The Circus: Marketing to the Masses

This directed research project examines the method and means by which the American circus promoted and marketed itself from its early American inception in the mid to late 1700¿s, to the present. Data was collected from archives, books, newspapers, web sites and personal interviews with authors and circus owners (Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Big Apple Circus). By means of comparison and contrast methodology, I assert that the methods used and created by the promoters of the American circus provided the blueprint of how we, today, promote and market the arts and the various disciplines the arts encompasses. This research shows that the circus promotion and marketing strategies are still used today, albeit with the aid of technology, and that the circus championed many marketing strategies by mean of trial and error for the sole purpose to be first and to declare their circus the best!