Feld Entertainment's Disney on Ice: Passport to Adventure ice show is in the middle of an extensive South American tour.
It’s not surprising that the number of live family shows is on the rise in South America’s largest cities — Rio de Janiero, Buenos Aires, Lima, Bogota and Santiago. With 370 million people living in this family-oriented region, this continent’s live entertainment market continues expanding faster than the overall global average, according to São Paulo, Brazil-based Time 4 Fun, one of Latin America’s largest live entertainment companies.
In Brazil, South America’s largest country, the majority of musicals including Beauty and the Beast, Adams Family and Les Misérables are international and targeted to families, Time 4 Fun reported.
Cirque du Soleil started its South American tours in 2006, after being approached by Time 4 Fun for a potential partnership.
Despite the limited number of arenas in South America, Cirque du Soleil puts on 500 shows in the region annually. Its 18-month tours hit four Brazil markets along with one stop each in Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Chile. At press time, the company’s Corteo show was on tour in Lima.
“From 2006 to 2012 were boom years for our show in Brazil, but it has slowed down a bit due to the country’s [shaky] economy,” said Finn Taylor, formerly Cirque du Soleil’s senior vice president, touring shows.
Vienna, Va.-based Feld Entertainment initially made the decision to enter this market in 1987 based on the potential population, the affinity of South Americans to go to live events and its ability to find the right promotional partners.
“This region has a lot of families and a high birth rate, so the potential is there,” said Maria Maldonado, Feld Entertainment’s regional vice president for Central and South America.
The company’s Disney on Ice: Passport to Adventure ice show is in the middle of a tour that included Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and São Paulo, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; and Bogotá, Colombia, with a 2015 stop planned in Panama City.
PARTNERING FOR SUCCESS
Unlike more mature markets where larger companies have the resources to manage both content and event promotion, in South America, local and international providers of live family entertainment typically are not able to promote their own shows. To effectively do business on the continent and gain access to markets with potentially high returns, companies like Feld Entertainment and Cirque du Soleil must develop relationships and partnerships with promoters and sponsors that do business in the region.
This was the case for Feld Entertainment when, after doing business in these countries for 13 years, it took a hiatus from touring in Brazil and Argentina from 2000 to 2005.
“We needed to find the right partners to go back into the region,” Maldonado said. “It’s not just about seeing the potential, but also finding the right promoter to work with us on our shows.”
Among the company’s South American partners are RGB Entertainment in Argentina, Time 4 Fun, Opus in Brazil and EvenPro Entretenimiento in Colombia. Feld Entertainment’s Disney Live tour first landed in South America back in 2006, with its Monster Jam motorsport event following three years later.
Like Feld Entertainment, Cirque du Soleil works with partners in the region, including Time 4 Fun and IMX, a division of IMG, which market and promote its big top tours throughout South America and find sponsors to provide financial support.
“Sponsorships have taken a very big role in our South American marketing campaign,” Taylor said. “Specifically, big banks, like Brazil’s Bradesco Bank, have come on board to support our shows in the past.”
In addition, partnerships vary culturally due to the nature of business in South America as compared to Europe.
“With family events that tour every year to the same market and sometimes to multiple properties in each market, it’s standard to have long-term partners and relationships,” Maldonado said.
The mobility of Cirque du Soleil's tented shows like Corteo make them more conducive to going on the road.
TRANSPORT TIMING
Unlike North American and European tours, transportation timing between South American cities can vary due to logistics.
While Brazil, Argentina and Chile can be reached via land, Peru, Panama and Colombia require a vessel to be reserved for ocean transport.
“In Europe, we have performances week after week with no down weeks, while in South America our down weeks are driven by transportation issues,” Maldonado said.
A typical Feld Entertainment tour will hit Brazil and Argentina successively, then a week later travel to Chile. There is then a three-week break prior to performances in Peru.
This past year, Feld Entertainment’s South American Disney Live tour experienced delays due to the World Cup.
“Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) worked with all of Brazil’s venues from May 1 until after the World Cup games were finished on July 13,” Maldonado said. “This essentially locked us out, so we had four weeks of downtime between our Brazil and Argentina tours that we normally wouldn’t have.”
The distances between South American cities also can be a challenge for Cirque du Soleil’s tours.
“The physical load-in and load-out are not different from other countries, but to go from Rio to Argentina in three days can be demanding,” Taylor said.
CULTURAL DIFFICULTIES
Also, business decisions must routinely be made based on political situations in specific markets, which can have major impact on economic conditions in the regions.
For example, Brazil’s general elections were scheduled during Feld Entertainment’s Disney on Ice: Passport to Adventure tour, and plans are being made to work around Argentina’s presidential elections in 2015.
“These types of events impact business as a whole for promoters,” Maldonado said. “Although we try to plan as long term as possible in South America, economic and political climates need to be taken into consideration.”
Another issue is that the lack of competition for live family entertainment in this region has created a problem with piracy and an influx of nonlicensed events.
“The shortage of family entertainment is due to the challenges and cost of moving shows into the region and the need to form the right partnerships,” Maldonado says. “This makes it more complex to do business in South America.”
The lack of appropriately-sized venues and concentration of these facilities, mainly in large cities, also has impacted the amount and types of family entertainment on this continent.
“There are a lot of venues, but not as many stadiums and larger buildings that can properly host our events,” Maldonado said.
Feld Entertainment’s Disney on Ice tour has been a bigger sell than Disney Live, which is more geared for theaters, also scarce in the region.
In terms of load-in, South American venues are typically not as prepared or well-staffed as those in Europe and North America.
“The personnel on-site at these venues are generally not as qualified as Europe’s,” Maldonado said. “There is not that entertainment culture, so the responsibility that comes along with training people to manage shows on the technical side is lacking.”
In addition, these cities are more accustomed to working with concerts rather than live family entertainment.
“With up to 36 performances in a city, we need local teams to manage volumes of people,” Maldonado said. “It’s difficult to have a show like this compared with a concert, since we’re moving masses of people day after day. It takes a lot of training.”
SEIZING OPPORTUNITY
Yet, the opportunity is there. Opening last July in Brazil, Feld Entertainment’s 13-city, 16-week Disney Live tour performed to big audiences in Argentina, ending in Puerto Rico this past fall.
“Disney Live was extremely successful, with great ticket sales in South America and a third year in a row breaking records with this property,” Maldonado said. “Disney Live presents Mickey’s Talent Show played 10 cities in Brazil and one in Argentina from July 11 until Oct. 13, with no down weeks. We average 11 performances per week, with many sold-out shows.”
In 2015, Feld Entertainment plans to focus its efforts on the Monster Jam tour in Brazil.
Although Cirque du Soleil is constantly searching for new opportunities in South America, upcoming tours for this region have yet to be confirmed.
“We have a successful tour with Cortea right now,” Taylor said. “The audience in this region is very passionate, and we always get a good reception.”
Interviewed for this article: Maria Maldonado, (703)749-5505; Finn Taylor, (514) 723-7646, ext. 6242