Crowdfunding Exclusivity and The Disneyland Mark Twain Steamboat
image is not property of Riley James Copy
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, paricularly with your crowdfunding campaign, 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 unforgettable awe and wonder. The other was just silly fun that blended in with other trips.
And that is all we had come to expect from Disneyland: just a fun time. We didn’t expect to have any more of those truly magical moments like when we were kids…
Fastforward to Anaheim, CA, Spring 2012
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
The first thing you need to know about exclusivity is that it is similar, but not the same, as scarcity:
“Exclusivity means that only a select group of customers can buy or enjoy something, creating a feeling of prestige and differentiation.
Scarcity means that there is a low supply or high demand for something, creating a sense of urgency and competition” (source).
Technically, obtaining anything scarce makes someone feel exclusive. And technically, being exclusive means you or what you have is scarce.
But in the marketing world, these terms are adjacent, not interchangeable. That’s in part because exclusivity is rooted in scarcity. And that is because emphasizing one or the other results in very different marketing strategies.
It’s also important to know Kickstarter (and other crowdfunding sites) utilize BOTH scarcity and exclusivity.
When you run a crowdfunding campaign, you are creating both exclusivity and scarcity. Exclusivity becomes one scarcity tactic among many, rather than the foundation of your entire marketing campaign.
Because of this, the NEXT blog post is about all the ways your tabletop game Kickstarter campaign uses scarcity to help you succeed (read it here).
But for now, how does exclusivity help drive sales?
Exclusivity taps into core human desires:
Exclusivity means you have something others do not: “It isn’t intentional meanness,” Imas says. “It’s more subconscious. The desire to possess something that others want exclusively is a great passion of human nature.” (source).
Exclusivity makes 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.
On the one hand, these effects seem non-essential to sales. But when you remember that these are innate, inescapable human impulses… suddenly they become powerful sales tools.
Selling is the transferrence of emotion and satisfying of desires. Exclusivity has an innate emotional pull because it taps into some core human desires.
The more exclusive your offering feels, the more inherently valuable it will be to your target audience.
The luxury industry has proven this time and time again. Customers will not only want, but also pay extra for, brands and products they believe to be exclusive (source).
And while your target audience may not care about a Ferrari sports car or Gucci handbag…they DO care about exclusive status and ownership within the tabletop games space. Our brains are just wired to work this way.
Now, the ethics of this depends on you, the seller. You can be manipulative and malicious, using exclusivity to pull on insecurities so they buy something that they don’t really want, but fear they need.
Or… if you use it for natural, real reasons, it can be a natural tool to help people feel excited and confident about their purchase.
Disneyland did not manipulate me into riding the riverboat. 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. It didn’t matter, it became genuinely valuable to me because it was exclusive.
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 feel important because they are limited to fewer people…
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!)
