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on March 12, 2013
Jonah Berger's Contagious is a fascinating read. Not only is the book packed with entertaining examples of viral campaigns, but each is backed with painstaking analysis into the science of social transmission. What you end up with is a veritable blueprint for creating ideas, campaigns and messages that spread like wildfire.
There are six essential factors that contribute to contagious ideas, shows Jonah, and a quick look at some of the most successful viral campaigns reveals each of them at work:
Social currency. We share things that make us look good or help us compare favorably to others. Exclusive restaurants utilize social currency all the time to create demand.
Triggers. Ideas that are top of mind spread. Like parasites, viral ideas attach themselves to top of mind stories, occurrences or environments. For example, Mars bar sales spiked when in 1997 when NASA's Pathfinder mission explored the red planet.
Emotion. When we care, we share. Jonah analyzed over six months of data from the New York Times most emailed list to discover that certain high arousal emotions can dramatically increase our need to share ideas - like the outrage triggered by Dave Carroll's "United Breaks Guitars" video.
Public. People tend to follow others, but only when they can see what those others are doing. There is a reason why baristas put money in their own tip jar at the beginning of a shift. Ideas need to be public to be copied.
Practical. Humans crave the opportunity to give advice and offer tips (one reason why advocate marketing works - your best customers love to help out), but especially if they offer practical value. It's why we `pay it forward' and help others. Sharing is caring.
Stories - People do not just share information, they tell stories. And stories are like Trojan horses, vessels that carry ideas, brands, and information. To benefit the brand, stories must not only be shared but also relate to a sponsoring company's products. Thus the epic failure of viral sensations like Evian's roller baby video (50M views) that did little to stem Evian's 25% drop in sales.
There is so much this book offers marketers, making it required reading that follows in the footsteps of Malcolm Gladwell and the Heath brothers. It also perfectly demonstrates why advocate marketing is such a powerful idea for modern marketers. Viral campaigns eschew overt marketing messages by cleverly tapping into consumer wants, desires and emotional needs. Similarly, advocate marketing helps marketers reach audiences through a more effective and trusted means than direct messaging. We share our experiences because that act enhances our personal and professional reputation and makes us feel good. When marketers tap into these very human needs, they can reach a much broader audience with a more genuine message than any advertisement can provide.
There are six essential factors that contribute to contagious ideas, shows Jonah, and a quick look at some of the most successful viral campaigns reveals each of them at work:
Social currency. We share things that make us look good or help us compare favorably to others. Exclusive restaurants utilize social currency all the time to create demand.
Triggers. Ideas that are top of mind spread. Like parasites, viral ideas attach themselves to top of mind stories, occurrences or environments. For example, Mars bar sales spiked when in 1997 when NASA's Pathfinder mission explored the red planet.
Emotion. When we care, we share. Jonah analyzed over six months of data from the New York Times most emailed list to discover that certain high arousal emotions can dramatically increase our need to share ideas - like the outrage triggered by Dave Carroll's "United Breaks Guitars" video.
Public. People tend to follow others, but only when they can see what those others are doing. There is a reason why baristas put money in their own tip jar at the beginning of a shift. Ideas need to be public to be copied.
Practical. Humans crave the opportunity to give advice and offer tips (one reason why advocate marketing works - your best customers love to help out), but especially if they offer practical value. It's why we `pay it forward' and help others. Sharing is caring.
Stories - People do not just share information, they tell stories. And stories are like Trojan horses, vessels that carry ideas, brands, and information. To benefit the brand, stories must not only be shared but also relate to a sponsoring company's products. Thus the epic failure of viral sensations like Evian's roller baby video (50M views) that did little to stem Evian's 25% drop in sales.
There is so much this book offers marketers, making it required reading that follows in the footsteps of Malcolm Gladwell and the Heath brothers. It also perfectly demonstrates why advocate marketing is such a powerful idea for modern marketers. Viral campaigns eschew overt marketing messages by cleverly tapping into consumer wants, desires and emotional needs. Similarly, advocate marketing helps marketers reach audiences through a more effective and trusted means than direct messaging. We share our experiences because that act enhances our personal and professional reputation and makes us feel good. When marketers tap into these very human needs, they can reach a much broader audience with a more genuine message than any advertisement can provide.
on October 16, 2016
Do you ever wonder why some advertisements are so annoying and corny? Many of us imagine that ad writers lack our higher level of taste. How is it that some important news stories are ignored, while a video of a grandmother dancing drunk on the table gets millions of views? In his award-winning, New York Times best seller Contagious Why Things Catch On, author Jonah Berger gives countless real-life examples of the mysterious methods employed to capture the logic defying attention of the masses. The chapter on social currency describes how you can yoke your product to your customers desire to improve their image making word-of-mouth, and web, your best form of marketing. Next he explains how subconscious triggers lead to surprising results. One example is the horrible book review that leads to thousands more copies sold. Directly manipulating the emotions is another strategy. What sells more, happy emotions or sad? The answer is according to Contagious is both, as long as it is emotional arousal, anxiety, anger, or bright joy. The chapter on the public is all about how to make people show your logo everywhere. Good old-fashioned practical value is also described as we love to share those genuine life hacks with our friends and family. If we believe we can help others save time or money, we will spread the word. Finally we learn the power of narrative. If we can tie a product or service to a good story, then we ride the waves of idle chatter. The author peppers his lessons with juicy examples that are surprising and interesting. Overall the book will change the way you see viral marketing and communication in our modern age and is genuinely fun to read.
As a business owner in the graphic design, marketing field I found this book incredibly informative and useful!
on December 2, 2016
I've been running my Austin graphic design business [...] for years now but until I read this straight to the point book I failed to meet the needs of elements necessary to go viral. This book is easy to read and understand. It is well researched and incredibly informative with real life examples. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to better understand what goes viral on and offline. An excellent tool to start using for marketing endeavors in any field.
on April 27, 2017
With entertaining stories and compelling experiments, Jonah Berger, a professor from Wharton, captures the essence of what makes things contagious—catch on. The six STEPPS principles are 1. Social Currency (we share things that make us look good); 2. Triggers (we share whatever is top of mind—and becomes “tip of tongue”); 3. Emotion (we share what we care about); 4. Public (we share what’s visible and shows); 5. Practical Value (we share what’s useful); and 6. Stories (we share what gets carried in stories). This book is an informative and entertaining read.
on March 23, 2014
Written by J. McPherson
Why things catch on was a very good read. At first considering it was an assigned reading I thought it was going to be boring. But the idea that social media is not actually the key to things catching on is actually so true. Anything starting to catch on is only the cause of people talking about it. I remember in high school everyone was on myspace and then a buzz started about Facebook. People were telling each other about it, it wasn't being sold on the news or t.v but through the most simple form of word of mouth. This book gets exactly to that point word of mouth is key and to get things to catch on there are principles.Not all are required at the same time to get something to catch on, yet you can also use all of them to get something to catch on. These six principles are Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories. Overall the book went very in-depth on each of these principles and how you can apply them to making a product contagious or making them infectious. the research behind each principle was also very helpful and i also enjoyed the examples of the businesses that went along with them. It really showed how an entrepreneur can really push themselves to new heights when they want to be different. I also learned being different is key. Overall I would say this book can be very helpful to future students of this class when it comes to the group project because it is hard to come up with a company that does something different in this age. Companies come out everyday and new technology comes right along with it, so being different will always help.
Why things catch on was a very good read. At first considering it was an assigned reading I thought it was going to be boring. But the idea that social media is not actually the key to things catching on is actually so true. Anything starting to catch on is only the cause of people talking about it. I remember in high school everyone was on myspace and then a buzz started about Facebook. People were telling each other about it, it wasn't being sold on the news or t.v but through the most simple form of word of mouth. This book gets exactly to that point word of mouth is key and to get things to catch on there are principles.Not all are required at the same time to get something to catch on, yet you can also use all of them to get something to catch on. These six principles are Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories. Overall the book went very in-depth on each of these principles and how you can apply them to making a product contagious or making them infectious. the research behind each principle was also very helpful and i also enjoyed the examples of the businesses that went along with them. It really showed how an entrepreneur can really push themselves to new heights when they want to be different. I also learned being different is key. Overall I would say this book can be very helpful to future students of this class when it comes to the group project because it is hard to come up with a company that does something different in this age. Companies come out everyday and new technology comes right along with it, so being different will always help.
on November 17, 2016
This is a great book. A lot of books are about the 5-7 steps on how to market. What I like about this book is that the author focus on why things go viral.
As you read through this book you realize you don't need to spend tons of money on marketing. All you need is someone else talking about your product or service.
He doesn't tell you how to get people talking about your product or service, but he makes you think about marketing in a simplistic way.
Author Page: RJ Sumrall
As you read through this book you realize you don't need to spend tons of money on marketing. All you need is someone else talking about your product or service.
He doesn't tell you how to get people talking about your product or service, but he makes you think about marketing in a simplistic way.
Author Page: RJ Sumrall
on February 23, 2015
Once again, another book that should have been an article in a business magazine. If I was to put you in a room for one hour to write why things catch-on or go viral on YouTube or as a product, you would probably come up with the same conclusion as this writer. But he spent the hour, wrote it down and made his money. What frustrates me with these kinds of books is they do not use any science or psychology or physiology to explain their reasons. They just use simple observation and good writing skills. I do recommend appointing someone from Marketing to read it over the weekend and summarize the points in an email or a presentation (preferred). The points are relevant and good. I think when things go viral it’s more a Black Swan (refer to Taleb on the phenomena on randomness) than some organized “for sure” concentrated effort. But if something does succeed, I have no doubt it will have the same ingredients mentioned in this book so marketers please read, deploy and of course enjoy.
on May 23, 2017
I'm an entrepreneur and an avid reader. I've read everything from Rich Dad Poor Dad's series to Trump University's collection to Michael Gerber E-Myths. I recommend all of those books. But this book was different. I actually took it slowly and took notes which I'm using to modify my product.
Will be reading this again at least once a year.
Thank you Jonah Berger, I would love to know more from you.
Will be reading this again at least once a year.
Thank you Jonah Berger, I would love to know more from you.
on October 28, 2016
This book is the perfect handbook for any novice business person trying to launch a new product or promote their business. The book is split up into six chapters, each tackling their own part of Berger's STEPPS theory - Social currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical value and stories. This simple structure makes it easy to follow along and the lack of technicality makes this book practical for anyone with little background in the field of business. Also, Berger's use of modern examples brings his theories to life and creates a more relatable concept in the minds of his readers. He uses a conversational style of writing, constantly engaging the reader and making them apply the concepts to areas of their own lives. All in all, I think this book is an informative and funny read for any potential entrepreneur or aspiring business person.
