TV Can’t Save Drum Corps

[Jeff Ream]

When PBS broadcast DCI, they did a wonderful job and managed to capture the grit and excitement. ESPN's quality was greater, but it may have been a bit too glitzy though I will admit, I do appreciate the quality when I watch the DVD's. However, you make a valid point about costs, but i would like to add another factor: viewership. I'm sure there are not stats available, but my guess would be that a good number of the viewers would have been in the age group of people marching today. I base this on Big, Live, and Loud audiences, at least those I've attended. About 3/4 of teh theater is filled with high school kids, which is a good thing. They'll be marching and attending live shows in the future. Kids generally do not watch TV as they once did, at least when they are high school or college age, and if they are watching TV on a Saturday in the summer, they're probably sick in bed or being punished by their parents (if they're high school age). They do go to the movies (though that is shrinking too) so events such as Big, Live and Loud for finals would work and they watch podcasts. Instead of television, DCI should continue to use new technologies and if they want to give a nod to all the fossils out there who may watch TV on Saturday (I'll admit, I'm one), there's always Pay per View.

using theaters on off nights is great. finals ina movie theater will neverhappen...saturday is too important to theater owners.

TV, unless someone else pays the bill is dead.

DCI needs to use the web and Fan network, and milk it for everything

[Jeff Ream]

I don't know, I teach high school and my kids seem like they are watch is tv. They're always talking about the Kardashians, Bad Girls Club, etc.

I think one thing missing is marketing on TV. I don't recall promos and adds on Comcast, Time Warner, etc. about DCI even when it was on ESPN.

right. Because you know what ad time in prime time costs?

way more than DCI can afford

[elmhurstmusiced]

right. Because you know what ad time in prime time costs?

way more than DCI can afford

My bad, didn't know I was talking about prime time.

Oh wait...

There's more time than prime time.

There's also more advertising than just on tv.

I saw some guy who was selling an album on itunes just rent a billboard in SW Michigan, there are ways to advertise.

DCI has never seemed to have the market figured out in advertising.

There are ways, and there are ways to advertise for TV and make it viable.

[Slingerland]

Fair enough. But your sponsorship assumption is an "if" almost as large.

HH

Not really. It's a matter of DCI's management (or the Board, which is a fluid situation moving forward, I think...) deciding to invest the resources there. A case of a $200-300k investment now reaping potentially many times its return on investment over the long term.

Edited May 15, 2013 by Slingerland

[Jeff Ream]

My bad, didn't know I was talking about prime time.

Oh wait...

There's more time than prime time.

There's also more advertising than just on tv.

I saw some guy who was selling an album on itunes just rent a billboard in SW Michigan, there are ways to advertise.

DCI has never seemed to have the market figured out in advertising.

There are ways, and there are ways to advertise for TV and make it viable.

DCi's mandate is to return as much money as possible to the corps. So, especially given the goings on of the last few years....what corps director is going to give up guaranteed cash in order to place billboards or online ads?

I'll wait

none

[Stu]

DCi's mandate is to return as much money as possible to the corps. So, especially given the goings on of the last few years....what corps director is going to give up guaranteed cash in order to place billboards or online ads?

I'll wait

none

Sort of throwing this out there: It is a matter of percentage pay out vs. revenue collected combined with risk vs. reward. Let's say that to return as much money as possible to the corps DCI decides to pay out an 80% return of collected revenue to the corps with only 5% going to salaries and 15% to marketing. Let's also say that in this scenario $1 mil is collected; thus $800k is paid out to the corps. Sounds reasonable, right? However let's say that DCI decides to pay out just a 50% return to the corps, and 15% goes to salaries and 35% goes to strategic marketing; and let's say due to securing higher caliber staff through higher salaries, along with more than doubling the strategic marketing, $3mil is collected; the corps in that scenario, though receiving a lower percentage pay out, would actually receive $1.5mil.

[elmhurstmusiced]

DCi's mandate is to return as much money as possible to the corps. So, especially given the goings on of the last few years....what corps director is going to give up guaranteed cash in order to place billboards or online ads?

I'll wait

none

Probably a director that knows something about running a business, advertising, and generating revenue. Unfortunately, there aren't many that do, so they will continue to live in their shoe box.

If they did, we would not see corps like the Glassmen have to take a year off.

If they did, you would see these things.

It's hard to "grow drum corps" as seems to be the big push without making a little investment in the process financially.

It's 1st year business school, and most can't seem to use that logic, oh well.

Let's hope the activity grows itself then. Forget using tactics that work and relying on grassroots word of mouth systems, those must be working.

[perc2100]

Probably a director that knows something about running a business, advertising, and generating revenue. Unfortunately, there aren't many that do, so they will continue to live in their shoe box.

If they did, we would not see corps like the Glassmen have to take a year off.

If they did, you would see these things.

It's hard to "grow drum corps" as seems to be the big push without making a little investment in the process financially.

It's 1st year business school, and most can't seem to use that logic, oh well.

Let's hope the activity grows itself then. Forget using tactics that work and relying on grassroots word of mouth systems, those must be working.

So you think that DCI should invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising in hopes that they reap a landfall of profits?! That is a lot of money to spend with the "hopefully this works" mindset. What folks say things like

the corps in that scenario, though receiving a lower percentage pay out, would actually receive $1.5mil.

that's at best speculation, and at worst fairly naive hope. You can't run a non-profit based on hope: especially when it comes to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It's my understanding that ANY corps can advertise themselves anyway they want to. There is nothing stopping, say, Carolina Crown from buying local TV ad space, or billboard space, etc to advertise their products and/or DCI products, right?

Do you think it's possible that DCI and/or its member corps have explored this pretty fully and come to the conclusion that it's probably futile, or at the very least the dollars needed for mass-market, broad advertising with nothing but hopefully speculation when it comes to financial returns/profits benefitting from the extra advertising, could be much better spent/utilized elsewhere.

[Slingerland]

So you think that DCI should invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising in hopes that they reap a landfall of profits?!

Yes. Everyone knows that part of running a professional, active, growing enterprise involves investing nothing at all in marketing or promotion, and that hiring marketing and promotions people with proven backgrounds in their field is a huge waste of money.

I think part of the problem here is that too many people in drum corps expect perfection from the kids who march, but accept mediocrity from the adults who run the activity.

Edited May 15, 2013 by Slingerland

[garfield]

Yes. Everyone knows that part of running a professional, active, growing enterprise involves investing nothing at all in marketing or promotion, and that hiring marketing and promotions people with proven backgrounds in their field is a huge waste of money.

I think part of the problem here is that too many people in drum corps expect perfection from the kids who march, but accept mediocrity from the adults who run the activity.

Excellent sentence. And if there were as much infighting and dissention among the ranks of any of their corps as there has been among the directors themselves, they'd likely shut the darn thing down and hope that they could restart with a new crew next year.