Summary: This article in our free marketing guide looks at a marketing case study – Cirque du Soleil – reinventing a product class.
Let’s look at a real world example of how to innovate to create superior value with a new product.
First we look at the job being done, and the outcomes sought, in this case they were all entertainment based jobs and outcomes, which meant Cirque du Solei shared a lot in common with other forms of nights out and entertainment from the consumers point of view.
Then these decisions were considered …
- What can we eliminate from the product because its value/cost ratio is poor?
- What can we reduce from the product because its value/cost ratio is poor?
- What can we raise/enhance in the product to provide superior value?
- What can we create and add to the product to provide superior value
When Cirque du Solei addressed these questions they found several features (Value Factors/Value Creators) could be eliminated from the circus.
- Animals – they cost a lot to look after, train and transport – many customers also felt they shouldn’t be kept by a circus and considered it cruel. The value to cost ratio was therefore wrong – high cost but little value.
- Circus Stars – these people were small in number and had high power in traditional circuses as they were in high demand – this allowed them to command even bigger wages. Compared to movie stars and so on, they had little bearing on value for customers – yet they were high cost – they were therefore phased out.
- Comfortable seating – the traditional circus seating and surrounds were saw dust like and were replaced with more luxurious surroundings and comfort.
There were 3 main Value Factors/Value Creators remaining from the traditional circus – clowns, tents and acrobats. Each were scaled down and modified in some way, and made to fit with the rest of the show – for example clowns were made a little less slapstick, and the leading circuses often used 3 tents, with 3 separate shows at one time, greatly adding to cost, and adding little value as only one show could be watched at a time!
Cirque then looked across different industries, and borrowed heavily from theatre and street performance Value Factors, blending them with the circus product to create something new in a refined atmosphere, and perhaps more entertaining than any of the 3 products on their own!
When creating a Value Canvas from this, it was found that the leading circus were all competing on the traditional circus based Value Factors – bigger tents, star performers, lots of animals, clowns etc, and smaller local ones where doing the same but not able to do so with as much leverage. When Cirque was added to the canvas its value curve was wildly different, as there were many features it had which circuses did not.
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