Remember the Disney Vault? It Was Genius.
I remember the commercials for the Disney Vault vividly (hopefully I’m not showing my age too much). In case you aren’t familiar, here’s the gist thanks to Wikipedia: "The Disney Vault was a term formerly used by the company for its policy of regularly imposing sales moratoria on home video releases of it’s films. It really was a stellar marketing campaign. It covered a lot of the bases:
The campaign reinforced Disney as protective of nostalgia and it’s films and characters by “keeping them safe” for future generations
It created scarcity for releases that needed a sales boost on shelf.
Re-releases were an opportunity for new sales and PR for films and merchandise
Disney’s been crushing the marketing game for a long time (merchandising Mickey Mouse back in the 1920’s was genius) but the Vault is a STELLAR example of how marketing can address not just revenue, but also things like aging inventory, long term strategy, and retailer and distribution relationships.
Nostalgia - Disney’s Greatest Asset
Disney is known for stories that inspire wonder and comfort for children. They all follow the classic hero’s journey and the main character finds their “happily ever after.” This formulaic framework and personable characters set them up for becoming an emotional anchor for nostalgia. Ask any millennial if they have any favorite movies from childhood, and I would bet most list a Disney movie in their first breath.
The Disney Vault reinforced nostalgia as a form of collateral for Disney. Locking away releases to “keep them safe” for future generations with the promise of a re-release (with an unknown date) engaged adults in a way that ensured they shared them with their children - influencing their future feelings of nostalgia toward franchises.
Choosing to retire SKUs in a way that encourages people to buy now, but also doesn’t anger fans (using an open ended “who knows when they’ll come back”) is key to winning in this strategy. People who are loyal to a particular flavor, style, or product need to feel like they’re still being taken care of - even if they’re losing their touchpoint to the brand.
Ahh DVDs…
DVDs (and VHS tapes) were a huge part of the movie landscape - and bottom line for movies and theaters. They were also an inventory nightmare. Like most consumer goods, the journey of product to user involved a stop on shelves at retailers. Which meant there were teams of people at Disney talking to retailers about shelf space, in-store inventory, and velocity. While it’s hard to imagine a curated company like Disney sitting on pallets of VHS tapes, we know that not every Disney movie was as popular as The Lion King.
While I don’t have insider information, I can tell you that Disney’s announcement that certain movies were “going in to the vault” increased demand for the product currently on shelf, which both sold through inventory and cleared shelf space for new releases. Increased velocity and new releases surely kept relationships with retailers positive, and I’m sure made a lot of sales calls a lot easier.
This manufactured scarcity is a challenge to replicate for smaller or newer brands, but smart business planning and marketing alignment can leverage the idea of scarcity through LTOs (limited time offers), regional testing, or “e-commerce exclusives” that also build your brand.
Even Mickey has to answer “What’s New?”
Bringing releases out of the vault created an opportunity for Disney to answer “what’s new?” without creating anything new (except for maybe some new merchandise… my thoughts on which will fill another blog post).
The lesson here: Get creative about answering the question. You don’t have to release an entirely new product every season or year. Even if you don’t have a backlog of retired flavors or styles you can consider package changes, variety packs, or something else depending on what your customer might be looking for!
Remixes and re-releases aren’t just for Disney - Crayola recently launched a limited edition pack of retired colors, partially to create some PR buzz - you can read the press release here! They may not make a bunch of revenue on this pack specifically, but I learned about it from a creative podcast that may not otherwise have talked about Crayola as a company (shout out to Windowsill Chats)!
The biggest takeaway - listening to retailers (asking what’s new), understanding the constraints of operations and inventory, and enhancing your brand can be done with one initiative - you just need to think strategically!