Film Watching → Strategy Used by Disney®
Listen to the customer retention strategy used by Disney®.
Founders. You’ve probably heard of Disney, the film and entertainment brand founded in the United States in 1923. Listen to host André Brathwaite share the backstory of its founder, Walt Disney, who turned his passion into a lasting brand that uses a customer retention strategy: Hobby-driven experiences, including clubs (Disney Club 33), locations (Disney Parks in multiple cities and Disney Cruise Line to multiple destinations), and activities (International Food and Wine Festival, RunDisney, among others).
Listening to this episode is just one of the many ways we at Forms of Recreation provide founders with the strategy to turn one-time buyers into repeat customers.
The opinions expressed are solely those of Forms of Recreation and do not necessarily reflect the views of any brand mentioned. We encourage you to check their corresponding websites for further information.
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Episode 38
Film Watching → Strategy Used by Disney®
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Most film studios compete on releases.
More movies.
More sequels.
More franchises.
The Walt Disney Company went further.
They turned watching films into something people could live inside.
Instead of treating movies as something you watch once and move on from,
they built environments where stories continue.
Places you walk through.
Events you participate in.
Communities you join.
Because if films are just entertainment,
audiences forget them quickly.
But if films become a world they can return to—
loyalty becomes much harder to break.
That decision didn’t just create successful movies.
It created one of the most successful entertainment ecosystems in history.
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Think about the first animated film you truly remember.
You sat in front of a television, or maybe a movie theater.
You had popcorn in front of you.
The lighting in the room was low, or maybe even non-existent.
As the film started
What you saw was a glowing screen filled with animated images.
But you weren’t simply watching,
you were feeling,
forgetting the people or even the place you were sitting in.
The characters felt alive.
The music stayed with you.
You replayed scenes in your head once it ended.
Maybe you watched it again the next weekend.
And even discussed it with like-minded friends.
Film watching, for hobbyists, becomes more than entertainment.
You notice details.
Story structure.
The way animation exaggerates reality
to reveal something deeper.
And once someone starts engaging with stories this way,
they don’t just watch movies anymore.
They revisit them.
They quote them.
They introduce them to others.
That belief—
that animated stories can become lifelong companions—
is exactly what Disney built.
FOUNDER BACKSTORY — WALT DISNEY (4–5 minutes)
Born in Chicago in 1901 and raised in Missouri,
Walt Disney spent much of his childhood sketching animals,
cartoon characters, and small comic strips.
He even sold drawings to neighbors as a child.
But Walt’s early life followed an unusual path.
At 16, he dropped out of school, hoping to join the army during World War I.
He was rejected for being underage.
So, he forged his birth certificate
and joined the American Red Cross Ambulance Corps instead.
He was sent to France, where he drove ambulance cars.
Even then, he couldn’t stop drawing.
Walt drew cartoons on his car
and entertained fellow soldiers with sketches.
When he returned to the United States,
he became determined to pursue animation.
His first studio in Kansas City eventually went bankrupt.
But Walt kept experimenting with characters and storytelling.
In 1927, he created
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
The character quickly became successful.
But the success didn’t last long.
In a contract dispute, Walt lost the rights to Oswald—
and the distributor essentially walked away with the character
and the team that had been building it.
Walt was forced to start over.
On a train ride back to California,
he began sketching a new character idea.
A small, animated mouse.
Originally, he planned to name the character Mortimer Mouse.
But his wife,
Lillian Disney,
thought the name sounded too pompous.
She suggested something friendlier.
Mickey.
That character became
Mickey Mouse.
Walt was not originally fascinated by them—in fact, he reportedly found real mice creepy and unsettling during his childhood on a Missouri farm.
Later that same year, Walt released
Steamboat Willie in 1928,
the first widely successful synchronized sound cartoon.
Audiences weren’t just watching animation.
They were witnessing something new.
Walt became obsessed with pushing animation forward.
In 1937, he released
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs—
the first full-length animated feature film.
Industry insiders predicted it would fail.
Instead, it became one of the most successful films of its era.
But Walt’s vision extended beyond the screen.
He wanted audiences
to step inside the worlds they loved.
That idea eventually became
Disneyland in 1955.
A place where stories weren’t just watched.
They were experienced.
And that shift
changed the relationship between film and audience forever.
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Here’s the strategic insight the Disney brand understood early:
If watching films is a hobby,
you must create clubs, places, and activities where people can live inside them.
Disney built them.
Start with
Club 33.
A private membership club created inside Disneyland.
It wasn’t designed for the general public.
It was designed for devoted insiders.
A membership that became a signal of identity.
Then there are the
Disney Parks.
These aren’t just amusement parks.
They’re physical storytelling environments.
Guests walk through worlds
they once only saw on screen.
Castles.
Adventure lands.
Galaxies.
Every ride
extends the story.
Then Disney expanded that idea further
with
Disney Cruise Line.
Entire voyages designed around storytelling,
characters,
and immersive entertainment.
Films become week-long experiences at sea.
And then come the events.
Events that connect stories to hobbies.
Take the
EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival as an example.
A global culinary exploration
inside a theme park environment.
Or
runDisney events.
Themed Marathons, races, and run challenges of different skill levels.
Imagine the Disney Princess 5K,
where runners dress up as princesses,
enjoy sightings of Disney characters,
And run through Cinderella’s Castle found within the Magic Kingdom,
All while listening to a live DJ, and experiencing a fun, supportive atmosphere
—a lived fairytale through running.
These activities do something powerful.
They transform film-viewing audiences
into active participants.
And once someone integrates those stories
into real-life experiences,
a retention loop forms:
Watch the film.
Visit the world.
Participate in the activity.
Return to the story with deeper attachment.
This is loyalty built through immersion.
Not just entertainment.
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Here’s the strategic decision the Disney brand made
that most studios still avoid.
They didn’t stop at storytelling.
They built environments
where stories could continue.
Most studios train audiences
to consume films quickly
and move on to the next one.
Disney invites audiences
to live with their stories.
To revisit them.
To celebrate them.
To travel into them.
Because once someone connects their memories
to a story they can experience firsthand,
that relationship becomes personal.
You can compete on box office numbers.
Or you can build worlds people return to.
One creates one-time hits.
The other creates generations of loyalty.
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If customers disappear when points expire,
it was never loyalty.
Give customers a reason to return:
hobby-driven experiences that make them feel alive.
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