ADDRESS: Drumming Up Support: Public Relations for a Drum and Bugle Corps Jack Bornstein Imagine the best college or high school marching band you've ever seen. Now imagine combining this band with the movement, emotion, and precision of a Broadway show. What you have just pictured is the modern drum and bugle corps. This activity emerged from VFW, Catholic Youth Organization, and American Legion parade corps whose function was to display the flag in the years following World War I (Russell, 1996). No longer a medium of second-rate trumpeters blaring Sousa marches in the Fourth of July parade, modern drum corps play incredibly difficult music, ranging from classical to jazz, from Copland to Broadway, while performing intricate kaleidoscopic maneuvers on a football field. Top drum corps today recruit the most talented young (ages 14-22) musicians in America, and indeed from across the world. "The Summer Music Games" is the descriptive title given to the annual competitive season of drum and bugle corps, as it combines musical and athletic competition on a football field in front of an estimated annual live audience of over 350,000 spectators, and over 5.5 million viewers over PBS television broadcasts of the championships (Hoffman, 1992: 98). Drum Corps International (DCI), the governing body that sanctions contest around North America as well as the annual World Championships, guides the drum corps activity from its headquarters in Lombard, Illinois. DCI was founded in 1972 by a group of drum corps directors who wanted a way to unify the competitions and create a vehicle that would be universally recognized as a standard. The Spirit of Atlanta is a twenty-year old corps from Georgia. Founded in 1976 by a former high school band teacher, Freddy Martin, the corps has a history marked with incredible highs and lows. Original funding for the corps was provided by a local NBC affiliate, WXIA-TV. WXIA's goal was to have the corps be self-sustaining within three years. The corps' instant success, finishing in the top 23 - out of over 60 competitors - at the 1977 World Championships, made this achievable (N. Bornstein, 1996). In its second year of competition, Spirit finished 6th, an unprecedented and still unmatched rise in placement. In the corps third and fourth years of competition, the corps moved up to 4th place in the world. The early and mid-1980's showed a consistent placing in the 6th and 7th positions. By the end of the 1980's however, the drum corps fell out of the elite top-12. Meanwhile, the corps' debt was piling up as WXIA's funding had been cut after the first three years of competition. By 1994, the Spirit of Atlanta had reached the point financially and competitively in which management decided to become inactive for the season rather than risk further decline. 1995 marked the resurgence of the corps, buoyed by Bill Duquette, the new director. However, the corps' membership, having left for other organizations, was almost entirely brand new and Spirit finished a disappointing 20th in a reduced field. Duquette came to the Spirit of Atlanta in 1993 from his previous 8-year directorship of the Connecticut Hurricanes, a "senior" drum and bugle corps (which differs from the "junior" level primarily in that it places no age limitations on its members). His professional experience includes many years as a manager with IBM. Since leaving IBM, he is a partner in an audio-visual production company which has many ties to the drum corps activity. A DCI-caliber drum corps typically has an annual budget in the range of $250,000 to nearly $1,000,000. This pays for staff and instructors, bus transportation, food, instruments and uniforms for 128 members on their 50-day summer tour. Spirit's budget is approximately $300,000 for 1996 (Duquette, 1996). This money is raised through membership dues of $700 and various fund-raising attempts, including souvenir sales. Raising money for this group is the most important task for management, as it has a direct impact on the ability to field a "product" over the summer, as well as the production of a higher-quality product as determined by the quality of the designers, teachers and performers. Many unique characteristics make the task of raising funds for the drum corps a difficult job. Less than half the membership of the corps is local, with many musicians coming from neighboring states. The corps only has one or two true performances in the Atlanta area each summer, making local recognition difficult. Of course, inactivity in 1994 and recent reduced competitiveness do not help attract many fans. Competition for the public entertainment dollar is always an increasing factor, with Atlanta growing as a cultural and athletic center of the South. These problems certainly are not all unique to the Spirit of Atlanta. Even in Canada, McLean's has reported that 11 of the country's 13 leading major orchestras are running deficits (Chu, 1996: 63). Drum Corps and Communication Obviously, the drum and bugle corps idiom communicates primarily to the audience through its music and movement. In the public relations sense, however, its communication takes place through print and word of mouth. Spirit of Atlanta communicates to its publics through a quarterly newsletter. Musicians, being a rather closely-knit community, also spread news via word-of-mouth. In addition, Spirit maintains a site on the World Wide Web of the Internet. This site averages approximately 300-500 visits a month from "web-surfers" (N. Bornstein, 1996). The publics that the corps communicates with through the newsletter and the internet include current members and their parents, alumni, and other fans of the activity. Rarely does the press take notice of Spirit's performances or even its existence; recent coverage has included a few small articles in some of suburban Atlanta's weekly newspapers and a spot in a poorly produced local television show for teenagers. Applying Lerner's Modernization communications model to this case, we see that Atlanta has grown rapidly as a metropolitan area. Urbanization and education have probably hurt extracurricular activity participation, as students now have jobs that preclude their involvement in such things as music. Students also become more likely to pursue advanced education rather than spending their summers touring in a musical group. This would help explain the shortage of membership from the Atlanta area and the influx of young musicians from outlying regions which may be less urbanized. One could also apply Grunig's model of communication (Grunig, 1992: 43). Looking deeply into the Spirit of Atlanta's mode of public relations, we see that it tends toward the asymmetrical. That is, members of the organization tend not to see the organization as outsiders do; tradition is extremely important; authority is concentrated in the hands of one or a few leaders. Not all these traits are necessarily bad for an organization of this type. The small size of the group - there are no true "employees" - probably causes some of the appearance of asymmetry. But this model appears to hold for DCI itself as well, as tradition plays an extremely important role in the eyes of the drum corps community. Corporate Sponsorship For non-profit organizations, public relations equals fund-raising (Hall, 1993: 39). When a company uses the media to spread the word about a product, it is typically considered a subtle and indirect method of advertising; when a non-profit does it, the intent is more direct. Atlanta's Theatrical Outfit, a regional theater, has successfully used public relations as a fund-raising tool. The artistic director of the Theatrical Outfit spends half his time doing fund-raising, actively seeking out Atlanta's corporate and individual philanthropists. He makes sure that they understand how the money is being spent and even invites them to attend rehearsals (p.40). Other corps have utilized certain forms of corporate sponsorship with varied success. The best example of this is the Star of Indiana's affiliation with the Cook Group Companies. Cook continues to fund this corps more than 10 years past its inception, and Star has been a very successful entity, making finalist status its first year and winning the championship in 1991. In addition to actually funding the corps, this arrangement even includes the Star of Indiana bus company which carries the corps on tour all summer and provides bus service for hire the rest of the year, resulting in a nice profit. Another corps - the Cavaliers from Rosemont, Illinois - has sponsorship from its local government, and several other groups have had other corporate relationships in the past. In this age of dwindling government funding for the arts, corporate sponsorship is more and more important as source of sustenance for all arts groups. This is made an even more difficult task as companies downsize, merge, and cut costs in the competitive business environment. Companies are changing the methods by which they contribute to charitable organizations (Ferguson, 1994: 29). Studies have shown that in order for the arts to continue to survive, the mode of sponsorship should move towards "strategic collaboration" instead (Scheff & Kottler, 1996: 52). In this form of partnership, both parties have a true goal to be realized from the relationship. Strategic collaborations can cut costs and improve quality. The partnerships can be with businesses, other arts organizations, or multiple entities. For instance, the Oakland A's baseball team collaborate with the Oakland Ballet to increase the team's level community service while expanding the ballet's audience. By casting baseball players in the annual production of The Nutcracker, both organizations achieve their goals (p.58). A study by the Pew Charitable Trusts (Ferguson, 1994:p.53) also shows that cultural organizations are not necessarily in competition with each other. In fact, patrons of the arts tend to enjoy being opened up to new forms of art. By combining the resources of multiple arts organizations, significant economies of scale can certainly be realized (p.54). For instance, simply sharing a mailing list can generate a whole new audience or fund-raising base (Hall, 1993: 42). Spirit of Atlanta has begun to implement this sort of economy by forming the Spirit Youth Organization (SYO), directed by Duquette, that serves as an umbrella organization. SYO so far consists of the drum and bugle corps and two indoor drumlines that compete during the winter season. Plans for the future include a winter color guard that will nationally as well as possible collaborations with Symphony Atlanta, a suburban concert orchestra. Duquette hopes to include a jazz band, chamber ensemble, and concert percussion group as well (Duquette, 1996). Other drum and bugle corps, most notably the Cadets of Bergen County, New Jersey, are also pursuing this theme. The Cadets have formed an organization - Youth Education and the Arts - that actually consists of three corps who share administrative resources while maintaining creative independence. Spirit has, as a world-class drum and bugle corps, endorsement contracts with several vendors. These include Ludwig drums, Sabian cymbals, ProMark drumsticks, and Selmer mallet instruments (Duquette, 1996). Most corps at this level have these types endorsements, which benefit the corps by allowing free use of the instruments. In exchange, the vendors may use Spirit's name and logo in advertising and the corps displays the instrument makers' names and logos prominently, whether as a sticker on the instrument or a painting on the side of equipment vehicles. Curiously, the vast majority of endorsements in DCI are for percussion instruments rather than brass or even uniforms. Pearl, Yamaha, Ludwig, Remo, Zildjian, and Sabian are some of the major vendors, with many of these companies placing advertising in DCI publications. Of course, there is a "catch-22" in that these vendors will only care to promote the drum corps that finish with the highest rankings, much like an athletic shoe company that gives free shoes to hundreds of athletes, but only use the most popular in its advertising. Recommendations The Spirit of Atlanta seems to be headed in the right direction since Bill Duquette's assumption of leadership. The corps in 1996 is ahead of the 1995 model from a creative point of view, with more members and a higher level of expected performance. Financially, Duquette has reduced the debt load and has even managed to acquire a new set of instruments for the corps. Organizationally, with the founding of the Spirit Youth Organization and its future plans, economies of scale and increased community awareness will hopefully be realized. The most obvious ingredient that is missing is a strong corporate sponsorship presence. As wonderful as SYO sounds, it cannot proceed without funding. Typically, any Atlanta company with a desire for community relations would be a good choice as an arts sponsor. Since Spirit's performances take place in other areas of the country, however, many local companies have no interest in sponsoring a group with little local exposure. The ideal sponsor or partner, therefore, would be an organization with a nationally recognized name that is based in Atlanta. This narrows the scope considerably. The largest companies, such as Turner Broadcasting, Coca-Cola, and Delta Airlines have been approached in the past with no interest being expressed, perhaps due to their huge presence in such activities as NASCAR racing, national television advertising, etc. Drum corps is perhaps too small or segmented an audience for their markets. According to Scheff & Kottler (1996: 55), "Three quarters of spending for the arts is by small to midsize companies" and "93% of the money goes to local arts organizations." Spirit should find a collaborating partner in this model. A likely company would be The Weather Channel, which is based in Atlanta. The Weather Channel is a rapidly growing cable channel that appears to have very deep pockets, as well as a nationally recognized product. In exchange for financial assistance, Spirit should be willing to allow the Weather Channel logo to be placed on its two tractor trailers and even on drum heads and uniforms. As these trucks travel the interstate highway system over the summer, thousands of travelers would see the moving billboards. Media coverage is another problem area that needs to be addressed. The lack of local media exposure to the drum corps is a key to public awareness of the activity. Some basic areas that should be approached in the media include the arts section editors of local newspapers and producers of local television and radio news programs (Henry, 1995: 104-110). Possible pitches may include live remote broadcast promotions during a performance, or media sponsorship of the performance itself. As a non-profit organization, paying for advertising is not a realistic strategy, so public affairs and human interest programming are the appropriate venues for publicity. A key element of Henry's "checklist for targeting special audiences" is "know the media, what they want and in what format they want to receive the information" (p.222). Basic "donor relations" tips should be incorporated into the corps' fund raising strategy. Some of these include: sending thank you notes to all contributors (Gerber, 1995: 28; Steen, 1992: 22), collecting business cards from prospective and current donors to use for future specific requests (Gerber, 1995: 29), keeping records of who contributes (Steen, 1992: 22), and using current videos to describe the group's mission (ibid). Once a newspaper covers the corps, copies of the article should be included in donor appeals. This will further legitimize the corps in the eyes of prospective donors (Otis, 1993: 38). The corps does some of these things today, but can certainly improve and expand on them. Direct mail can become a repetitive and boring method of appealing for funds, especially from the prospect's point of view. Some ways of preventing the "mechanical and uninspiring" nature that can easily mar these mailed appeals include varying the look of the mail piece, including color or black-and-white photographs when necessary, and using different sizes of envelopes. By incorporating these measures, mailings become less predictable and therefore are read by more prospects (Kitcatt & Saxton, 1994: pp.29-64). No one ever responds to an appeal that is not read. McPherson's tips on stretching the media relations dollar can certainly be used (McPherson, 1993: pp.41-42). Some keys include using the words "A Not-for-Profit Organization" on the letterhead, and getting help from a local college's public relations or journalism department for interns - many of whom might work for free. Also, providing press releases in a manila folder gives a news director or editor an easy way of filing the relevant information. When the next press release is issued, it can be filed in the same folder. In addition, there may be assistance available from the public relations departments of corporate partners and sponsors. Finally, the corps definitely needs to improve its local performance presence. Surely, with SYO's planned increase in scope, this will be a key factor. The Spirit of Atlanta should attempt to appear in local parades and similar events. Atlanta has numerous parades each year, including the Martin Luther King Day event which is broadcast on national television. Other possible events include the Fourth of July, St. Patrick's Day, Memorial Day, and Egleston Christmas parades, and many others. Another venue that could provide lots of exposure to prospective members is the Bands of America regional competition which is held in the Georgia Dome every fall, featuring top high school bands from around the South. Spirit should have at a recruiting presence at this event if possible. This could expand the corps' publics to include more high school music students and educators. Countless other band contests occur every weekend during the fall months; perhaps a few of the more influential of these could be used as well. The future appears bright for the Spirit of Atlanta, provided a sponsor can be found to relieve some of the fund-raising pressure being felt. With the 1996 competitive season rapidly approaching, drum corps fans around the country are eagerly awaiting the performance of their favorite groups at their local stadium. With strategic planning and focused efforts on public relations, Spirit should be able to increase awareness the activity and improve its competitive and financial performance, hopefully to regain the national prominence it once held. References Bornstein, N. (1996) http://www.ticllc.net/home/niel/spirit/spirit.html. Internet Chu, S. (1992) Selling the Music. McLean's, Vol. 109, No. 13. Duquette, B. (1996) Interview. Ferguson, H. J. (1994) New Realities for Nonprofits. Business and Economic Review, Vol. 40, No. 4. Gerber, R. (1995) Pay Attention to "Small Touches". Fund Raising Management, Vol. 26, No. 2. Grunig, J. E. (1992) Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Hall, S. (1993) Public Relations, Non-Profit Style. Fund Raising Management, Vol. 24, No. 5. Henry, R. A. (1995) Marketing Public Relations: The Hows That Make it Work. Iowa State University Press. Hoffman,, J. (1992) 1992 DCI Summer Music Games Commemorative Program. Drum Corps International. Kitcatt, P. and Saxton, J. (1994) Are Your Appeals the Brussels Sprouts of Fund Raising? Fund Raising Management, Vol. 24, No. 11. McPherson, D. (1993) Twelve Tips to Stretch Your Nonprofit Media Relations Dollar. Public Relations Quarterly, Vol. 66, No. 4. Otis, D. S. (1993) Integrating Public Relations with Fund Raising. Fund Raising Management, Vol. 24, No. 5. Russell, J. (1996) http://www.dci.org. Internet Scheff, J. and Kotler, P. (1996) How the Arts Can Prosper Through Strategic Collaborations. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 74, No. 1. Steen, J. W. (1992) 14 Fallacies of Capital Campaigns. Fund Raising Management, Vol. 23, No. 7.