Some experiences are like cotton candy. Others are like candy apples. When you bite into cotton candy, you get a surface treat with nothing to sink your teeth in to and no lasting nourishment. When you bite into a candy apple, you get the surface treat and the nutritious surprise underneath.

Many organizations deliver a cotton candy experience: all linear, no depth. We’ve all patronized businesses, for example, where the employees serving us are indifferent to our presence. And what about those that tell us how important we are to them while placing us on lengthy holds?

The Walt Disney Company strives to deliver candy apples. They don't always obtain the goal, but their best experiences are confectious treats so detailed that they warrant second, third and perhaps even fourth time viewings.

During the development of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, for example, the Imagineers were worried that riders wouldn’t hear complete conversations between pirates. Walt told them that those conversations like a cocktail party where you catch snippets of what people say. Fragments of dialog would, he expanded, make the experience more repeatable. He also focused on delivering a ride with high level of detail that compelled extra viewings, explaining, “If we lose the detail, we lose it all.” It’s this striving for a multi-layered experience, one with both sequence and depth, that makes Disney different.

WandaVision, from Disney's Marvel Studios and now available on Disney+ is a good example of how the Mouse applies both. The story is linear but the TV sitcom motif—sequencing episodes from The Dick van Dyke Show/Bewitched newlywed attempts to fit in, to Brady Bunch family assimilation challenges, to Family Ties adaptability to change, to Malcolm in the Middle observations about parenting, to the disintegration on display in Life in Pieces (represented in the snap above)—places the story sequence inside a brilliant allegory that is deep, thoughtful, and resonant. The settings, costumes and the music are interconnected but period specific. The video and audio start out in 1950s black and white with mono sound and gets progressively better as technology advances over the decades. The bewildering mysteries in the story compel viewers to return for each new episode. And, the references to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) add detail that entices repeat viewings.

It must have been extremely difficult to put it all together into one seamless package. Building a linear confectionary is easy. Building one with substance is hard. But the difference between something that skims the surface and something that gives you things to depth is the difference between … well … cotton candy and candy apples.

Which do you think is more likely to attract and maintain customers? Which do you offer?