo and logo of the event, in this case the DCI World Championship logo in a "cool looking" design.

If you are not sure what I am talking about just search for championship merchandise for a year or event. There is a lot out there and I think it would look great with the DCI logos with the same concept.

And yes there would be a lot of Cadets and Blue Devils stuff around, but that happens.

[soccerguy315]

if they plan ahead, they could sell them to people as they leave the arena! of course, there'd be some of this, but what can you do?

[1977Kingsmen]

They should do this how could it not sell?

[friceox]

Well I'll but in here really quick, since I deal with this as my day job.

Now, when it comes to championship merchandise for professional teams (MLB, NFL, NHL, etc) that merchandise is ordered about 3/4 of the way through the season. Graphics are sent out to all the retailers interested (then they just adjust the graphic for the specific team when the time comes). The retailers have to pre-book everything in "what-if" orders. The second the team they ordered clinches a playoff spot, championship spot, wins a championship, then the order goes into production and they get billed. If their team doesn't make the playoffs, gets knocked out, loses, etc, then the order is tossed immediately after the game.

Minimal product is created after all of the prebooked orders are done. This is so the manufacturers don't get stuck with dated merchandise. This is how the clothing is handled. Hardgoods, they prebook that stuff still, but they'll make it for years since they can make it with such low minimums.

Now on the DCI side of things, if DCI wanted to take advantage of a "hot market" with a DCI Championship each year, then they'd need to be prepared to have shirts the next day and get them shipping immediately, otherwise the market goes cold and they'll be stuck with tons of dated product.

I just don't see the market being large enough for DCI to make a financial risk of purchasing merchandise that might not sell.

Now, the I think it would work if it went more through an affiliate program. Now of days, championship merchandise is created by the corps itself over time. if the corps were to have their graphics ready to go, they could easily post it for sale on their website and have it for sale on the DCI website through an affiliate program (DCI would get a little chunk of sales that go through the DCI website). Even if the merchandise doesn't ship for a week or two, it's fine, but marketing for DCI Championship merchandise dies out after a couple of weeks on a national basis (however it'll last for quite sometime within the corps and it's devoted fans).

Again, a corps won't want to get stuck with dated merchandise in their souvie truck, cause they're just going to have to sell it at a discount to recoup for their principle cost.

Say the Cadets win again in 2012, and they come out with a back-to-back shirt, then all and any shirts left over from 2011 will quickly become obsolete.

"Hot Markets" are exactly what the term says it is, a hot market. Once the market goes cold, you want to be done with it. Make your money while it's hot and don't be the guy stuck with excess merchandise.

[ozarkbugler]

Well I'll but in here really quick, since I deal with this as my day job.

Now, when it comes to championship merchandise for professional teams (MLB, NFL, NHL, etc) that merchandise is ordered about 3/4 of the way through the season. Graphics are sent out to all the retailers interested (then they just adjust the graphic for the specific team when the time comes). The retailers have to pre-book everything in "what-if" orders. The second the team they ordered clinches a playoff spot, championship spot, wins a championship, then the order goes into production and they get billed. If their team doesn't make the playoffs, gets knocked out, loses, etc, then the order is tossed immediately after the game.

Minimal product is created after all of the prebooked orders are done. This is so the manufacturers don't get stuck with dated merchandise. This is how the clothing is handled. Hardgoods, they prebook that stuff still, but they'll make it for years since they can make it with such low minimums.

Now on the DCI side of things, if DCI wanted to take advantage of a "hot market" with a DCI Championship each year, then they'd need to be prepared to have shirts the next day and get them shipping immediately, otherwise the market goes cold and they'll be stuck with tons of dated product.

I just don't see the market being large enough for DCI to make a financial risk of purchasing merchandise that might not sell.

Now, the I think it would work if it went more through an affiliate program. Now of days, championship merchandise is created by the corps itself over time. if the corps were to have their graphics ready to go, they could easily post it for sale on their website and have it for sale on the DCI website through an affiliate program (DCI would get a little chunk of sales that go through the DCI website). Even if the merchandise doesn't ship for a week or two, it's fine, but marketing for DCI Championship merchandise dies out after a couple of weeks on a national basis (however it'll last for quite sometime within the corps and it's devoted fans).

Again, a corps won't want to get stuck with dated merchandise in their souvie truck, cause they're just going to have to sell it at a discount to recoup for their principle cost.

Say the Cadets win again in 2012, and they come out with a back-to-back shirt, then all and any shirts left over from 2011 will quickly become obsolete.

"Hot Markets" are exactly what the term says it is, a hot market. Once the market goes cold, you want to be done with it. Make your money while it's hot and don't be the guy stuck with excess merchandise.

Just think of the drum corps fan base we could develop in Africa (and for the non-winning corps!)

[friceox]

Just think of the drum corps fan base we could develop in Africa (and for the non-winning corps!)

Ha!!

An interesting thing about stuff like that, if you are local to the manufacturer for the championship merchandise, you have the option to pick up the championship merchandise BEFORE the event even happens (they'll give you a certain percentage of the order). If your team wins, you can rip it out of the boxes and start selling immediately. If your team loses, then you have to return it within 48 hours and if a SINGLE item is missing, they charge you for the full order (the stuff that's returned is what goes to 3rd world countries).