|
Executive Interviews: Interview with Daniel Lamarre on Blue Ocean Strategy
December 2008
-
By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary
How does it feel to be the CEO of
one of the greatest brands ever,
having reinvented the circus and
become popular anecdotal evidence
for Blue Ocean Strategy?
Its true that Cirque du Soleil has
become an internationally recognized
entertainment company and brand. I
amvery proud to be a part of it. Since
the creation of the company in 1984,
Cirque du Soleil has never been
afraid to take creative risks. Taking
risks also means to break new ground
and to look at things differently. That
is whatwe are all about. It is also very
surprising that University professors
of such high caliber
|
|
take the time to
evaluate the work of a group of street
performers that just wanted to travel
the world and entertain! -
Why French name for a Canadian
company? Can you take us through
the history of Cirque Du Soleil, right
from the days of Les Echassiers? Are
there any practices from those early
days that are continued even today?
Cirque du Soleil was born in the
province of Quebec; it is a French
Canadian company the name of the
company is in French for that reason.
It all started in Baie Saint Paul, a small
town near Quebec City, in Canada.
There, in the early eighties, a band of
colorful characters roamed the streets,
striding on stilts, juggling, dancing,
breathing fire, and playing music.
They were Les Echassiers de Baie
Saint Paul (the Baie Saint Paul
Stiltwalkers), a street theatre group
founded by Gilles Ste Croix.
Already, the townsfolk were
impressed and intrigued by the
young performers who included
one Guy Laliberte who became
founder of Cirque du Soleil. The troupe went on to found Le Club
des talons hauts (the High Heels
Club), and then, in 1982, organized
La Fête foraine de Baie-Saint-Paul, a
cultural event in which street
performers from all over met to
exchange ideas and enliven the
streets of the town for a few days. La
foraine was repeated in 1983 and
1984. Le Club des talons hauts
attracted notice, and Guy Laliberte,
Gilles Ste Croix and their cronies
began to cherish a crazy dream to
create a Quebec circus and take the
troupe travelling around the world.
In 1984, Quebec City was celebrating
the 450th anniversary of Canadas
discovery by Jacques Cartier, and they
needed a show that would carry the
festivities out across the province.
Guy Laliberte presented a proposal
for a show called Cirque du Soleil
(Circus of the Sun), and succeeded in
convincing the organizers. And
Cirque du Soleil hasn't stopped
since! Without necessarily having the exact
same type of acts we had in the early
days in our shows today, Cirque du
Soleil does not forget about its roots
and integrate circus arts practices in
all its shows, to various levels. Circus
arts are part of our genetic code and
we do not wish to forget about our
origins. -
Every company has a few definite
turning points in its life. Any
companys present success minus its
turning points would obliterate its
very success. What do you think
were the turning points in Cirque
Du Soleils history?
1987 was a pivotal year for Cirque du
Soleil. After a Canadian tour, Cirque
du Soleil was eager to try its luck in
the US, and in 1987, it took the
plunge. The Quebec delegation to
Los Angeles had tried to persuade the
organizers of the Los Angeles Festival
to present a Cirque du Soleil show,
butmetwith refusal (an art festival is
no place for a circus!). Then, after
seeing a performance, the organizers
accepted and an agreement was
signed. It gave the troupe no funding
of any kind, but in exchange, the
Cirque du Soleil show would open
the festival and the troupe could keep
all the box office revenues. At that time, Cirque du Soleils
financial situation was very
precarious. There was enough
money to take the troupe to the
festival, but not to come back. If the
show failed, it meant the end of a
crazy dream. Still, Guy Laliberte took
the risk of going, staking everything
on success. Guy Laliberte refers to
that very crucial time of the Cirque
history as "the live or die in LA"period! And it paid off! Cirque du
Soleil became the "in thing"in Los
Angeles and the gates to the US were
opened wide. As the cradle of Cirque
du Soleils first success abroad, the
west coast of the States became a
symbolic region that Cirque has
visited regularly since 1987. -
One of the defining years for
Cirque Du Soleil was 1986, when
the company was in serious
financial trouble with $750
thousand in debt. You were very
instrumental in bailing company out
of the impending bankruptcy. While
working for one of the largest public
relations firms in Quebec, you
represented Cirque Du Soleil for
free, knowing that Cirque Du Soleil
didnot have the money to pay your
fee. Why did you offer your services
free and what motivated you to do
so? Now that you are the President
and CEO of the very same company,
how does it feel knowing that you
were very instrumental in ensuring
the survival of the company?
Likemany people fromQuebec, I was
aware of the attempts of Cirque du
Soleil to "make it"on the
international scene. Guy had called
me and asked for a favor. He needed
some guidance and I was more than
willing to help. Guy has always and
still is very convincing. I also admired
his sense of entrepreneurship, being
one myself, I understood clearly that
you need to count on people when
you develop a business. After that
small mandate, I kept in touch with
Guy and just followed the amazing progression of Cirque du Soleil. Then
in 2000, Guy called me and asked me
if I wanted to move into the
International side of business. He
knew how that would appeal to me!
That is also something to be said of
Guy, he is very loyal! My
contribution in 1986 was very
modest…I like to believe thatmy true
contribution is, since I have arrived at
Cirque du Soleil in 2001 and I do
hope to continue, having as much
fun for many years to come.
1.
Blue Ocean Strategy Case Study
2. ICMR
Case Collection
3.
Case Study Volumes
|
