By Ken Rosen
Summer movies show what computers can do…the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey circus shows what people can do.

It had been a few years since my last circus…and I’m pretty sure my last few were the rarified Cirque du Soleil. My expectations for Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey (RB&BB) were, admittedly, low. I expected cheesiness everywhere—tired performers, embarrassing clowns, sad animals, etc. But I guess you don’t claim “the Greatest Show on Earth” for 139 years without learning to keep what works while learning new tricks. Everything you can do for an afternoon is competition for RB&BB, and they have created and stolen ideas to stay worthy of your time.

Most importantly, I am stunned at the power of the three-ring concept as a match for large venues full of people with today’s short-attention spans. Modern entertainment—think summer blockbuster movies— throw ever-more energy at your point of concentration, often by spending half the budget on computer imagery. Three rings not only assumes your attention will wander, it practically taunts you to fear you are constantly missing something! Sure, each act still has to deliver, but if the action gets slow, I found myself assuming I must have just missed something as good as the best thing I’d seen. (To be fair, this may be a “glass half full” Rorschach test. Maybe others assume they are missing boring things—but I’d rather not have dinner with those folks.)

In a broader view, RB&BB seems to know their changing audience. As a few examples, they…

  • Brought a few dozen people from the audience to view the circus from inside the rings. They became a silent proxy for the crowd proving no visual effects are used.
  • Used a dozen or so giant monitors which rose and fell from the ceiling to create mood. Their audience loves screen time, so they gave them the biggest screens they’d seen.
  • Referred to the clichés of old circuses, from a “bearded lady” to adult “siamese twins.” But they disarmed the poor taste of such acts by exposing them as fakes within a comedy sketch.

The acts themselves, from gymnastics to body bending to trapeze, are impressive—maybe not individually worthy of much of your time, but impressive as part of an ever-changing three-ring visual montage. Even the master of ceremonies seemed to have the personality, pipes, and poise to lead a far more “serious” performance.

Ringling Brothers changed in one afternoon from a sad reflection of days gone by to a Company We Admire.

Before closing, this post wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the circus-animal controversy. If interested, please see PETA‘s site focusing exclusively on this topic.

Takeaways

  • What can you learn from the full range of your competition to up your game? This doesn’t just mean the rival company making a similar product for 15% less, but also, in the spirit of Michael Porter’s Five Forces, all the substitute products stealing mindshare and dollars. RB&BB seems to know it’s competition is not the Pickle Family Circus; it is movies, theme parks, and computer games.
  • Boredom is one of RB&BB’s worst fears. Three rings is a powerful response. How can you design your offering to turn your worst fear into a strength? For that matter, what is the equivalent of “Three Rings” to make your business more compelling?