“It doesn’t have a Wienie!”

Posted on: May 14, 2008 in Marketing Strategy

Old man Disney was no fool.

After he and his Imagineers had completed the GE “Carousel of Progress” for the 1964 World’s Fair, Walt invited a gaggle of GE executives to the studio for a peek at the show.

They loved it.

But Walt wasn’t so sure.

“It doesn’t have a wienie!” he said. “Come back in a couple weeks and I’ll show you.”

The puzzled executives did as Walt asked. A week later they returned to see the show again. It was virtually identical to the first version – with one exception: Walt had added a comical audio-animatronic dog with a wagging tail to each scene.

It was the “wienie.” The “finishing touch.” The delightful, magnetic bonus.

Wienies are extra.

Wienies are what you give the audience after they think they’re already satisfied.

Wienies are what you add when what you have is good – but not good enough.

No boss will demand that you add a wienie. In fact, your boss would prefer that you don’t waste your time with wienies.

The wienie is the seamless way the glass fits into the metal on an iPod. It’s the solid slam of a Mercedes door closing. It’s the “Easter Egg” on that DVD you just bought. It’s the glow of the logo on the back of my MacBook Pro.

The wienie isn’t what you must do It’s what you want to do. Its delightful impact arises from the sheer joy of its creation and the desire of its creator to share that joy with others.

Wienies are to powerful brands what cost cuts are to cash flow.

36 Comments;

http://www.voxmarketising.com Peter O’Connell

Mark:
A great story and a good example. Thanks,
Best always,
- Peter
http://pikesthinking.blogspot.com/ Walter Pike

What a really great example. Adding value but also adding personality. Thank you.
http://www.brianlash.com Brian

This is fantastic! Way to tie it in to things we can all relate to.
Loved it.
GirlPie

Disney also knew not to put wienies on his male characters in his illustrations/ animations!
Your post is a nice reminder that the bow on the package can make or break the gift…
http://www.annholman.co.uk Ann Holman

Fabulous post. I particularly like the sentence – “Wienies are what you give the audience after they think they’re already satisfied.”
Potentially simple to do yet extremely powerful. Thanks.
http://www.wahmnetwork.com.au Kiera Pedley

Great story!
It’s similar to the Critical Non Essential Concept, put forward by Paddi Lund.
Non essential extras, that are critical to a business thriving.
http://www.theglobalcopywriter.com Sarah McIver

Hi Mark,
Nice post.
Very similar to the ‘nice surprise’ effect of adding a useful, unexpected bonus at the end of a sales letter.
This technique greatly improves the chances of people pulling out their wallets.
Love the Walt Disney example!
Stephan Jaeger

Unfortunately wrong: “Wienie” is an attractor (like the sleeping beauty castle”). What you were talking about is “plussing”. Both are disney imagineer terms.
https://torley.com Torley Lives

Fun story! But I wonder why it’s called a “wienie”?
http://thedisneyblog.com John from thedisneyblog.com

Great post.
Just a wee bit of clarification however. According to Walt Disney a “Weinie” is the visual icon that draws the guest/consumer in. The castle at the end of main street, the sternwheeler at the end of frontierland, etc.
You’re stretching the term a bit, but I think the concept still works.
http://tappingcreativity.blogspot.com Geoff

As a longtime musician and producer, I can attest that, with experience, comes the importance of wienies. When I “finish” a song, then I go back and start adding the wienies, those elements of a song that you likely wouldn’t miss if you never heard them, but make the song so much better because they are there. Great post.
http://makehope.typepad.com/behind_the_button/ Michael Gibbons

I have a small wienie! I was just dying to say that — but I do in a way with each custom photo button people order I include a small Hope button. Wienies are very entrepreneurial as I am sure my “free’ hope buttons would be the first way to “cut costs” — amazing how much of business today s about cost cutting and so little about building great things — free buttons are very low fruit, indeed
Tim

Every organization needs to remember this. This is what often makes people come back for more.
http://blog.bwagy.com Ben

The wienie is what people pay for but never realise thats what they’re paying for.
http://www.jemaverick.com/ Jé Maverick

Great post, and a reminder that between the ordinary and the extraordinary is that little extra.
(Just an aside, the word wienie had to originate somewhere didn’t it? I’m surprised that others made you wrong without offering “wienies” of their own!)
http://syahdiar.org/ daniy!

I never realized that such thing called “wienie”. I always felt unsatisfied to most of my work until I added something to it. It’s little, but satisfying.
So, I guess that’s where the personal satisfaction comes.. Good post!
http://www.truecolorsconsulting.com/?m=2008 Mark Slatin

The Weinie concept is a great way for us to be remarkable in whatever we do!! I really enjoyed the post!
http://frankconradmartin.typepad.com Frank Martin

Love the hook of the title, and the lesson was spectacular. We should all not rest until we have pinned the wienie on our work. Too often, we stop before the product or the service is remarkable enough to make it exceptional.
Excellent post!
http://thompsonmarketing.com.au CS Thompson

Its also about being organisaed…
When we’re stretched to the limit, we often don’t have the time to crank out the job itself, let along add the bonus touches that will really make our work shine.
If we’re organised an on top of our game, then we’ll have the time to do the extra without being exhausted by the necessary.
Anyone else have difficulty with this?
http://getinherhead.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/more-wienies-mo.html GETINHERHEAD BLOG

More Wienies = More Better

Does your relationship have a wienie in it? Do you care enough to add one (or many) in? Personally, I think the more wienies you’ve got, the better off you’ll be. (Thanks for the great story, Mark!)
http://nateatnight.com Nate Nead

That was a perfect example. I love Disney for what he did, but he really was a marketing brilliance.
Mark

…or perhaps this story is more about the personal drive for perfection that satisfied Mr. Disney at a level that the average guy like me would never appreciate. He was a remarkable man.
Perhaps a good exercise (at least for those of us who fall short of the level of ambition and vision that Walt Disney possessed – now be honest in your self-appraisal) is to read about what made him who he was (and hopes again to be, me thinks!).
My point is, there is more to this than just constantly thinking of “extras” to add to a project that *you* think will have some magical effect. Don’t burn yourself out on the narrow idea of adding some trinket to your product and miss the larger point about Walt’s approach to business.
http://titusvineyards.com Christophe

nice post.
wienies for president!
http://www.newlevelgroup.com/ Kathryn Nudelman

A great post with a great ending. Thanks for reminding us that authentic wienies come from the heart, not from the tactical blind desire to raise the bottom line.
http://www.yourcpapartners.com/ Chad Bordeaux

This is something that every business owner needs to keep in mind. You have to give your customer that something extra that your competition is not. You have to differentiate yourself. You have to give your customer a “wienie”
Erik

Very similar to the Give ‘em the Pickle idea from Bob Farrell. I like it though!
Garbrand

I could not disagree more.
Actually an enormous amount of effort and focus is spend on creating ‘wienies’. The design of Apple products is not a ‘bonus’, it is extremely deliberate. It is a result of entire company focussing on design. Mercedes has a department of audio engineers, shaping the sound of components (so does Volvo by the way). Easter eggs on DVDs are put in deliberately.
Walt send home the entire top brass of General Electric to rework the Carousel of Progress. That is not a free extra that happened because somebody in production decided to go the extra mile.
http://profile.typekey.com/mramsey1/ Mark Ramsey

Garbrand, I don’t understand what you think isn’t deliberate about a “bonus.” A “wienie” is not the same as a “cosmetic touch.” I am not diminishing the value of these items – on the contrary, they’re important in large part because so many don’t bother to provide them.
Walt’s move with the GE brass was to add a dog with a wagging tail. He could have done without this. He chose not to. ‘Nuff said.
http://www.MyLifeInaCube.com My Life In a Cube

Wise Cartoonist Say: If all else fails, add a dog.
http://www.cfo-coach.com Cindy Kraft

What a great post!
Wienies can certainly be powerful differentiators in our world of poor, and non-existent, customer service! And I agree, wienies are essential to a powerful brand.
Cindy Kraft
the CFO-Coach
debrennersmith

In writing we call this voice. Awesome. I will share this with my writing students. http://www.debrennersmith.com
John Kraft

Very true! Was at disneyland the other day, and it really is the little things that stand out.
That last extra step to get something right is what keeps your product in the front of people’s minds and brings it out of the background.
http://bossey.typepad.com/ Keith Bossey

Wienies are for premium players like Disney and Mercedes. They sell an experience, not a product. The wienie is the feel. This is a great post. Thanks for sharing Mark.
Sarah Hoyt

I’m curious about where you found this story — I agree with those who say that the term “wienie” meant something entirely different in Disney’s design lexicon.
The curator of an exhibition on the architecture of Disney’s parks, Karal Marling, explained it this way: “Walt, being a good Midwestern boy … thought the most singularly delicious treat a person could have was a sizzling hot wienie on a bun so in every section of his park there’s a tall, vertical element meant to tempt your appetite so you will walk directly toward it.”
I saw that show several years back, and the wienie as the vertical element in architecture was heavily emphasized.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_20000709/ai_n11750724
That said, I don’t disagree with the need for “finishing touches,” of course!
http://profile.typekey.com/mramsey1/ Mark Ramsey

It’s hard to imagine someone so imaginative had an intent so narrow, Sarah. I suspect Mr. Disney himself would roll his eyes over a minor debate on the meaning of his term rather on the larger context in which this symbol lives.
In answer to your question, the reference is to the Disney bio noted in the post.
Thanks for the comments, all!
http://www.steveniswriting.com Steven Sokulski

Clever use of the illustration, though I believe the term wienie is most commonly used to describe a large visual element that draws the guest into an experience, not so much the little touches that make them smile once they are there.
For example, each Magic Kingdom park has a castle that beckons guests down Main Street. If you look carefully, every Disney park (and almost every land in each park) has a wienie.