CHAPTER 7 The sociocultural environment 273
CASE STUDY 7.1
Cirque du Soleil Inc.: the show that revolutionized the circus arts is expanding its
global scope
Cirque du Soleil Inc. (‘Circus of the Sun’; www.
cirquedusoleil.com) is a Canadian entertainment
company, self-described as a ‘dramatic mix of circus
arts and street entertainment’. Based in Montreal,
Quebec, the company was founded in 1984 by two
former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Gilles
Ste-Croix. Today Laliberté is the CEO of the
company.
With numerous prizes and distinctions to its
credit, Cirque du Soleil is a unique organization
which has reinvented and revolutionized the circus
arts. Since its beginnings in 1984, Cirque du Soleil
has been entertaining the public with a novel show
concept that is as original as it is non-traditional: an
astonishing, theatrical blend of circus arts and street
performance, wrapped up in spectacular costumes
and fairyland sets and staged to spellbinding music
and magical lighting. There are no animals in a
Cirque du Soleil production – only sheer human
energy is at work.
The internationalization of Cirque
du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil was founded in 1984 to produce
an event in Quebec celebrating the 450th anniver-
sary of Canada’s discovery by Jacques Cartier. It
did so with a $1.3 million grant from the Canadian
government.
During the first years, Cirque du Soleil was in seri-
ous financial trouble several times and in 1986 it
came very close to bankruptcy.
These first two years for Cirque du Soleil con-
sisted of touring around Quebec and neighbouring
Ontario. By the end of 1986, however, the Cirque du
Soleil management had become convinced of the
concept’s broad-based appeal, and prepared to
export it on a broad scale to their southern neigh-
bours. Thus, in 1987, Cirque du Soleil made its
debut in the US.
The company’s managers were forward-thinking
and objective-oriented, formulating and then pursu-
ing successive five-year plans. The shows them-
selves were expressions of artistic and athletic
ability, but the stewardship of the company was
conducted in a businesslike way. This approach
M07_HOLL0111_07_SE_C07.indd 273
fuelled the geographic expansion of Cirque du
Soleil’s touring schedule, diversified the company’s
activities into new revenue-generating areas and,
eventually, helped the Cirque du Soleil name become
as well known as a popular consumer brand.
Although the maturation of the Cirque du Soleil con-
cept into an eccentric yet formidable marketing force
did not gain momentum until the mid-1990s, some
lucrative projects were started during the late 1980s.
In 1988, the company began negotiations that would
continue for the next four years for an Asian tour. In
1989, Cirque du Soleil sold its concept for European
performances to Circus Knie (Switzerland), which
subsequently began producing its own version in
Europe.
Cirque du Soleil embarked on its first tour of Asia
in 1990, financed by a $40 million investment from
Fuji Televisions Network, which handled ticket sales
and promotion for the tour. The production, whose
budget rivalled that of a major Broadway musical,
featured 72 international artists and musicians.
Cirque du Soleil also began a tour organized in
partnership with Circus Knie, putting on shows in 60
towns in Switzerland. Busy on all fronts, the com-
pany also appeared in Las Vegas for the first time,
bringing Nouvelle Experience to the Mirage Hotel for
a year-long engagement in a tent behind the hotel.
Cirque du Soleil celebrated its 10th anniversary in
1994, its management having devised and fulfilled
two five-year plans. For the next five years, manage-
ment laid out a diversified blueprint for growth, the
implementation of which would greatly increase the
company’s financial stature.
Cirque du Soleil ended the 1990s with seven
productions, performing in 22 countries in Asia, the
Pacific, North America and Europe. Looking ahead,
the company intended to use its worldwide exposure
to build the Cirque du Soleil name into an internation-
ally recognized brand.
Cirque du Soleil expanded rapidly through the
2000s, going from one show to 19 shows in over
271 cities on every continent except Antarctica.
Cirque du Soleil today
Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from
around the world, with its own central theme and
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 274 Part II Deciding which markets to enter

storyline. They draw the audience into

the performance through continuous
live music, with performers rather than
stagehands changing the props.
The multiple permanent Las Vegas
shows alone play to more than 9,000
people a night, 5 per cent of the city’s
visitors, adding to the 90 million people
who have experienced Cirque du
Soleil worldwide. In 2000, Laliberté
bought out Gauthier and, with 95 per
cent ownership, has continued to
expand the brand. In 2008, Laliberté
split 20 per cent of his share equally
between two investment groups, Istith-
mar World and Nakheel of Dubai, in
order to further finance the company’s Source: Helga Esteb/Shutterstock.com.
goals. In partnership with these two
groups, Cirque had planned to build a The company additionally creates original con-
residency show in the United Arab Emirates by tent for television and on DVD through Cirque du
2012. However, as a result of Dubai’s financial prob- Soleil Images, which has produced Emmy award-
lems in 2010, caused by the 2008 global recession, winning documentaries and television specials
this project was put on hold. Laliberté may be look- (Cirque du Soleil presents Corteo and Fire Within).
ing for another financial partner to bankroll the com- Through a partnership with filmmaker James Cam-
pany’s future plans. Several more shows are in eron (Avatar), the company is developing a series of
development around the world, along with a televi- Cirque-inspired 3D projects. Cameron joined with
sion deal, women’s clothing line and a possible Andrew Adamson (director of Shrek and Shrek 2,
move into other mediums such as spas, restaurants and the first two Chronicles of Narnia movies) to
and nightclubs. film the partnership’s first movie, Cirque du Soleil:
Cirque du Soleil has turned the circus on its ear, Worlds Away. The film was released in November
blending street entertainment, eccentric costumes 2012.
and cabaret. Its shows have been seen by more than In 2010, the turnover of Cirque du Soleil Inc. was
100 million spectators in nearly 300 cities on five US$825 million, rising to US$950 million in 2011,
continents. Among its 20 productions are O (an with around US$200 million in profits.
aquatic show at MGM Resorts’ Bellagio); LOVE, a Among its 5,000 employees are more than 1,300
Las Vegas show featuring Beatles music (with sup- artists, including dancers, actors and acrobats, from
port from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and from some 50 countries.
the widows of George Harrison and John Lennon);
and touring shows Quidam and Alegría. Michael Jackson:
The company’s latest collaboration is with the
estate of Michael Jackson, and consists of a series
The Immortal World Tour
of projects based on the ‘king of pop’. The project Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour is the
includes a touring show (Michael Jackson: The official theatrical production by Cirque du Soleil which
Immortal World Tour, launched in North America in has been one of Cirque du Soleil’s biggest suc-
the autumn of 2011), and a permanent production in cesses. Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour
Las Vegas opened in MGM Resorts’ Mandalay Bay
unfolds Michael Jackson’s artistry before the eyes of
in 2013. The Las Vegas show employs cutting-edge
the audience. The show uses the music and vision of
technology such as holograms, 3D and motion simu-
lation. The deal with the Jackson estate represents Michael Jackson along with Cirque du Soleil’s signa-
Cirque du Soleil’s biggest investment to date, worth ture acrobatic performance style to create a realistic
some US$80 million. concert experience. Aimed at lifelong fans as well as
Cirque du Soleil has also been busy diversifying those experiencing Michael’s creative genius for the
its operations beyond live entertainment. It produces first time, the show captures the essence, soul and
special events for private parties and corporate gath- inspiration of the King of Pop, celebrating a legacy
erings, as well as major public events (World Exposi- that continues to transcend generations.
tion Shanghai, 2010).

M07_HOLL0111_07_SE_C07.indd 274 5/25/16 6:37 PM


The show was produced in partnership with the
Estate of Michael Jackson. Thus ‘The Immortal
World Tour’ is owned by Cirque Jackson I.P Com-
pany, which is owned 50/50 by the conglomerate
The Michael Jackson Company and Cirque Du
Soleil. The arena show – which is very similar to a
rock concert – began its tour on October 2, 2011 in
Montreal. After touring North America for about two
years, it continued on to Europe and the rest of the
world. When it left North America, a resident show
– more theatrical in nature – opened in 2013 at the
Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino located in Las
Vegas, Nevada.
The Michael Jackson Company LLC has part-
nered with Cirque du Soleil in order to create this
concert experience. As part of the US$250 million
contract with Sony allowing music publishing until
2017, an album titled Immortal was produced. The
estate initially opened 50 venues and asked the fans
to make a request if they wanted the show to come
to their respective cities. The high ticket demand
CASE STUDY 7.2
The Ikea catalogue: are there any cultural differences?
IKEA was founded in Älmhult, Sweden, in 1943 by
Ingvar Kamprad. The company name is a composite
of the first letters in his name, in addition to the first
letters of the names of the property and the village in
which he grew up: Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd
Agunnaryd.
The IKEA business philosophy is: ‘We shall offer
a wide range of well-designed, functional home fur-
nishing products at prices so low that as many peo-
ple as possible will be able to afford them.’
In the late 1940s, the first IKEA advertisements
appeared in local newspapers. Demand for IKEA
products soared, and Ingvar Kamprad quickly out-
grew his ability to make individual sales calls. As a
result, he began operating a mail order catalogue
and distributed his products via the county milk van.
This resourceful solution to a difficult problem led to
the annual IKEA catalogue.
First published in Swedish in 1951, the IKEA
catalogue was in 2010 published in 55 editions, in
27 languages for 36 countries, and is considered to
M07_HOLL0111_07_SE_C07.indd 275
CHAPTER 7 The sociocultural environment 275
prompted the estate to add several venues and sev-
eral show dates.
By July 2013, The Immortal World Tour had sold
tickets worth over 450 million dollars. More than 2
million tickets had been sold when the world tour
finished in Europe in April 2013. At that point, in total
273 shows had been performed, 218 in North
America and 55 in Europe.
Questions
1. Which sociocultural factors influence the sales of
tickets for ‘Cirque du Soleil’ shows around the
world?
2. What makes the business model of ‘Cirque du
Soleil’ globally so successful?
3. What should be the criteria for selection of a
theme for Cirque du Soleil’s next world tour?
Sources: based on www.cirquedusoleil.com/; other public media.
be the main marketing tool of the retail giant, con-
suming 70 per cent of the company’s annual market-
ing budget. In terms of publishing quantity, the
catalogue has surpassed the Bible as the world’s
most published work – at an estimated 160 million
copies (in 2010) worldwide – triple that of its less
materialistic counterpart. However, since the cata-
logue is free of charge, the Bible continues to be the
most purchased non-fiction work.
In Europe alone, the catalogue reaches more than
250 million people annually. Containing over 300
pages and about 12,000 products, it is distributed
free of charge both in stores and by mail. Further-
more, there were also over 500 million visitors to the
IKEA websites during 2010. The annual catalogue is
distributed in August/September of each year and is
valid for a full year. Prices in the catalogue are guar-
anteed not to increase while the catalogue is valid.
Most of the catalogue is produced by IKEA Cata-
logue Services AB in IKEA’s home town of Älmhult,
Sweden.
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