Cirque Du Soleil

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

1. What is Cirque’s product and its strategy?

Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian entertainment company whose leading concept is “presenting a unique blend of creation and the performing arts, of architecture and the arts in general”. The Cirque combined street performers, clowns, acrobats, gymnasts, jugglers and aerialists, but what’s peculiar is that it was the first to avoid animals, which are commonly seen in traditional circus. The absence of animals is not the only element distinguishing Cirque du Soleil from traditional circus: it introduced itself in a declining market, reinventing and innovating the entertainment industry, creating a brand new product, rather than offering a product for which demand already existed. Cirque’s target was educated and refined, mostly upper-middle class families, in contrast to traditional circus, which was mainly for children; it thus created a niche market within the entertainment industry. According to Mario D’Amico, the executive vice president of marketing, trying to create a more affordable product to reach a mass audience would require the artists to scale down their ambitions.  Another innovative aspect is that this circus used its own themes, costumes and soundtrack; this latter in particular was in a Latin-sounding language, in order to go beyond cultural differences. The company managed to create a new form of art putting circus art, theater and ballet together, and also started to diversify its commercial offer towards publishing, multimedia and merchandising. In 1999, it released its first film “Alegrìa” and first television special, “Cirque du Soleil Presents Quidam”, followed by the film “Journey of Man” in 2000; in 1998 it opened a retail store in the Walt Disney Resort in Florida, and planned to open a permanent theater in Montreal in 2003-2004.

1. How has Cirque structured and supported its casts to deliver superior performance?

Regarding human resources, Cirque du Soleil faces many difficult challenges: at the end of 2001, the organization counted over 2100 employees worldwide, and it’s very difficult to keep this widely spread troupe, also because of the differences in language and culture. Moreover, it is difficult to manage a company composed by creative people, and in 1987 and 1988, there have been “artists’ rebellions” where many of the artists disputed with managers.

• CASTING

In a company whose heart core is represented by performances, casting is one of the most important processes. Casting agents and scouts sour cities and remote areas in order to find new talent to add to new and existing shows, traveling to more than 20 countries, and also hold auditions twice a year in the headquarter in Montreal. When hiring, also the non-artistic needs are taken into account: in particular, the casting director Cantin stresses the importance of the impact of Cirque in the artists’ life.
The company is often seen in many places as a “merchant of dreams”: it casted children living on the streets of Brazil and let children who have parents to performance with them, in order to make it easier for them to grow up in the Cirque. When casting people coming from difficult situations, a lot of warning is necessary: the company has casted people from African villages, but refusing to hire a single talent at time, because it would be too difficult for him, only hiring if a few people equally talented, so that they can support each other.