George Dixon Posted February 22, 2016 Author Share Posted February 22, 2016 DCI however is pretty much unenjoyable in the off season if we are honest about it with ourselves. DCI is apparently not for our use in the off season either ( especially with the recent loss of the archives on the DCI site ). We get more information about bears in hibernation in the winter than we do about most of the DCI Corps. Plus, bears in the wild go in to hibernation in their offseaon for a lot less longer than these DCI Corps do. DCI Corps go into hibernation for approx. 3/4ths of the year. Thankfully, at least The Cadets are the most transparent DCI Corps of all the DCI Corps ( and by far, imo ) and allow the fans a frequent look into their practices and camps. Without The Cadets frequently posted off season camp videos they provide us, the bears caves ( DCI ) would be shut down tighter than the Messiah's Tomb was. I completely agree that the DCI "off season" marketing and outreach needs and deserves massive change when you abandon your "client" for effectively 9 months straight (September through May) you can expect high attrition DCI (and the individual corps) should do MUCH MORE off season programming and content to keep folks engaged year round live "webcast" events with live-feed reports from various camps an April "convention" with the marketplace, a few teaching/design seminar break out sessions and 3 or 4 ATTENDING DRUM CORPS to play stand still previews of their upcoming shows - plus some guest "speakers" including alumni who've made it big, activity HOF inductions etc... a theater event in mid-winter with a "championship series" type broadcast. Play a series of championship shows (maybe 6 years or so) with in-between interviews from corps directors, alumni, design/teaching teams, broadcast in theater and online at same time a non-live DCI finals simulcast (theater/online) that runs again through the top 6 or so with additional content and analysis / color commentary & interviews - plus a couple "behind the scenes" You simply MUST keep "the customer" engaged year round. It helps retention big time when I originally developed DCP we had a vision more like this - with diaries, an off season convention, awards season "DCP Awards", original content from camps etc A lot of push back from the "powers that be" on that vision... Sigh. Extremely DUMB At least Hopkins gets it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfrontz Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 I completely agree that the DCI "off season" marketing and outreach needs and deserves massive change when you abandon your "client" for effectively 9 months straight (September through May) you can expect high attrition DCI (and the individual corps) should do MUCH MORE off season programming and content to keep folks engaged year round live "webcast" events with live-feed reports from various camps an April "convention" with the marketplace, a few teaching/design seminar break out sessions and 3 or 4 ATTENDING DRUM CORPS to play stand still previews of their upcoming shows - plus some guest "speakers" including alumni who've made it big, activity HOF inductions etc... a theater event in mid-winter with a "championship series" type broadcast. Play a series of championship shows (maybe 6 years or so) with in-between interviews from corps directors, alumni, design/teaching teams, broadcast in theater and online at same time a non-live DCI finals simulcast (theater/online) that runs again through the top 6 or so with additional content and analysis / color commentary & interviews - plus a couple "behind the scenes" You simply MUST keep "the customer" engaged year round. It helps retention big time when I originally developed DCP we had a vision more like this - with diaries, an off season convention, awards season "DCP Awards", original content from camps etc A lot of push back from the "powers that be" on that vision... Sigh. Extremely DUMB At least Hopkins gets it. Didn't they do off-season theatercasts for a few years? Doubt that's much of a starter now with all the copyright stuff going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 (edited) DCI however is pretty much unenjoyable in the off season if we are honest about it with ourselves. DCI is apparently not for our use in the off season either ( especially with the recent loss of the archives on the DCI site ). We get more information about bears in hibernation in the winter than we do about most of the DCI Corps. Plus, bears in the wild go in to hibernation in their offseaon for a lot less longer than these DCI Corps do. DCI Corps go into hibernation for approx. 3/4ths of the year. Thankfully, at least The Cadets are the most transparent DCI Corps of all the DCI Corps ( and by far, imo ) and allow the fans a frequent look into their practices and camps. Without The Cadets frequently posted off season camp videos they provide us, the bears caves ( DCI ) would be shut down tighter than the Messiah's Tomb was. Apparently not very tight, since the mythological dead guy woke up two days later and moved the big rock himself. Edited February 22, 2016 by Kamarag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted February 22, 2016 Author Share Posted February 22, 2016 Didn't they do off-season theatercasts for a few years? Doubt that's much of a starter now with all the copyright stuff going on. live/streaming events aren't nearly as much of an issue as hard content - digital or physical the copyright issues is a short lived problem - it will be fixed when we have an intelligent administration in DC that will update the laws to reflect the times and technology in which we live similar to the apple phone "controversy" of the day - unfortunately our government is using antiquated thought (laws for traditional hard wired telephone companies attempting to apply to digital wireless content) DCI similarly hasn't adapted fully to the social media and digital world - and most organizations comprising DCI are being run like there's a secretive cold world going on The biggest thing "drum corps" could leverage is social media and digital events - and they fail to do so. They literally want to remain "the greatest activity in north america that no one has ever heard of" -- it's ingrained into their DNA and very thought processes and structures... Sadly we are off topic now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sluggo Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 It would be interesting to see how much the Theater events cost DCI. Sure, we would all love to see DCI everyday, however, what about in BOA in November, then in April, show WGI. I'm sure both of these events wouldn't bring the crowds that DCI would bring, but may be able to keep some sort of 'fix' for those of us wanting something. We are able to see bands in Parades for Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, as well as Rose Bowl Parade, what about other events like Cherry Blossom Parade, or St. Patrick's Day? (yeah, one could hope) Wonder how much 'new' audience DCI will gain with The Rocks Docu-series coming next year Before social media really took off, I know Dan Potter was doing his podcasts, but not sure if he still does them as I haven't subscribed to podcasts the last few years.as for the Kaleidoscopic type drills, it would be great to see them come back and move away from the theatrics we have come to know of DCI/BOA. As others have stated, some corps have been able to emulate those great designs of Michael Gaines, Zingali, or Brubaker, but no one has ever come close to them as we remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 (edited) It would be interesting to see how much the Theater events cost DCI. Sure, we would all love to see DCI everyday, however, what about in BOA in November, then in April, show WGI. I'm sure both of these events wouldn't bring the crowds that DCI would bring, but may be able to keep some sort of 'fix' for those of us wanting something. We are able to see bands in Parades for Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, as well as Rose Bowl Parade, what about other events like Cherry Blossom Parade, or St. Patrick's Day? (yeah, one could hope) Wonder how much 'new' audience DCI will gain with The Rocks Docu-series coming next year Before social media really took off, I know Dan Potter was doing his podcasts, but not sure if he still does them as I haven't subscribed to podcasts the last few years. as for the Kaleidoscopic type drills, it would be great to see them come back and move away from the theatrics we have come to know of DCI/BOA. As others have stated, some corps have been able to emulate those great designs of Michael Gaines, Zingali, or Brubaker, but no one has ever come close to them as we remember. Sometimes we forget that these designers today would probably NOTbe doing the same things we remember.. why would they I don't believe you will see the death of this type of' drill " but we may see a complete different approach and how it's blended together. Edited February 23, 2016 by GUARDLING Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 By the time of quarterfinals, they were in the blacks for several shows, muscle memory of each mm drill is still in place, so I'm sorry but I'm not buying a uniform change for perceived issues that led to a drop in placement. I'd say the Cadets may have already maxed out their show more than the corps in their scoring group and the uniform (as mentioned by others) may have hurt visual scores, But I have not compared any of their scores leading up to finals week to see if they were stagnant and other corps were gaining. I may be wrong with the mm having visual issues with their fellow mm they have marched next too for weeks. ya know...the logic part of my brain wants to agree with you. However...they only had the uniforms a week by quarters. I watched a periscope of the last run in the traditional uniform, and saw them live in the black 2/3 days later...and wow, what a difference to the eyes the change made.By Atlanta, you could really tell in the old uniforms things were starting to really shine for them....and within a week, they started falling back. The Cadets were .7 back at Atlanta, most in visual and effect, .55 back the night at TOC, again due to effect and visual...and the visual numbers just stagnated after making gains all season Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 (edited) <snip> At least Hopkins some of the directors do it. Fixed that for you. I think the prominent top corps do the best job because they have staff all season. But the majority of corps don't. This is one of those situations where the "other" corps would LOVE for the top corps to keep the social activity going year round, but those top corps (maybe rightfully) resent spending their efforts to promote the activity (and its mixed-bag of corps' capabilities/efforts). Individual corps do it but don't want "collective" DCI money spent on promoting corps that don't promote themselves, and GH has been one of the most vocal in sharing that resentment, from what I hear. Your description is not an East Coast thing, nor is it exclusive to Cadets, IMO. Edited February 23, 2016 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted February 23, 2016 Author Share Posted February 23, 2016 (edited) Yeah, uh, didn't say it was an East coast thing or a Hopkins only thing, I was simply saying that he got what I was talking about. And the things that I was suggesting were DCI centered. The tiny crew YEA! has year round which struggles just to produce the band circuit etc isnt the difference maker. In my experience typically attitude and priorities make the difference Edited February 23, 2016 by George Dixon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 (edited) Yeah, uh, didn't say it was an East coast thing or a Hopkins only thing, I was simply saying that he got what I was talking about. And the things that I was suggesting were DCI centered. The tiny crew YEA! has year round which struggles just to produce the band circuit etc isnt the difference maker. In my experience typically attitude and priorities make the difference I get it, and I don't disagree with your premise about year-round contact. But I'll also push back that Hop is somehow "at least" unique in your suggestion. You could have added or substituted the others I know you know "get it", too, like BD, Crown, 'Coats, heck, Boston, Colts, Academy, Pacific Crest... Hopkins has been among the most vocal against promoting "the activity" with "his" DCI ticket revenue while BD has done the most to promote it, IMO. "At least Dave gets it." Do you sense how unbalanced that claim is? Edited February 23, 2016 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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