After falling out of the reading habit for a couple months, I am happy to report that I just finished Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. It was given to me by a good friend and was an excellent read while waiting for flights to and from Chicago.
From Wikipedia:
The book continues the idea of “stickiness” popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point, seeking to explain what makes an idea or concept memorable or interesting. A similar style to Gladwell’s is used, with a number of stories and case studies followed by principles. The stories range from urban legends, such as the “Kidney Heist” in the introduction; to business stories, as with the story of Southwest Airlines, “the low price airline”; to inspirational, personal stories such as that of Floyd Lee, a passionate mess hall manager.
The book outlines six key qualities of sticky ideas. From the back cover:
Simplicity: How do you strip an idea to its core without turning it into a silly sound bite? See how Army commanders force simplicity into their battle plans.Unexpectedness: How do you capture people’s attention . . . and hold it? See how Nordstrom managers shock enw employees into embracing high customer-service standards.
Concreteness: How do you help people understand your idea and rember it much later? See how an elementary-school teacher cured her students of racial prejucide.
Credibility: How do you get people to believe your idea? See how NBA coaches engineered an experience that made the dangers of AIDS more palpable to their players.
Emotional: How do you get people to care about your idea? See how Texas persuaded truck-driving young men to stop littering.
Stories: How do you get people to act on your idea? See how the Jared campaign for Subway became a huge hit, against the wishes of the top Subway marketers.
Be sure to check out the book web site and their blog*.
* I like this blog. But does anyone else think it is a bit weird that a plain, physical, book have an accompanying active blog online? Maybe I’m starting to show my age. After all, I still don’t have a myspace account.
Tags: innovation, marketing
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