MADE TO STICK

Heath, C. &  Heath, D.,   Made to stick. (2007) New York: Random House

Not long ago, Malcolm Gladwell in his Tipping Point indicated how little things can lead to big changes. Gladwell’s book became a best seller. One of the steps of social change is that an idea must have a “stickiness” factor. In other words, people remember it.

Heath and Heath have made one further step with describing why some ideas survive and others do not. They describe for you the elements of a “sticky” idea, but they can not give you the next latest idea to survive. That is the mystery of society and the humans that dwell in it. What they can do is give you the tools to help make that idea survive.

Through damn good stories, yarns, tales, urban legends and numerous studies you become acquainted with the characteristics of the next big thing. In the mean time, you discover that some legends that you thought were so true are not. That some interesting ideas got lost in the thousands of message one hears everyday. How one individual outwitted the other with a simple believable strategy is mentioned. How the masses get routed by the elite with ideology that seems just plain crazy until you listen to it over and over again.

Alas, there are 6 major elements and tons of small caveats and sub-points to accompany each of the big 6 that makes this book so worthwhile.

So what “sticks?”

Simplicity. If it is a lecture, an explanation, an advertisement or whatever, start simple. If you don’t, at first a few are lost, than many. Any of the other details must come later, and each of the sub-points must start simple. One goes from simple to complex, but not for too long. A picture shows business executives testifying that tobacco is better for you than drinking too much milk. A farmer is then interviewed. That’s MTV and it’s 21st century.

Unexpectedness. There are so many messages out there, so you have to grab the attention of the many by going sideways or backwards or upside down to get the message across. The more messages that are floating around, the harder it is to get the consumer or a student’s attention. So you say something that is inside out. Here is one, “Were #2!” A rental car company turns sales around with that. Most expect a message that implies that your message is about something that is the best. No. 2 is not the expected. That made sense in the late in the mid to late 60’s to the early 80’s.

Concreteness. You have to point only once to the symbol or a sound bite that tells a long elaborate explanation. “Where’s the beef?” That worked in the 80’s for a political candidate.

Credibility. You must soon attach an important source to many messages. There is a statin a medication that delays or keeps the blood flowing so that the arteries going to and from the heart don’t get plugged up or calcified. It is an excellent statin because there are 300 studies dealing with this medication in academic journals. Those 300 studies make the medication credible. It’s a 21st century message.

Emotional. The message hits so hard that one gets a lump in the throat. The product or service emerges. Better yet, the message is emotional and it is about the product.

“This song was written the day of 9-11.” Most Americans remember that day with sadness in this new century.

Stories. It is the story or stories that make this book so enjoyable. Why can’t you do that with your conversations, lectures, messages and advertisements? Storytelling has passed through from earliest generations up to today. A human comes back to life, other floats in the clouds, and third visibly ascends into the heavens. These accounts have kept humans believing for centuries.

As much as you have heard a number of these elemental components before, the book carries itself with interesting material. You come into a new place as it is presented so well. One can not think of a major audience that can not grow, profit and enjoy Made to stick.

Joel C. Snell

Kirkwood College