BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY - IS CIRQUE DU SOLEIL REALLY A BLUE OCEAN?

I had an excellent comment on the Blue Ocean Strategy from Jim Ninivaggi of the Maremma Group. With his permission I have elevated his comment to a posting so more folks might read it. Bottom line with Jim is he questions whether many of the case studies in Blue Ocean even qualify as blue oceans as defined by the authors. Jim is a seasoned sales pro who has been-there-done-that many times so I think you'll find his viewpoint quite provocative:

I've now read Blue Ocean Strategy twice, and have come away with the belief that many of the examples used in the book are not truly "blue ocean" as defined by the authors.

The most glaring example of this is the Cirque du Soleil case study.  They do not "create a new market" as the book describes, but rather creating a new, compelling product for an existing market.

Cirque du Soleil does not compete with the traditional circus.  People who go to the circus I would put into a marketplace of "family entertainment".  These are parents who take their families to things like the movies, arcades, Ice Capades, theme parks, family-themed theater (The Lion King on Broadway), etc.  Cirque du Soliel is not a typical alternative for this marketplace -- and therefor building the entire case study on a side-by-side comparison of traditional circus vs. Cirque du Soliel was distracting beyond measure and had me wondering if the authors realized how they diluted their own concepts.

The marketplace Cirque du Soleil does compete in is what I'll call "adults who go out".  These are adults who attend the movies, theater, cabaret, concert events, cultural exhibits, etc.  Using the concept of "circus for adults" , Cirque du Soliel simply created a compelling and unique alternative to meet existing demand -- not create new demand. Simply put, a tourist to New York city might opt to attend Cirque du Soleil (if they are in town) over attending a Broadway show. Not true "blue ocean" as defined by the authors.

What do you think?

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Comments

[Ron Shevlin]

I would tend to agree with Jim that Cirque is NOT "blue ocean". But that doesn't diminish the ideas put forth by the authors of the book. I've worked with a couple of organizations whose management team has embraced that concept. And while none of them has really come up with any true blue ocean ideas, the process has been helpful in getting them to think beyond "what new features?" should we bake into our products.

The concept is particularly important for marketers who should be bringing consumer insights and trends to the executive team table to start and feed blue ocean discussions.

Ron Shevlin
http://marketingroi.wordpress.com