Disney is trying to find a way to have the best of both worlds. It’s tapping into Hannah Montana nostalgia with a new anniversary push, aiming to bring fans back under the spotlight and onto Disney+.
University of Virginia media expert and Darden School of Business assistant professor of business Anthony Palomba says as the company looks to strike the right chord with Gen Z and millennial viewers, the strategy goes beyond a throwback moment.
Anthony Palomba, a UVA assistant professor of business administration, says at the core of the “Hannah Montana” resurgence is a powerful idea – that “nostalgia functions as both emotional and economic leverage.” (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
Q. What is Disney trying to achieve with this anniversary event, which dropped this week?
A. To reignite interest in this property is one. Two, seeing if there’s enough fanfare. “Can we reignite it?” How many more people can we get in under the Disney+ tent to at least see this and perhaps package it with other nostalgic content pieces?
Q. Why is nostalgia particularly effective for Gen Z right now?
A. It forces us to re-engage with a part of ourselves inherently. And it’s very seductive to go back in time when things were easier. And remember, if this is for Gen Z, which I believe it is, or, you know, really young millennials, they have gone through high student loans, they’ve gone through the housing market that frankly continues to shut them out, although things are getting better. Nostalgia helps us measure our own lives against where we were and where we are now.
Q. What does “algorithmically activated nostalgia” mean?
A, In digital spaces, nostalgia is no longer passive remembrance; it’s algorithmically activated memory, lying in cyclical wait, like cultural cicadas. Algorithms … are really beginning to be a little bit more fine-tuned … in thinking about how often you need to see something, knowing carefully when to activate it.
Q. How long does it take to plan an event like this?
A. I would imagine that this conversation probably began two years ago. Disney runs like a German train.
Q. How does Miley Cyrus factor into the strategy?
A. Gen Z-ers are interested in authenticity, and that is a big, big demarcation. She’s been very transparent, and that’s refreshing. She hits an authentic note that a lot of them enjoy and prefer. And so I think ultimately Disney, hopefully, had a conversation touching on some of these things and said, “Yeah, this is right. This is the right time to bring these people in.” They are 28, 29 and 30 years old. They hopefully have a job. They have some disposable income as well. And probably you’re at the right age to begin subscribing to services on their own accord rather than using their parents’ or friends’ (accounts).
Q. What broader trends does this 20th anniversary programming reflect in the media?
A. This kind of scarcity (coming back to intellectual property after a 20-year pause) is something that increasingly is being programmed because, frankly, there’s a deluge of content. It’s very difficult to cut through the noise. And if you see something so much, you risk squeezing out the valuable equity behind it. It’s no longer interesting. So, given that there’s so much content and it’s so easy to create content on social media, this algorithmically activated memory in part is understanding who your audience is, where they are, and looking at their own childhood, knowing what they’ve seen and knowing carefully when to activate it.
