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Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die [Hardcover]

Chip Heath (Author), Dan Heath (Author)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Unabashedly inspired by Malcolm Gladwell's bestselling The Tipping Point, the brothers Heath—Chip a professor at Stanford's business school, Dan a teacher and textbook publisher—offer an entertaining, practical guide to effective communication. Drawing extensively on psychosocial studies on memory, emotion and motivation, their study is couched in terms of "stickiness"—that is, the art of making ideas unforgettable. They start by relating the gruesome urban legend about a man who succumbs to a barroom flirtation only to wake up in a tub of ice, victim of an organ-harvesting ring. What makes such stories memorable and ensures their spread around the globe? The authors credit six key principles: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions and stories. (The initial letters spell out "success"—well, almost.) They illustrate these principles with a host of stories, some familiar (Kennedy's stirring call to "land a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth" within a decade) and others very funny (Nora Ephron's anecdote of how her high school journalism teacher used a simple, embarrassing trick to teach her how not to "bury the lead"). Throughout the book, sidebars show how bland messages can be made intriguing. Fun to read and solidly researched, this book deserves a wide readership. (Jan. 16)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School—While at first glance this volume might resemble the latest in a series of trendy business advice books, ultimately it is about storytelling, and it is a how-to for crafting a compelling narrative. Employing a lighthearted tone, the Heaths apply those selfsame techniques to create an enjoyable read. They analyze such narratives as urban legends and advertisements to discover what makes them memorable. The authors provide a simple mnemonic to remember their stickiness formula, and the basic principles may be applied in any situation where persuasiveness is an asset. The book is a fast read peppered with exercises to test the techniques proposed. Some examples act as pop quizzes and engage readers in moments of self-reflection. The book draws on examples from teachers, scientists, and soldiers who have been successful at crafting memorable ideas, from the well-known blue eye/brown eye exercise conducted by an Iowa elementary school teacher as an experiential lesson in prejudice following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., to conversations among Xerox repairmen. Readers who enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's Blink (2005) and The Tipping Point (2000, both Little, Brown) will appreciate this clever take on contemporary culture.—Heidi Dolamore, San Mateo County Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 291 pages
  • Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (January 2, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400064287
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400064281
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (354 customer reviews)

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More About the Author

Chip Heath
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
emotional tank, duo piano music, guessing machines, sticky ideas, semantic stretch, internal credibility, blue eyed kids, low fare airline, piano group, concept pitches, movie popcorn, availability bias
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Curse of Knowledge, United States, Silicon Valley, Checklist Message, Simple Unexpected Concrete Credible Emotional Story, New York, World War, Stone Yamashita, Chicken Soup, World Bank, Hamburger Helper, Save the Children, Southwest Airlines, General Mills, Jane Elliott, Saharan Africa, Bell Labs, The Tipping Point, The Golden Rule, Murray Dranoff, Ingersoll Rand, Disney World, Daily Record, The Kidney Heist
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
93% buy the item featured on this page:
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$14.49
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Customer Reviews

354 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (354 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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165 of 178 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable insights for marketers, advertisers and sellers, February 25, 2007
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (Hardcover)
With an entertaining blend of case studies and startling research, the Heath brothers lay out the critical elements of a sticky idea. They are--

1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility
5. Emotions
6. Stories

As you might expect, the authors use these techniques to drive home their point. For example, in the chapter on stories, they talk about Subway's Jared campaign--quite a dramatic behind-the-scenes story besides being a near perfect example of storytelling in marketing.

Although these six elements seem like common sense, they are woefully underapplied in business communication. The authors state it well--

"Business managers seem to believe that, once they've clicked through a PowerPoint presentation showcasing their conclusions, they've successfully communicated their ideas. What they've done is share data."

Well researched, easy to read and hard to forget.
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164 of 180 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "Do it yourself" consulting: Crafting memorable messages with integrity, January 4, 2007
This review is from: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (Hardcover)
If you are going to write a guide to crafting sticky ideas, your book had better embody your principles. Authors Chip and Dan Heath succeed admirably. What I love about "Made to Stick" is that it is not merely entertaining (though it is), it provides practical, tangible strategies for creating sticky ideas. Once you understand these recommendations, you can boil them down to a set of touchstone points to evaluate your own work. This sets "Made to Stick" apart from the work of Malcolm Gladwell, whom the Heath brothers cite as an inspiration. I enjoyed Gladwell's books but could not necessarily apply his ideas to my own work.

My review copy of "Made to Stick" is covered with highlighter. I am reading the book once through for pure pleasure, and then I am going back again to apply the ideas to evaluate the communications of a non-profit organization I am working for. "Made to Stick" challenges you to distill the essence of your message, to get back to core principles and to communicate them in a memorable way. Chip and Dan point out that as we become experts, we tend to use abstraction to define our ideas, and we lose our ability to communicate with novices. They teach us how to bridge that gap so that our ideas are once again accessible by everyone.

"Made to Stick" gives you the tools you need to revamp your own messages. It provides "do it yourself" conuslting in book form, which will be appreciated by activists, entrepreneurs, and businesses of all sizes.
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90 of 100 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Presentation of Core Ideas with Lots of Examples, April 27, 2007
By Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
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This review is from: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (Hardcover)

This book is getting a great deal more attention than Allison Fine's "MOMENTUM: igniting social change in the connected age," so up front I want to say I consider them BOTH to be extremely complementary to one another, and MUST READS for any social activist or political reformer, as well as for those crafting educational or corporate messages.

I cannot improve on Brian Bex Huf's review, which I voted for, but for the sake of coherence for those who are alerted when I do a review, here is the meat from Brian's review:

* Simplicity: the idea must be stripped to its core, and the most important concepts should jump out.
* Unexpectedness: the idea must destroy preconceived notions about something. This forces people to stop, think, and remember.
* Concreteness: avoid statistics, use real-world analogies to help people understand complex ideas.
* Credibility: if people don't trust you, they'll ignore you. In some cases, they will be openly hostile, which means they'll actively try to dispute your message!
* Emotional: information makes people think, but emotion makes them act. Appeal to emotional needs, sometimes even way up on Maslow's hierarchy.
* Stores: telling a story [gets] people into paying closer attention, and feeling more connected. Remember the Jared Subway commercials?

The book ends with a five page reference guide that persuaded me of the author's value as consultants. They have given us a low-cost book we can use our5selves, but I am also persuaded they are valuable as brain-stormers for those trying to craft transpartisan and electoral reform messages, so I am recommending them both to the leadership of Reuniting America.

LOTS of details and examples. Easily a five-star book with great social and political value.

Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age
The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars absolutely required reading
Communicating is easy. So why do we make our presentations useless? I immediately applied the concepts of this book and the results have been wonderful. Read more
Published 4 hours ago by Peter T. Finlay

5.0 out of 5 stars STUCK STRUCK?
Well... what can I say about this amazing work by the brothers Heath? Their ideas will certainly stick with me. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Christopher Johnson

5.0 out of 5 stars Textbook Right away
I received it right away. Ordered on Sunday and got it Today (Wed.). Thank You!
Published 15 days ago by corpovoo

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on packaging and communicating ideas effectively
Why isn't your idea easily grasped and spreading like wild fire? Why isn't everyone "on board" and working vigorously to implement it? Read more
Published 21 days ago by Thomas

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST Read.
If you are a professional, you need this book.
Regardless of what field you might be in, the points and concepts held within these pages are of paramount importance for... Read more
Published 27 days ago by B. simundson

5.0 out of 5 stars Remember this!
Ideas are useless if people can't remember them. And there's simply no better book for unlocking the precious gift of how to do this than Chip & Dan's. Read more
Published 1 month ago by martin butler - retail

4.0 out of 5 stars Evergreen topic backed with real research
Excellent, well-researched examples of what really makes an idea stick. I read a copy from 2008 and the concepts of what makes an idea stick is as relevant now as it was 2 years... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Roxanne Mchenry

5.0 out of 5 stars The book stuck, which bodes well for their methods
I read Made to Stick over a period of a couple of weeks. As I got to the end, I turned to the recap and discovered that indeed pretty much everything I had read in the book had... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Bojana Duke

5.0 out of 5 stars How to Communicate Effectively
There's a proven way to communicate effectively, and the Heath brothers do a fantastic job explaining not just how, but why certan techniques and messages work while others fail... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Matthew Benchener

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book in great condition
A profound explanation of why some things are remembered forever, and why others fail to reach the collective radar. Well written.
Published 1 month ago by Robert Grede

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