Finals Location and Media Impact

[DCImonkey]

How many NASCAR events are held in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles? Yet, somehow, they get media coverage anyway.

2 in Los Angeles

1 in Chicago

and none in NYC yet, but they are building a track on Staten Island, so i've heard. :)

Thank you come again

[danielray]

i'm sorry, last time i checked, boston had Arnold Worldwide, Hill | Holiday, Allied Ad Agency, and many more... but you're right, there must be no advertising agencies there...

Missed this post somehow...

Anyway, those aren't very major agencies... they do deal with major FMCG and lifestyle brands, but only on a regional level as a subagency.

I'm talking about multinationals like:

Publicis (Arc, Fallon, Saatchi & Saatchi, LeoBurnett, etc.)

Omnicom (BBDO, TBWA\, etc.)

Y&R

Ogilvy

... and so on.

There is only ONE hot agency in America that is outside of those 3 cities, which is Crispin, Porter + Bogusky in Miami. They are an absolute fluke.

Efforts should be made to pitch the opportunity for sponsorship to these major agencies.

There IS a real opportunity, it has just never been properly sold.

[cage]

2 in Los Angeles

1 in Chicago

and none in NYC yet, but they are building a track on Staten Island, so i've heard. :)

Thank you come again

I wouldn't consider Sonoma being part of LA being they are 400 miles apart. If that is the case Indy is part of Chicago. Actually the track in SOnoma doesn't draw well anyway. Nascar's roots are in the south (although big around the country). Not to worry though, the NFL does fine without LA.

I would consider Orlando to be the center of family entertainment. Philly is a major market, Boston and Miami are as well. This is a rediculous argument anyway. Whether we like it or not, drum corps will always at best be a fringe activity especially with all the stereotypes surrounding "band kids." This is fine with me, I don't really care. Would it be nice to see more corporate sponsorship...sure. Do I want to be able to easily go to any show I want without paying $1000 a ticket...yeah.

[vferrera]

Aside from the publicity issue, it is silly for DCI not to have a major show in NYC, CHI and LA just because of the fan base that is not being served.

I live in NYC along with probably tens of thousands of drum corps fans. The closest Div 1 DCI show is in NJ (Cadets home show). Usually this is in Giants Stadium where it draws maybe 3000 fans. One year it was in Clifton in a small h.s. stadium. They generally have about 5 divI corps. If this were a regional with 12+ corps, they would probably draw about 10K fans.

I also try to make it to Allentown when possible, but this is a 1.5-2 hour drive depending on traffic. Like many New Yorkers, I don't own a car, so I have to rent one at $100/day (NY prices). Considering the cost of the show, hotel and travel, it costs me about $750 to take a family of 4 to Allentown.

The same was true when I lived in Chicago. The closest show was DeKalb. Next to that was Whitewater. Now those are gone, so I guess they have Bloomington, Indy and Madison. I remember marching VFW Nats in Soldier Field in 1980. If VFW could put on a show there, why can't DCI?

[audiodb]

2 in Los Angeles

1 in Chicago

and none in NYC yet, but they are building a track on Staten Island, so i've heard. :)

And the ones I hear about all the time (even though I don't follow NASCAR) are nowhere near any of those three places. They're in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas....why, there's even one in (gasp!) Indianapolis that gets major media attention.

Thank you come again

Well, you asked for it. B)

[drumcat]

The same was true when I lived in Chicago. The closest show was DeKalb. Next to that was Whitewater. Now those are gone, so I guess they have Bloomington, Indy and Madison. I remember marching VFW Nats in Soldier Field in 1980. If VFW could put on a show there, why can't DCI?

Because unlike 1980, the costs of putting any event on in Soldier Field are astronomically higher than 25 years ago, even inflation adjusted.

The real question to me is that you don't have to have DCI put on a show. Many independent orgs put on shows, and are major fundraisers. So if the major markets are such a big draw, and are such a good place to have a show and make money, how come no one is doing it?

Of course, there's the Showdown in Giants Stadium, the annual 2 or 3 shows in LA, and the midwest shows you've described...

But the point stands... if having a show in downtown chicago is such a good idea, why isn't anyone? Or Manhattan. Or the Bronx. Whatever. No one says there can't be a show somewhere. Someone has to be willing to put it on. Money speaks pretty loudly.

[Orpheus]

... somebody reads way too many entertainment and advertising magazines/journals ...

I'm seeing a lot of fancy jargon that doesn't seem to apply to the real world. We're talking about DCI here, not the NFL or NASCAR. Just putting finals in Giants Stadium or Soldier Field ain't gonna automatically draw out all these hot-shot advertising execs and entertainment journalists. So if DCI does hold Finals in one of your three magic markets and does "pitch the opportunity for sponsorship to these major agencies" ... what exactly are we expecting to happen next?

Edited April 10, 2006 by Orpheus

[DCImonkey]

I wouldn't consider Sonoma being part of LA being they are 400 miles apart.

Neither would I. Sonoma isn't the LA race. Fontana is. Sure it's out in the Inland Empire, but that's the LA market.

Also someone said they hear about Carolina races? Really where? There are 3 in the Carolinas now compared to the 8 we used to have. They started taking them away from us......one for California.....one more for Texas. Sad.

Sorry....off topic

[Tank]

There is one point that seems to be completely lost in the issue of Indianapolis as a semi-permanent location for DCI finals. This issue has actually been something that has kept DCI from potentially wider media exposure...

Based on some of your comments in this thread, it seems like DCI's problem might be more one of PUBLICITY than ACCESSIBILITY (you mention properly packaged videos for Dateline BEFORE saying they should be easy to access; ####, something could be put together and MAILED to NBC, CBS, ABC, etc. How many extraordinary stories do you see on Dateline that takes the reporter to Middle of Nowhere, SC for a story?)

By the way, I'd bet that getting Finals at Giants Stadium wouldn't just be an increased expense, it would be a drastically increased expense (i.e.-SEVERAL TIMES what it costs to put on Finals in, say, Madison) to get the stadium, rent hotels, etc.

You also mention putting the corps in the suburbs. I'd bet that would mean AT LEAST an hour each way for ALL corps just to get to the stadium. How many complaints do we see on this very forum every year about how it's a travesty that Corps X's housing site is two hours away from the Finals site?

[marchinalong8]

They have done a fine job with marketing and media...what do you expect? Us to be on the front cover of US Today the moment they strike a deal?

Dude I have been in an organization similiar to DCI and if you grow it too quickly you will have dire consequences which will result in complaints from the fine people posting here at DCP.

If DCI grows to be like the NFL then some of the traditions and the community feel you have in drum corps will be gone....you don't want that.

The marketing hubs we have been in are fine. We get multiple news stories and paper headlines every single year. Not just from finals but from kids making corps every year, community involvement, and most recently the DCI Honor Corps which coincidentally enough was on ABC. Relax and enjoy the ride.

Edited April 11, 2006 by marchinalong8