Crowdfunding Exclusivity and The Disneyland Mark Twain Steamboat
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Any board game Kickstarter guide is going to mention how you NEED to offer exclusive deals to your backers…
They’ll explain that you cannot have a successful crowdfunding campaign without exclusive discounts, offerings, and add-ons.
And the reason is simple:
Exclusivity sells.
Like… really really well.
Now, you can take my word at face value and just believe me. Which means that, if you are crowdfunding a tabletop game or product, then you MUST create exclusive offerings for potential backers and opportunities for pre-launch subscribers.
But if you want to know WHY it works, then we need to dive into the psychology. And before I explain the psychology, I want to support the science with a little story of when I experienced true exclusivity…
Childhood vs College Disneyland
It was in my junior year of undergrad. This would be the last year that I had the SoCal Select Disneyland pass.
One spring day, a few weeks before finals, some friends and I decided to drive the 25 minutes over to Anaheim and spend the afternoon at Disneyland.
For the most part, it was the regular, everyday, normal Disneyland visit we always have:
We sat in the back cart and turned to face backwards on Space Mountain
We complained about how we, somehow, got the SAME run on Star Tours we always get
We splurged on a churro, Dole whip, mint Julep, and/or Turkey leg
We pulled our hair out that Indiana Jones was STILL closed
We screamed in terror as we were condemned to hell on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (yes, you read that correctly)
We planned to go on Peter Pan, but then changed our minds when we saw the line was 2+ hours long
We laughed maniacally at every single pun during the Jungle Cruise
Ya know… normal Disneyland stuff!
All fun. All special. All a good time
But at 21, it’s a far cry from “the most magical place on earth”, like it was when I was a kid…
Growing up, my favorite place in Disneyland was Tom Sawyer’s Island.
image is not property of Riley James Copy
Even though I am sure it was curated as the Floral Mickey at the entrance, it was the one place in the park that felt wild and rustic.
It was landlocked; you could only get there on Huck Finn’s raft.
It had dirt and trees and bushes… all the ingredients a rambunctious boy needs to get dirty and have fun.
And perched on a rocky outcrop was a real log cabin fort with heavy wooden guns that made actual cool sounds.
And as I would sit up there in the fort, looking through the windows, I would see the famous Disneyland Mark Twain’s Steamboat, in all its grandeur, circle its way around the island.
For a boy with a wild imagination that loved Davy Crockett, it was a dream come true. Truly one of those magical moments that sticks with you forever as a kid.
But notice how different my childhood and college experiences were…
One was awe and wonder. The other was just silly fun. And that is all we had come to expect from Disneyland. We didn’t expect to have any more of those truly magical moments like when we were kids…
Fastforward to Anaheim, CA, Spring 2012
Well, late in the afternoon our group had separated. One pair went off to watch “The Hall of Presidents” show, while the rest of us decided to ride the Mark Twain Steamboat while we waited for our Thunder Mountain Railroad Fast Pass time.
We arrived shortly before the steamboat would drop off its passengers. There was a large crowd already waiting, so we drifted to the periphery and leaned our arms against the railing, waiting our turn.
But we wouldn’t have to wait our turn, because something MAGICAL happened:
The captain pointed, gestured, and called out to US.
Whether it was because fate smiled upon us, or in that moment our joy captured the spirit of Disney, or just because we had two really cute girls in our group… I don’t know.
But it doesn’t matter, because the captain had selected us for an exclusive tour of the ship:
Image is not property of Riley James Copy
We were instructed to go to the front of the line as soon as the boat docked and board before everyone else…
The captain took us around the empty ship for about 5 minutes, telling us the history of the boat…
He showed us some photos of famous people who had toured the ship the same way we were doing now…
We then were taken to the helm at the top of the ship, a place off limits to other passengers …
Where we got to hold the wheel and “steer” the ship during its voyage, something none of the other passengers get to do…
We got to ring the bell, something everyone near the river can hear…
And before disembarking, we got to sign an exclusive book reserved for private tour guests only…
And were given a unique certificate proving we had been there…
Now first of all…yes…I know the ship is on a track and we didn’t actually steer the ship. And yes, I know that that captain probably gives that tour two dozen times a day. In fact, here is a Reddit post of someone who got the same treatment.
But it doesn’t matter, because we felt SPECIAL.
It was one of the only times I had been to Disneyland as an adult where it felt as magical and exciting as when I was a little kid.
And you can bet our friends that chose to watch robot Abraham Lincoln talk instead were HEEEELLLAAAA JEALOUS.
In fact, all of us who have taken the tour feel that way. Take a look at that Reddit link. Here are some of the comments:
“My pilot's certificate from 10 years ago hangs on the wall of my office”
“This was soooo cool”
“Dude this is dope”
And all the comments of people who HAVEN’T been able to go are about making it their next goal, or putting it on their bucket list, or fears that the exclusive tour isn’t allowed anymore.
That story might be a little bit long-winded, but it drives home the psychological impact exclusive offerings have on the customer consciousness.
But why did I feel special? And why do people want it?
image is not property of Riley James Copy
Why Exclusives Fuel Sales
(Full disclosure, for some reason this section has been a NIGHTMARE to write. My brain revolts against it no matter how I structure it. So I’m just going to go as plain and logical as I can)
When you are selling something, you are offering value to the customer. If the customer does not find it valuable, then they will not be convinced that the offering is worth the price they will need to pay.
Or, if the offering is not sufficiently valuable in the eyes of the customer, then they will not be compelled to pay immediately. They will put off purchasing or backing until the value exceeds the price.
Which means…
Part of marketing and sales is making your offering as valuable as possible in the eyes of your potential customer.
One way to do this is to make something exclusive.
How does exclusivity uniquely add value?
By making the customer feel significant
People want to feel significant because people want to belong. We believe that desirable groups will welcome and accept us if we are significant in their eyes. So if we can become significant in the right ways, then we will belong with the group.
This is the value of exclusivity… it makes is feel more valuable to others.
It is an innate human impulse. We cannot escape it. Our brains are permanently wired to work this way.
Now, exclusivity does combine with other sales tactics to have other effects on customers. But that is for the next blog post, which just so happens to include all the words I wrote as I struggled to structure this section (read it here).
But the important takeaway is this:
The more exclusive your offering feels, the more inherently valuable it will be to your target audience.
I wanted to ride the Mark Twain Riverboat. It was already (somewhat) valuable to me and everyone else that wanted to get on the boat at Disneyland.
So when I was offered an exclusive tour, I consciously/subconsciously felt that my peers would see me as more important and significant than before. And since the tour was something I had never heard of before, and never imagined I would get something so exclusive, the special tour was EXTREMELY valuable to me.
Even though I consciously knew it was a silly tour that had taken place thousands of times on a fake boat that ran on a track in a fake river.
So, long story short, is why you need exclusive discounts, offerings, and add-ons for your Kickstarter campaigns!
People want to be significant so they can belong…
The exclusives will offer them significance and a group to belong to…
And it will increase the value of your offering!
But, combined with other sales tactics, exclusives can unlock waaaaaay more selling power.
And that is the subject of the next blo gpost (read it here!)
