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Will DCA be around in 5 years?


Will DCA be around in 5 years?  

99 members have voted

  1. 1. Will DCA be around in 5 years?

    • Yes
      33
    • No
      66


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59 minutes ago, Poppycock said:

Don’t agree! Increase the quality of competition, better location and facilities for championships, new championship date,  then marketing. 

to be honest the age bracket DCA needs to market to likes the design trends in the activity today. i agree whole heartedly on facilities, but paying for a 20,000 seat stadium until you see crowds that make it affordable is pointless. granted Williamsport needs to be done with sooner than latter. 

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10 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

easy. DCi has full time employees that do marketing. I never see DCA's marketing directors name on anything but the DCA website. Now I have heard in the past mini corps tried to get into shows, and the rumor was something about wanting a lot of money to do it. I dont know how DCi structures it for paying those groups, if at all, but remember at least for competing corps, DCi has a set policy on paying corps. DCA is an every corps negotiates their own deal approach, so hosts can be strapped, as they aren't drawing the same sized crowds DCi regular season shows are. of any of the current DCA regular season shows sites still going I have been to, none hold over 2500 fans

I mean DCI has a few full-time marketers, but they also lean pretty on interns. I've been pretty close to some of the team running it, and a lot of it doesn't require full-time staff. Especially with so many templates, and tools; along with heavy desire for interns to work with the organization they are able to scale up each year with paid staff, and interns along with leveraging things like DCI Ambassadors in the past. I'm not really talking about anything close to that; I mean literally something like what DCI does; get a corps director to take over marketing and then build a team around it. Hell, just build a team of volunteers - I'd do it for free and now lots of folks that would - including one who marched DCA, and WGI and owns a video production company.

I know DCI does pay World Class, not sure about OC. It was a hot topic at the last director's meeting I attended. In some cases I know some All-Age Corps can get paid at DCI shows. It varies for SoundSport groups on if there is a participation fee etc, and sometimes the host will provide lodging and rehearsal space to make it easier. I just don't get it.

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1 hour ago, Jeff Ream said:

to be honest the age bracket DCA needs to market to likes the design trends in the activity today. i agree whole heartedly on facilities, but paying for a 20,000 seat stadium until you see crowds that make it affordable is pointless. granted Williamsport needs to be done with sooner than latter. 

Doubt there’s going to be any progressive changes. All-age is DCI-lite and you don’t have to look any further than attendance at little league town, which is representative of that. 

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4 hours ago, lcarlton said:

I mean DCI has a few full-time marketers, but they also lean pretty on interns. I've been pretty close to some of the team running it, and a lot of it doesn't require full-time staff. Especially with so many templates, and tools; along with heavy desire for interns to work with the organization they are able to scale up each year with paid staff, and interns along with leveraging things like DCI Ambassadors in the past. I'm not really talking about anything close to that; I mean literally something like what DCI does; get a corps director to take over marketing and then build a team around it. Hell, just build a team of volunteers - I'd do it for free and now lots of folks that would - including one who marched DCA, and WGI and owns a video production company.

I know DCI does pay World Class, not sure about OC. It was a hot topic at the last director's meeting I attended. In some cases I know some All-Age Corps can get paid at DCI shows. It varies for SoundSport groups on if there is a participation fee etc, and sometimes the host will provide lodging and rehearsal space to make it easier. I just don't get it.

that would require DCA to admit what they are doing isn't working.

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3 hours ago, Poppycock said:

Doubt there’s going to be any progressive changes. All-age is DCI-lite and you don’t have to look any further than attendance at little league town, which is representative of that. 

designing more retro shows isn't going to do it. DCA needs to get younger ##### in the seats, and you need to hold shows where people live. Williamsport isn't exactly a major metro market. In fact I predicted bad things when it was announced. I knew the venue years before it ever hosted the show

DCA has been all age lite for a long time now, but they never did anything to go after the younger audience, and the old audience either complained and left, or got to where they couldn't attend. It's like the alumni corps model....most of those around program toward older generations, and that doesn't appeal to most kids. 

Edited by Jeff Ream
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12 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

designing more retro shows isn't going to do it. DCA needs to get younger ##### in the seats, and you need to hold shows where people live. Williamsport isn't exactly a major metro market. In fact I predicted bad things when it was announced. I knew the venue years before it ever hosted the show

DCA has been all age lite for a long time now, but they never did anything to go after the younger audience, and the old audience either complained and left, or got to where they couldn't attend. It's like the alumni corps model....most of those around program toward older generations, and that doesn't appeal to most kids. 

All pointed towards the inevitable. 

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46 minutes ago, Poppycock said:

All pointed towards the inevitable. 

yet DCI is holding their own. DCA isn't and the average audience age is older. So whats that tell you what DCA needs to do ( besides leave Williamsport?)

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15 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

that would require DCA to admit what they are doing isn't working.

And there's the rub. I don't want DCA to die off and I've worked long enough in enough industries to not cling to a the claim that it is inevitable. I've watched business models completely change their profile and footprint in a matter of two fiscal years and change their trajectory completely. But this statement is true enough for sure. DCA has the mindset of companies in the 80's that have all died out. We do things we way we do them because it's the way we've always done them. I compare it to Sears.  

Edited by Weaklefthand4ever
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There’s truth in what you write. Seen it first hand.  Like you, I want DCA to continue on. Above all, there needs to be common agreement among the corps, a statement of action, if you will. .  .    .
 

“ Look. We’ve committed to Williamsport for another two years. We must dedicate our energies to squeezing more revenue from there. That will require some changes in the way we’ve done things. A bigger investment of time and effort.”

 

My hope is, DCA does not go down the easy path of simply raising prices. As it was, about 2000 Finals seats remained to be sold. Even more unsold seats for Prelims. Hard to tell how much additional revenue might eventually come from the internet broadcast, but this year’s broadcast was far less engaging than the previous year. Not referring to the corps, but the peripheral things that hold the package together, like Press Box hosts and guest interviews, etc.

Like it, or not, weather will play a role. Fingers crossed.

 

 

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