Cirque du Soleil Jumps Through Hoops to Broaden Its Audience
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Cirque du Soleil’s month-long run here two years ago started out drawing sparse crowds and ended with full houses. This time communications director Jean Heon wants to ensure larger audiences right from the start. Regular visits to major U.S. markets are essential to Cirque du Soleil’s growth, and Chicago–with it’s large, sophisticated, and affluent population–is a major stop on Cirque du Soleil’s U.S. route and the only one in the midwest. The not-for-profit company was incorporated in Montreal in 1984, and it started out touring for five or so months a year, which is what the weather allowed in Canada. But the founders soon realized that to develop the show they envisioned, they’d have to adopt a 12-month tour schedule; that way they could sign the best acts to full-year contracts and take in enough money to maintain the show’s high production values.
Cirque du Soleil made its U.S. landfall in September 1987 in Los Angeles. It has been praised by most U.S. critics for its efforts to elevate the circus experience, but Heon and his team aren’t content to let the critics sell their show for them. They conduct regular surveys to gauge audience response and discover more about customer demographics. Heon knows, for instance, that the typical visitor is between 22 and 44, affluent, and well educated.
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