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How Cirque Du Soleil & Diamond Resorts Manage Customer Experience Challenges - Frank Reactions - Customer Experience & Customer Service in the Digital Era
As I listened to Lou D’Angeli, Cirque du Soleil‘s Director of Marketing, Public Relations and Sales, talk at the recent Customer Experience Strategies Summit, two memories came to mind.
The first was when I was living in Toronto in the 1980s and this crazy sounding circus that was not really a circus but more of an acrobatic show with music was coming to town to perform in a tent.
I tried desperately to convince friends to come with me to see what was Cirque du Soleil’s first appearance in Toronto, but no dice. Little did they know that it would go on to become the huge, successful entertainment force it is today, with 8 shows at a time going on in Las Vegas, and many others touring the world.
The other memory was my children’s delight at going to “circus school”, where one of their instructors was a soon-to-be Cirque performer. It’s safe to say that the many “circus schools” that exist today would not be around if Cirque du Soleil hadn’t come to town.
This week’s podcast episode features two interviews:
* Lou D’Angeli, and
* Patrick Duffy, Chief Experience Officer of Diamond Resorts International.
The Challenges of Success
As you’ll hear in the first part, my interview with Lou, the strong Cirque du Soleil brand actually poses some of its own challenges. They need to find a way to differentiate the eight Vegas shows from each other, so people will not feel ‘done one, done ’em all’. At the same time, if they market too heavily on the names of the individual shows, they risk losing the power of the Cirque brand to help sell it.
Get the Lou D’Angeli Transcript Now!
I guess it is not just the performers who face a difficult balancing act.
In the interview we also discuss:
* The differences in marketing a brand like Cirque du Soleil versus the brand he previously marketed, World Wrestling Entertainment
* How to build cohesion when you go out of your way to hire people who are creative, independent thinkers. His answer: Get them all involved in the creation process together. That way they will all feel a sense of “ownership” and shared purpose.
* The importance of talking to detractors and non-purchasers, as well as clients. It is worth the extra effort to find them.
* The value of being proactive on social media when there’s a problem. He gave an example of when a performer got injured during a show. Posting promptly that there had been an accident, and that the performer was okay, headed off a lot of questions and rumors.
* What to do when a company you partner with screws up. Cirque du Soleil sells most of its tickets through resellers. But in the customer’s mind, if they get to a show with a ticket and it isn’t valid or there’s some other problem, it is the Cirque’s issue. First solve the customer’s problem. Afterwards you can go back to the partner who messed up and get compensation from them. But you don’t risk your brand image by telling customers it’s not your fault (even when it really isn’t your fault).
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As I listened to Lou D’Angeli, Cirque du Soleil‘s Director of Marketing, Public Relations and Sales, talk at the recent Customer Experience Strategies Summit, two memories came to mind.
The first was when I was living in Toronto in the 1980s and this crazy sounding circus that was not really a circus but more of an acrobatic show with music was coming to town to perform in a tent.
I tried desperately to convince friends to come with me to see what was Cirque du Soleil’s first appearance in Toronto, but no dice. Little did they know that it would go on to become the huge, successful entertainment force it is today, with 8 shows at a time going on in Las Vegas, and many others touring the world.
The other memory was my children’s delight at going to “circus school”, where one of their instructors was a soon-to-be Cirque performer. It’s safe to say that the many “circus schools” that exist today would not be around if Cirque du Soleil hadn’t come to town.
This week’s podcast episode features two interviews:
* Lou D’Angeli, and
* Patrick Duffy, Chief Experience Officer of Diamond Resorts International.
The Challenges of Success
As you’ll hear in the first part, my interview with Lou, the strong Cirque du Soleil brand actually poses some of its own challenges. They need to find a way to differentiate the eight Vegas shows from each other, so people will not feel ‘done one, done ’em all’. At the same time, if they market too heavily on the names of the individual shows, they risk losing the power of the Cirque brand to help sell it.
Get the Lou D’Angeli Transcript Now!
I guess it is not just the performers who face a difficult balancing act.
In the interview we also discuss:
* The differences in marketing a brand like Cirque du Soleil versus the brand he previously marketed, World Wrestling Entertainment
* How to build cohesion when you go out of your way to hire people who are creative, independent thinkers. His answer: Get them all involved in the creation process together. That way they will all feel a sense of “ownership” and shared purpose.
* The importance of talking to detractors and non-purchasers, as well as clients. It is worth the extra effort to find them.
* The value of being proactive on social media when there’s a problem. He gave an example of when a performer got injured during a show. Posting promptly that there had been an accident, and that the performer was okay, headed off a lot of questions and rumors.
* What to do when a company you partner with screws up. Cirque du Soleil sells most of its tickets through resellers. But in the customer’s mind, if they get to a show with a ticket and it isn’t valid or there’s some other problem, it is the Cirque’s issue. First solve the customer’s problem. Afterwards you can go back to the partner who messed up and get compensation from them. But you don’t risk your brand image by telling customers it’s not your fault (even when it really isn’t your fault).