Cirque’s show Saltimbanco embarked on a tour of over 40 arenas across Canada and the United States. The new tour model allowed Cirque du Soleil to bring its shows to additional cities, giving more people than ever the opportunity to enjoy a Cirque du Soleil show in their own city. The tour made a stop in Kansas City, and our goal was to gain media coverage of the event and also increase ticket sales for the tour stop by reaching out to area residents in and around the Kansas City Metro area.

Known nationally for the spectacular acrobatics, costumes, lighting and make-up, this was the first opportunity for Kansas City residents to see Saltimbanco in their own city.

Cirque du Soleil was competing for coverage with other arts events taking place in the Kansas City area, including the stage edition of the hit Disney movie, High School Musical, and Fringe Fest, a six day celebration of theater, dance, fashion and food.

After developing a targeted media list of entertainment publications and local news and radio shows, we distributed an exciting HTML press kit, including hyperlinks and photos, announcing Saltimbanco’s first tour stop in Kansas City. The release highlighted the uniqueness and previous success of the 14-year tour, and basic event and ticket specifics.

Saltimbanco received multiple media hits, including front page placement in the Kansas City Star and Conexion Latina, articles in other local print publications, an online photo gallery and spots on each television network.

More than 15 minutes of broadcast coverage was aired and the combined circulation of the print stories exceeded 1.4 million. Ticket sales for the five day run met the goals of the campaign.