Finals Location and Media Impact

[drumcat]

To be clear, his theory is sound if the event or promotional item is indeed of size or appropriateness for the event. I also agree that the "gold" stories in the past were missed opportunities.

However in the present, stories are getting to media outlets, marketing does seem to be appropriate, and the idea of having a show in a mass-market for the sake of saying you did still doesn't hold water. This isn't fashion. DCI has shows that are where promoters and so on can recover their costs. A show in a major media "hub" - which apparently is anywhere that ad agencies can walk to - don't make for profitable shows.

I'm being pretty specific in saying that he can espouse his beliefs that these things are helpful, but some of his statements are coming dangerously close to saying that because DCI isn't following his suggestions that somehow they are incompetent. Again, the goals of DCI don't have to be to pander to agencies. In fact, that's pretty low on the list. Drum corps isn't necessarily best served by putting its product in Times Square.

[danielray]

To be clear, his theory is sound if the event or promotional item is indeed of size or appropriateness for the event. I also agree that the "gold" stories in the past were missed opportunities.

However in the present, stories are getting to media outlets, marketing does seem to be appropriate, and the idea of having a show in a mass-market for the sake of saying you did still doesn't hold water. This isn't fashion. DCI has shows that are where promoters and so on can recover their costs. A show in a major media "hub" - which apparently is anywhere that ad agencies can walk to - don't make for profitable shows.

I'm being pretty specific in saying that he can espouse his beliefs that these things are helpful, but some of his statements are coming dangerously close to saying that because DCI isn't following his suggestions that somehow they are incompetent. Again, the goals of DCI don't have to be to pander to agencies. In fact, that's pretty low on the list. Drum corps isn't necessarily best served by putting its product in Times Square.

I'm not saying that they are incompetent at all. The current administrative team has literally worked some miracles, given the state of things, financially and organizationally, in the early '90's.

Now that those things have been accomplished, and things are quite stable, they can focus on other things. The issue with limited marketing reach/efforts and limited sponsorship opportunites has simply been an issue of limited resources.

The show needs to be in a mass market for a number of reasons, that include media, marketing and sponsorship opportunities and selling the event as a destination.

Orlando was good for this because there is plenty of other things to do, so families could plan vacations and destinations around additional entertainment/tourism opportunities. It was also easy to get direct flights into.

Madison... has... um... uh... good ice cream... and it is a few hours drive from a major airport. Not at all attractive for a family vacation.

There is a generation of former participants in DCI events that now have families of their own. These families should be a prime target for promoting DCI finals and regional family packages that include other activities. This is not only important as a revenue generating opportunity, but these kids are more likely than any others to participate in DCI member corps.

Anyway, LA in 2007 is a unique opportunity in a number of ways, if properly planned for on the marketing side, it could have a significant impact on future sponsorship and media opportunities.

[Newseditor44]

Hmmm... you became a network news planning editor when? CBS Network news ain't exactly big media? And just what exactly constitutes big media?

When did you become an expert on what the media covers and why they cover it?

If you would really like to know what they cover and what they don't cover, and why, just let me know and we'll have this discussion offline.

[Jeff Ream]

Not Entertainment Weekly, Evening News or Time... but highly-targeted youth-focused media.

There is not as much value from a marketing and sponsorship perspective with the adult market, compared to the youth market.

The adult market is easy... and much less expensive for marketers to attract.

If, however, the profile, level of interest and perception of the activity can be raised within the near-stream youth market, this becomes EXTREMELY interesting for marketers.

This isn't a difficult sell at all... it just needs to be repositioned a bit.

There are revenue and sponsorship opportunites that are missed because they are just simply not communicated in the right way and to the right audience (major advertising agencines and promotional marketing firms).

For example, ALL shows should be unified under a primary sponsored TOUR brand (not DCI brand... DCI is the sub-brand)...

EX: 2006 PEPSI HARDCORPS TOUR

EVERY single show should have this sponsorship and promotion. EVERY single truck for each corps should be uniformly painted (actually not painted, but wrapped), with the sponsored tour branding and the individual corp logo at a particular spot. Every single bus should have similar boards.

Corps should be making money everytime they travel down the road, not spending it.

At the same time, loads of packaged foods companies are on the offensive to reverse any perception of being unhealthy (to avoid potential law suits) and are spending millions of dollars on this.

KraftFoods, Masterfoods, Unilever, etc. would love to be able to showcase thousands of healthy, extremely active and talented kids that lived for months only on foods produced by their company.

The list of these goes on and on... but it needs to be packaged and pitched properly... the VERY first thing is a unification of a primary TOUR brand for EVERY single show. This gives potential sponsors something more tangible to attach themselves to and considerably more attractive (locations all over the country, for an entire summer).

what if these sponsors want to drastically change drum corps? is it worth selling our souls for a cool ad?

also, for corps who dont own their busses, how do you propose redoing the busses?

[danielray]

Hmmm... you became a network news planning editor when? CBS Network news ain't exactly big media? And just what exactly constitutes big media?

When did you become an expert on what the media covers and why they cover it?

If you would really like to know what they cover and what they don't cover, and why, just let me know and we'll have this discussion offline.

I am not speaking about network news... this is not so valuable for drum corps as youth-targeted media. When I say CBS News ain't exactly it... what I mean is the audience is not relevant to primary objectives of what should be a marketing and media strategy for drum corps (how many 12-22 year olds watch CBS News?).

The feature stories for something like say a 'Dateline' program that I suggested for the Bluecoats/Gulf War Veteran piece would be purely opportunitstic.

When did I become an expert on what media covers? Well, since they started paying me to develop strategies for them.

For example, I just spend the past couple of weeks focused on presenting a new integrated promtion strategy for Cosmopolitan magazine for Eastern European markets (BTW - Cosmo Russian Edition has the largest readership of any magazine in the world). Part of this promotion strategy includes 'seeded' articles for the purpose of highlighting a particular product.

As an example, Kraft Foods was launching a new iced espresso drink and needed to figure out a way to reach their target market - young females 16-24. We took this to Cosmo, and the result was a feature about study habits during final exams, including great ways to stay awake (they recommeded the Icepresso drink), with a facing-page ad with an SMS registration to redeem a free sample can.

Anyway, they've been a client of mine for a couple of years, along with several other international publications, tv networks, etc. Our agencies are sort of the missing link between the ad agencies and content.

I used to be the publisher of a youth-targeted sports magazine and a producer of a youth-targeted lifestlye (music, fashion, trends..) television program.

Back to the media coverage...

The point would be to get into youth-targeted media in a similar way (stuff like 'Locker-room Skincare Secret' featuring some superhot girls from various drum corps speaking their tour regime, featuring specific products... or '3 Easy Steps for Fixing Tanlines' and so on...), nothing meaty or really actually featuring drum corps performance at all (the 'experience' is a better first sell), but integrated placement to raise awareness/profile to increase value to sponsors.

[danielray]

what if these sponsors want to drastically change drum corps? is it worth selling our souls for a cool ad?

also, for corps who dont own their busses, how do you propose redoing the busses?

The way busses are managed is not the most efficient way of doing this. There should be an entity created to manage bulk purchasing and contracting for DCI member corps (not a non-profit, but a seperate LLC that may or may not be owned by DCI).

This entity could hold a master lease on all busses for member corps and then provide this service under contract to individual corps. It would be this entity that would negotiate with the sponsor for bus boards and so on, which would subsidize the cost of the busses, with the goal of being able to offer these services to the individual corps free of charge.

In addition, this group could negotiate the food service sponsorship and all other sorts of purchasing (especially promo), again, with the aim of providing subsidized services to the individual corps.

The long term objective would be to transition corps away from having to self-manage all aspects of tour logistics and promotions, while subsidizing costs through sponsorship.

This could be something that is phased transition of the various aspects of logistics over a 4-5 year period.

[Jeff Ream]

ok, but what about the possibility these companies may want how shows are done changed?

we've seen that apparently certain broadcast entities wanted to make fundamental changes to drum corps just to put us on tv.

is it worth the pub to sell out and change drum corps?

[Tank]

There are high school band shows at that stadium.

Fair point. ####, drum corps shows are held there, too. But it takes the YEA juggernaut to make it happen (as well as some or all of the band shows held there).

I'd still love to see a cost comparision of Madison v. New York.

[mace]

ok, but what about the possibility these companies may want how shows are done changed?

we've seen that apparently certain broadcast entities wanted to make fundamental changes to drum corps just to put us on tv.

is it worth the pub to sell out and change drum corps?

Of course, Drum Corp has changed and WILL change. But does it need to change like the current Black Comedy Movie "Thank You for Smoking"?

i.e "Thank you for Drumming" (the way Pepsi wants you to)

"Thank you for Marching" ( the way Nike wants you to)

Sponsors are important, and it is unrealistic to assume they will have NO say. Gambling has been taken over by State Lotteries and Tribal Nations, so Bingo is a gonner for all practical purposes; so sponsor dollars are more critical than ever. But at what level - national, regional, or local? Of course the answer is ALL THREE, plus in the many non-geographic INTEREST markets made possible by the internet.

It makes no sense to invest in one big national TV spot the night before a show only 3-7% of the viewers could drive to the next day. Market fragmentation is here to stay. And televised Drum Corp shows must remain a means, not an end. Watching Drum Corps on TV -- compared to the real thing -- is something like eating a picture of a pizza.

Another important item seemingly ignored so far in this thread is the difference in DCI control over shows they Sponsor and the MANY other shows. The local "Tour Event Partners" are still a critical necessity on the tour to get the corps an adequate pay-check, but these shows should know their local markets better than DCI possibly could.

DCI has been providing increasingly effective support for these Show Promoters (many of whom are NOT "Home Shows".) But a lot of the ideas being proposed here imply much tighter control of each individual Show Market than actually exists. I suspect DCI would be the first to agree that trying to take over the details of local marketing of every show on the tour would lead to the classic decrease in Quality that comes with an all too rapid growth in Quantity of responsibility. It would be nonsense to dump all this on DCI.

A lot of good ideas here, but -- simple execution of them? -- NOT! Every activity in every age has a "critical mass," above which and below which you do not want to stray too far. Seeking that level -- not "World Domination" is the best goal.

Do any of us want Drum Corps to become such a "Pop Culture" trend that it morphs into a FAD that only one decade will be remembered by?

I don't think so.

P.S. If you haven't gathered it by now - It's about the TOUR, NOT FINALS.

Edited April 12, 2006 by mace

[Michael Boo]

Maybe we could become one of the tasks on "The Apprentice." Now, what would you have the apprentices wannabes do for us?