garfield Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 2 hours ago, Jeff Ream said: depends on how high level a company you're looking to go with. A major name? Not likely. Well, and I think this is what Stu was saying: Major music and related companies might be saturated, but smaller "Bob's Burgers" sponsors - or maybe Sysco foods contracts to deliver all food to all corps at 1/2 what they're paying now as an activity (spit-balling). Or a new upstart California surfer-dude who turned his surfboard business into a thriving sunscreen company and has a budget that's smaller than Hawaiian Tropic, for example. I get what he's saying, I just don't think drum corps has enough eyeballs to attract a sizable contract. I think the begging for sponsorship dollars is mostly dead until there are more eyeballs to make it worth, even, Punkin-Chunkin size. Much to my chagrin, Break Dancing is making it to the Olympics before drum corps (if drum corps ever does). I'd love to know the eyeballs on Punkin-Chunkin or the National BreakDancing finals... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 (edited) 14 minutes ago, garfield said: Much to my chagrin, Break Dancing is making it to the Olympics before drum corps (if drum corps ever does). I'd love to know the eyeballs on Punkin-Chunkin or the National BreakDancing finals... I saw a cornhole tournament recently on ESPN2. So perhaps there is hope. LOL. Just out of curiosity... and at the risk of channeling my inner Stu here... ... if you acknowledge that drum corps doesn't have enough eyeballs to attract a major corporate deal... then why the animosity toward Under Armour? They're one of dozens upon dozens of major companies... companies whose products are used by DCI members... who either have ignored DCI, are ignorant of DCI, or have no plans to ever do a deal with DCI. Why not single out those other companies by name? Did you have a bad experience at an Under Armour store or something? Don't like their return policy? Edited March 19, 2019 by Fran Haring 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 25 minutes ago, Fran Haring said: I saw a cornhole tournament recently on ESPN2. So perhaps there is hope. LOL. Just out of curiosity... and at the risk of channeling my inner Stu here... ... if you acknowledge that drum corps doesn't have enough eyeballs to attract a major corporate deal... then why the animosity toward Under Armour? They're one of dozens upon dozens of major companies... companies whose products are used by DCI members... who either have ignored DCI, are ignorant of DCI, or have no plans to ever do a deal with DCI. Why not single out those other companies by name? Did you have a bad experience at an Under Armour store or something? Don't like their return policy? Because UA didn't say that drum corps is too small, they said that the drum corps image is not the image they want for their "athletic" wear. And UA is a lot less "major" than they were. Hahahahahaha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 17 minutes ago, garfield said: Because UA didn't say that drum corps is too small, they said that the drum corps image is not the image they want for their "athletic" wear. And UA is a lot less "major" than they were. Hahahahahaha! To me that sounds like a generic brush off without a direct insult. Kind of like a sports team saying “we don’t think .... would be a good fit for our team”. What they’re thinking is “.... play here? #### NO”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 10 minutes ago, garfield said: Because UA didn't say that drum corps is too small, they said that the drum corps image is not the image they want for their "athletic" wear. And UA is a lot less "major" than they were. Hahahahahaha! Still a big deal here in Baltimore. Without them, the city would be in more trouble than it is. They are a great corporate citizen. So your putdowns strike a chord with me. Don't other companies basically ignore DCI for their own reasons that have nothing to do with it being "too small" for them? Doesn't fit a company's image, whatever? Still not getting the "Under Armour are idiots" thing, at all. Especially since they're not. It's your opinion... but IMO, it's an unfair characterization. Not trying to belabor the point. That's Stu's job... he's better at it than anyone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 39 minutes ago, garfield said: Because UA didn't say that drum corps is too small, they said that the drum corps image is not the image they want for their "athletic" wear. And UA is a lot less "major" than they were. Hahahahahaha! A really good friend of mine races sprint cars at tracks in three States. The two of us have frequented this sports-bar/grill for a number of years; so much so that the owner knows us by name and on ocassion comps our libations. When I heard that the owner was going to expand into an area of one of the major tracks I told my friend he should ask about a possible sponsorship carrying the sports-bar name on the car. He did ask. And the sports-bar owner smiled and said that he did not consider auto racing a real sport, so no. My friend could have tried to convience him differently; he could have become insulted; and he could have huffed and puffed along with boycotting the place. But he did no such thing. My friend laguhed and said that many think that way about us roundy-rounders. And we are still getting drinks comped to this day. My point is... that was his place of business; it was his opinion; it was his marketing money to do with as he pleased; and we still love the guy and his sports-bar. Get what I am sayin'? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim K Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 (edited) On 3/17/2019 at 11:42 PM, Jeff Ream said: When PBS stopped, I called my local affiliate. I knew the then president of the station, and his words were " it came from on high after taking to several stations nationwide. The drum corps people call in, but don't follow up. We do better with oldies or yanni on pledge week than we did with drum corps". And this was, at that time, still a hot drum corps market. Sure they may have gotten eyes watching, but they didn't get what they needed...the cash. PBS is an umbrella of affliliates and there is not really an “on high” as far as programming. Affiliates report to their boards and the institutions that sponsor the affiliates. In general, affiliates decide what they will produce and raise funds for the show to be produced prior to broadcast, usually through grants, gifts from endowments, and perhaps funding from PBS itself. PBS is very clear that pledges allow them to broadcast programs, they are very vague in connecting pledges with specific programs. PBS works hard to make sure there are clear lines between what they do and commercial television does. While I don’t question what your friend said to you, the costs were the death knell, poor contributions showed lack of interest which was the nail in the coffin. Regarding Yanni, as much as I agree that drum corps had a sizable fan base in 1994 when “Yanni Live at the Acropolis” was released, and PBS made a New Age niche Star into a household name, drum corps would not have had the fan base of Yanni, even when he was not as well known as he became after PBS broadcast the show. Also, PBS did not produce “Yanni Live at the Acropolis,” it paid for the broadcast rights, just as it did with “The Three Tenors” a few years earlier and does with many shows broadcast during pledge periods. Edited March 19, 2019 by Tim K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skevinp Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 7 hours ago, Fran Haring said: Still a big deal here in Baltimore. Without them, the city would be in more trouble than it is. They are a great corporate citizen. So your putdowns strike a chord with me. Don't other companies basically ignore DCI for their own reasons that have nothing to do with it being "too small" for them? Doesn't fit a company's image, whatever? Still not getting the "Under Armour are idiots" thing, at all. Especially since they're not. It's your opinion... but IMO, it's an unfair characterization. Do you think characterizing DCI as not being athletic is a fair characterization? Is that not a put down that "strikes a chord" with you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 33 minutes ago, skevinp said: Do you think characterizing DCI as not being athletic is a fair characterization? Is that not a put down that "strikes a chord" with you? It certainly would be an uninformed characterization, I'll give you that. The Under Armour folks aren't perfect. But have they ever actually said DCI is not an athletic endeavour, or that it just doesn't fit their company's particular image for their particular brand of athletic gear? Or perhaps the perception, I'm guessing, is that "band" is not athletic. If the Under Armour people feel that way, it doesn't make them "idiots" or any such thing, IMO. Just a business decision on their part. Maybe a bad one, maybe not... but it's their call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, skevinp said: Do you think characterizing DCI as not being athletic is a fair characterization? Is that not a put down that "strikes a chord" with you? Question is does UA think that or are they concerned what the other customers may think... iow their image overall imo not being athletic <> not fitting their image (whatever they see that image as) Edited March 19, 2019 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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