How can DCI keep "legacy fans" in the fold?

[Kansan]

Someone bring back Drum Corps Midwest. It would be a good alternative when things get silly.

[kusankusho]

I'd have to agree with Matt. The only way DCI can offer something to me is to make a complete change in how they're doing business right now. And that will NEVER change to my liking.

It has nothing to do with the marketing of the product they have now - it has everything to do with the actual product that individual corps create. Try as I might to like it, I enjoy it less every year.

If someone has a superior product, some marketing is needed, but not much. "Build a better mouse trap, and the world will beat a path to your door." If one has an inferior product, no amount of marketing can cover that up. "You can only fool some of the people some of the time."

Maybe DCI can finagle something out the alumni projects that have been popping up lately, but as long as they are looked upon as quaint little experiments in pure nostalgia, they will never develop beyond that.

At the present time, DCI and DCA are as interconnected as they will probably ever get. The two have different ideas on what gets fans in the seats. And because of the way the two kinds of corps work, those concepts will never be identical. What bawker is talking about, to me, is reminiscent of the merger of various sports leagues in years past (AFL/NFL, NBA/ABA, or NHL/WHA). Those worked because the various pairs of leagues put almost exactly the same kind of product on the field/court/rink. DCI and DCA are further apart than that.

And short of DCI changing their product, I seriously doubt anything concrete will happen along these lines - well, anything that I'd like to see, anyway.

I'm with you.

[GMichael1230]

Want to keep "legacy fans" in the fold? I have read here that DCI needs to really define Drum Corps. That would be a first step. I would also suggest that when this definition is done try to keep it to "legacy " Drum Corps Standards, such as dropping this talk about electronics, narration and woodwinds. Let DCI stand for Drum Corps not some migrated clone of it that is if DCI is serious about it.

B I N G O ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

~G~

[ChicagoFan]

In the thread on Historically Black College bands I mentioned the tremendous support given those organizations by alumni, and how such support helps perpetuate school pride, tradition and a sense of connection.

I receive a weekly alumni e-letter from my own undergraduate institution, as well as a quarterly glossy magazine. I am kept apraised of events at the college and notified of upcoming activities organized by the local and national alumni association. By virtue of these and other efforts, I still feel connected to the college; I still feel a part of it. Thus, when the annual fund drive rolls around, I'm only too happy to make a contribution to an institution that has meant, and continues to mean, so much to me personally.

DCI, as a parent organization, makes little effort on the part of its alumni. Individual corps may have alumni organizations but these usually consist of little more than a list of names and a half-hearted attempt to gather a few people in the parking lot before finals to have a hot dog. Since aging-out, I've had little to no contact with my former corps, save the occasional letter asking for money. I no longer feel much a part of the "family". I am still involved in corps but my involvement is as a fan moreso than an active alumni.

Would it not behoove DCI and its member corps to reach out to this large body of former members? To somehow bring them back into the family? To acknowledge that our contributions were valuable and might still have value and purpose today? Just as college admissions counselors and recruiters strive to secure new students for their institution, thereby ensuring its continuance, DCI works dilligently to renew its fan base with young members and fans. However, working alongside recruitment and admissions are those in alumni relations who are charged with serving the interests and needs of those whose support is vital to the well-being of the institution.

Edited February 1, 2007 by ChicagoFan

[Dale Bari]

DCI, as a parent organization, makes little effort on the part of its alumni.

[snip]

Would it not behoove DCI and its member corps to reach out to this large body of former members? To somehow bring them back into the family? To acknowledge that our contributions were valuable and might still have value and purpose today?

As much as I might agree with your sentiment and think that your questions are based in common sense, alas it will not come to pass with the current mind-set inside the offices of DCI and amongst the Board. For, to adopt your ideas, DCI would have to admit that much of what now drives their current policies was based on assumptions that they would have to repudiate. And some people would have to apologize to many of us for what has been said and done to justify those policies.

That, alas, is too much for you and I and others to ask for.

Who knows? Maybe in a fit of remorse, DCI would provide such a mea culpa. But, I'm not holding my breath.

As far as others who have floated the idea that DCI should provide some sort of definition of what drum & bugle corps is, my reply to them is, while maybe a good idea, that will never happen either. The George Hopkinses of the world would balk because, to them, that definition would represent nothing more than tyranny by the powers-that-be (including fans) and oppression of the art-makers.

Besides, I'm not completely convinced that that is the way we ought to go. All arts need some amount of evolution, and like the US Constitution, this definition would need a way of being amended that's neither too easy (creating anarchy) nor too hard (creating petrification). This would still not please everyone.

Edited February 1, 2007 by Dale Bari

[Morgoth Bauglir]

That's not true. It is frightening to see how many people fall for this flawed rationale.

Which proves my point. Legacy fans are a renewable resource. New legacy fans are developing all the time.

Now you're talking. :)

I think we're operating using different definitions of "legacy fans". How do you define legacy fan and could you explain how they are renewable?

[DrumCorpsRadio]

I completely agree with previous posters advocating mixed shows (Division I, II/III, DCA, and Alumni corps). Even if the shows include two separate sets of judging panels or one set of cross-trained judges, this would be worthwhile in my opinion. I know this has been done on a limited basis already.

Alumni corps are received wildly at DCI finals week events. Division II/III corps (I can speak of Jersey Surf from experience) are received well by the DCA crowd. It couldn't hurt for Division I corps members to see what DCA corps really do instead of assuming they are just old people who stand still and play poorly (I've heard comments like this in junior corps circles while marching and teaching).

If a small percentage of a "DCA crowd" gets turned onto some Division II corps they never heard of, what's the loss? If a few hundred DCI fans decide to check out DCA championships to get a drum corps fix before the winter, what's the harm?

[audiodb]

I think we're operating using different definitions of "legacy fans". How do you define legacy fan and could you explain how they are renewable?

"Legacy fans" are long-term fans. Define it any way you want - the logic still applies. No matter where you draw your demographic line-in-the-sand, that demographic is renewable.

Are you falling for the flawed logic of the Hopkins proposal's "classic audience of 1975", perhaps? Hopkins tried to portray legacy fans as "a diminishing group in terms of numbers" by attaching them to a fixed point in time. But what about the classic audience of 1976? 1977? Every year, we generate more long-term fans. They are renewable.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

But to become "legacy fans" the kids need to be new fans first. And that only comes by putting them first. If the choice has to be made between getting new fans and alienating the old ones, or keeping the old ones happy at the expense of new fans, the logical choice will always be new fans. I think there are ways to keep both. But if it really comes down to it, the legacy fans are indeed a finite source. If you're not attracting new fans, who is going to be the next batch of legacy fans?

The same things are just not going to be entertaining or worthwhile to each new generation. No matter how awesome the 70s marchers thought their era was, and it was indeed awesome for them, you would be hard pressed to get kids in 2006 into that kind of drum corps. It all comes down to generational tastes. If the fans from the 70s and 80s prefer one thing, and the fans from the 2000s prefer another, which do you choose to focus on? The answer is simple. There will never be another generation of 70s marchers. But the 2007 generation is just about to begin. Focus on what each new generation wants, because without them, the cycle stops. The legacy fans of tomorrow are going to be built on the shows of the 2000s, not the 1970s. Like it or not, that's the way it is.

Edited February 1, 2007 by Morgoth Bauglir

[MikeN]

In the '93 survey as well as the one a few years ago, wasn't the average age of the fan in the stands right around 40? Which if you looked at the '02 (I *think* that was the year) survey, means that they were hooked in the mid 80's. However, the '93 survey had the same result, which should mean, in the broadest general terms, that legacy fans are still being made about the same rate?

Mike