It is a very interesting experience to sit in a training session to get my practitioner certification on Blue Ocean Strategy®. I feel like I am listening to myself. It has been a long time since I was a student being taught by a professor and not a professor myself.
Katrina L. is the professor. She has worked with Dr. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, the authors of the mega-successful book “Blue Ocean Strategy.” Katrina is a devoted and passionate believer in Blue Ocean Strategy. She’s also an excellent communicator, evident as I watch her set up the group for a “visual awakening” about symphony music and Andre Rieu’s music.
I now use Andre Rieu to help attendees at my workshops to better “see, feel and think” about how you can reinvent anything, even classical music. And Rieu is terrific at showing you how to repackage something that is old and stodgy into something very cool, fun and financially fantastic. As of June, 2012, his 60-piece orchestra has grossed over $25 million.
Watching the people sitting next to me get into Andre Rieu is fun. The attendees are from all over the world—New Zealand, Brazil (where I learned Reader’s Digest is doing just fine, thank you), Puerto Rico, Canada and across the U.S. Something I’ve picked up new to share is how to think about Andre Rieu in even “newer” ways.
What’s interesting to watch is my colleagues learning how Andre Rieu created an entirely new package for music—classical, rock, jazz, and so forth—and created a themed production that can easily be moved and launched. While his music attracts a crowd that might never go to a classic music concert, he figured out how to do it with more productivity and bigger revenue streams.
In addition, he:
- Made his productions multi-sensory
- Made pieces shorter
- Introduced fun
- Pioneered a different kind of venue, a lot freer
The result? A lot more people attending. Over 700,000 in 2011, all in big box stadiums, listening to a wonderful mix of music with performers having as much fun playing for the audience as the audience was having listening to them. Everyone moved, swayed, danced, sang and had a “Party.”
Perhaps you can learn from Andre Rieu how to make something old, established and stodgy—and not so profitable—into a big store bonanza that transforms classical music into something that “crosses over” into a hot new genre. Enjoy!
