njthundrrd Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 (edited) The Cadets need to reestablish the "brand." The year off for covid and a few years of bad design choices post Sacktig, Gino, and McNutt have taken a great brand and diminished it. It will take a year or two to rebuild that brand, so that a single show (product) or two don't affect the brand again, along with poor financial choices out of desperation. The Cadets need to take the Bluecoats approach. Be "who they are" attract new members and retain the ones they have (don't lose them to Boston, Crown, Bluecoats) and build the beast... put all of your investment there.... Then, get into the Top 6 and then "be yourself" one more season before you start to explore and attempt to innovate. Sure and steady wins the race. Ask the Blue Devils, Crown, Bluecoats, and SCV... even Cavies. (3 of these corps have bingo, but two still do it the old fashioned way and raise money however they can, but every corps needs a side hustle these days). Boston is the exception to this rule, but they did that with a huge cash infusion and complete organizational overhaul, which is not impossible to do, but the Cadets do not have that type of financial donor firepower cultivated the past few years. When I marched the Top 6 was the Country Club and nobody wanted to be booted for another corps to get in. Members just don't want to make Finals ... or win... but they also want to march in a Top 6 Corps. That might mean at local shows that the corps you are in goes on last a lot before regional season starts... and that has some prestige. I have faith in these educators at The Cadets that they can get the most out of these members.... and budget. March straight and true to victory.... FHNSAB! Edited July 3, 2022 by njthundrrd 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FTNK Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 1 minute ago, njthundrrd said: The Cadets need to reestablish the "brand." The year off for covid and a few years of bad design choices post Sacktig, Gino, and McNutt have taken a great brand and diminished it. It will take a year or two to rebuild that brand, so that a single show (product) or two don't affect the brand again, along with poor financial choices out of desperation.! The “brand” was tarnished (speaking just competitively, not everything else) way before. One good show, the next one an embarassment (and/or out of ideas like 2003, 2009, 2012) for 15 years. I brought it up five years ago, but in 2017 a younger person’s reaction to Cadets was “oh man, they used to be good.” 2011 title, 2015 high brass - these are teenagers we’re recuiting. When I decide to march drum corps in 2003, the late 90s might as well have been the 70s. If you’ve been on this forum for the last 17 years you probably know my opinions and how they have worked out lol 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 Agreed it was more than a couple years - 2006 comes to mind, and that's 15 years ago 🤐 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njthundrrd Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 (edited) Power of 10 was a very good show. To be honest, so was the Christmas show. I know more than a few "drill guys" that when we saw the double blind backfield reshapes during the mello solo "Do you hear what I hear?" We turned to each other and said that was by far the hardest transition of the summer. But all of you are right... The brand has not been right for some time. Hopefully, this show, design team, and educators can start to lay the new foundation with this show. I marched Cadets 81-84, so I would like to think the bricks those corps laid down set the tone for some time after us and then the other years that did well, projected the brand further down the road. And yes, when I marched in the 80's, I thought the guys that marched the early 70's were ancient. The 60's? They were already ghosts to me... LOL but they were all around those years and some of them still are. But some of those earlier shows? On the bus we talked about a lot of historic corps from Garfield and many other corps... and we didn't have YouTube, DCP, or the internet to find them. LOL Edited July 3, 2022 by njthundrrd 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FTNK Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, George Dixon said: Agreed it was more than a couple years - 2006 comes to mind, and that's 15 years ago 🤐 16 according to my knees. 2019 was a pretty big hit more recently. Anyway, considering that Hop was ###ing the admins and cooking the books for decades, corps is doing pretty okay I just wish their go-to idea visually - from uniforms to marketing - wasn’t “put the three maroon chevrons on it!” Hi Hop, I know you’re reading Edited July 4, 2022 by FTNK 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FTNK Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 56 minutes ago, njthundrrd said: Power of 10 was a very good show. until the end-of-season changes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ndrudy2013 Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 After watching the Cadets last night they are much improved from 2019, especially the brass line and I actually don't mind the new uniforms but that being said the Cadets need to take a hard look at the current "brand". Changes are needed from the top down if they are going to return to the top 6. The show design is not there, is it improved for sure but it needs to be at a higher level and I feel the current design team may not be able to achieve that goal, these are very hard decisions to make but something has to change and if doesn't then I don't see Cadets moving any near the top 6 again, but this is only my opinion, looking forward to seeing Cadets in Indy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 6 hours ago, ykw said: The show's "Rear View Mirror" theme is inspired by Jack Kerouac -- the "narration" is his prose …Okay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 11 minutes ago, ndrudy2013 said: After watching the Cadets last night they are much improved from 2019, especially the brass line and I actually don't mind the new uniforms but that being said the Cadets need to take a hard look at the current "brand". Changes are needed from the top down if they are going to return to the top 6. The show design is not there, is it improved for sure but it needs to be at a higher level and I feel the current design team may not be able to achieve that goal, these are very hard decisions to make but something has to change and if doesn't then I don't see Cadets moving any near the top 6 again, but this is only my opinion, looking forward to seeing Cadets in Indy. geez - I disagree. They've got a great shot at 7th this season that qualifies as "near the top six" if my math is correct; I'm not" in love" with the design, but I think it's solid particularly musically which is better than Boston's IMO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 great convo here btw, glad we can all share our thoughts without everyone freaking out lol 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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