Innovation by Fusion

Yesterday I went to see Cirque du Soleil in Amsterdam. It was the first time I had seen it, and I was blown away. Clearly, I am not alone, for the show was expensive yet fully booked and seemingly able to generate massive income for the organisers.

What Cirque du Soleil seems to have done is create a fusion of different established forms of entertainment, to create something stronger than its constituent elements. Apart from the skills of the human aspects of circuses – trapeze, acrobatics, strength acts as so on, Cirque borrows from elsewhere. Musical theatre is the main source of borrowing. From there comes top quality choreography, lighting, sound and music, continuity and storytelling.

The result is something that has all the breathtaking skill levels of a top circus, packaged into something with beauty and pace. A powerful and novel combination – as has been demonstrated by the massive success and lack of any strong emulators. This is supported also by a good business model, with strong brand and marketing and efficient operations. I was particularly impressed with how the different performers were ready to shift from leading their own act to supporting other acts, and had been trained to be complete performers, with grace and audience connection. Some performers may have resented this at first (“I am the world’s strongest man, not some cabaret dancer”) they have clearly all bought into the concept in its entirety, and why not as they see the rewards.

This brilliant fusion led me to wonder about success stories with similar traits, and also about so-far unfulfilled opportunities.

One example was IKEA, my favourite retailer. They managed to combine the efficiency of the mega-supermarket with the product appeal of the design innovator, also with a very coherent brand. It had not been done beforehand; they changed the game and reaped rewards, and have managed to keep ahead of imitators. What do Cirque du Soleil and IKEA have in common? More than you might see at first glance.

A slightly bigger stretch could be what Strictly Come Dancing has done to revive ballroom dancing. Here the elements fused were quality professional performance, a pastime with potential mass appeal, and reality TV.

In all these examples, the level of innovation was outstanding, yet it was achieved not with anything wholly new but with a fusion. That is a good general rule with innovation. Very few powerful ideas are completely new, yet much scope exists in putting existing things together.

So what about those opportunities? Building on Cirque du Soleil, I wonder what could be done with the animal side of a circus. Admittedly, that part of the circus traditional circus tends to be even more tawdry than the rest, and tainted somewhat by animal welfare concerns. But a quality outfit could break through that with the right business model. Combine the strengths of zoos, circuses, dolphin type shows they have at resorts, interactive museums and the education and wonder that comes from David Attenborough programmes and there might be something there. Some modern technology might help too.
Could other sports reinvent themselves in the way that cricket has with twenty-20? Any other pastimes ripe for the Strictly treatment? How about bridge for example?

In any case, I recommend Cirque du Soleil. See it if you can.