Why is it that some ideas seem to die on delivery, and others not only stand out, but last for generations? If you want to breathe life into your copy, or even add to your repertoire, you may want to pick up “Made to Stick,” by Chip and Dan Heath.
“Made to Stick,” is a witty and inspiring book for copywriters and marketing specialists alike. For the purposes of this review, I will review strategies copywriters can learn from this book and apply to their own ideas and writing. At times, I will refer to this book as “Sticky.”
The Heath Brothers humorous recounting of some of life’s most memorable and at times, outrageous stories, and discussion of how and why they capture our attention, is noteworthy, and can be made part of your toolkit as a copywriter, marketing executive, or advertiser.
The premise of the book is that all “sticky ideas” have common traits: they have a tendency to be Simple, are Unexpected, are Credible, have Concrete (relatable elements), appeal to the audience’s Emotional side, and above all else, have a memorable Story line. Their recipe for “SUCCESs.”
While there are many funny tales and quips throughout, the authors address very real aspects of the human psyche that directly affect the memory and recall of stories and products. They dive into a review of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and caution writers to stay out of Maslow’s “basement,” that concerns matters that Maslow himself referred to as “deficiency needs;” things like physiological needs, safety, belonging and esteem.
One of the best ways to convey an idea to your audience, as discussed in Chapter 1, also titled “Simple,” is to boil the idea down to its core. Once an idea has been boiled down, you should identify what is profound about it. According to the authors, however, no idea is inherently interesting; it has to be made interesting.
For instance, Art Silverman, an employee of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, wanted to make the public aware of how dangerous movie popcorn was. The problem is that people cannot really conceptualize what 37 grams of saturated fat looks like, much less understand the implication for their health.
Instead, Silverman presented his information when his organization, CPSI called a press conference on September 27, 1992. The message Silverman delivered discussed the foods that one medium sized movie popcorn was equivalent to, which amounted to a multitude of several “bad” foods combined. CPSI covered the visual portion of the presentation by putting the popcorn equivalent foods on a table. The story caught the attention of major network and cable news stations, newspapers, and even late night television hosts, as Jay Leno and David Letterman cracked jokes about how bad movie popcorn is.
The point is, that Silverman made an ordinary, factual, idea interesting. He knew there had to be a better way to capture his audience than just reciting facts and statistics, that typically do not resonate with audiences.
In 1990, Elizabeth Newton, Ph.D. conducted a study for her dissertation at Stanford University, called “Overconfidence in the Communication of Intent: Unheard Melodies.”
In this experiment, Newton set up two groups of people: one group was called the “tappers” and the other group was designated the “listeners.”
The tappers were tasked with tapping out a song to a listener who was supposed to guess what the song was. The listeners only got the answer correct once in 40 attempts. Conversely, the tappers were sure that the listeners would guess correctly once in every two guesses.
The purpose of this exercise was to demonstrate what is called “The Curse of Knowledge.” Because the tappers could hear the music in their heads, they assumed that it would be easy for the listeners to guess what song they were tapping out.
This point is interesting. Almost all of us can think of a time when we were speaking to someone, and either they did not understand us, or we did not understand them. This dilemma is particularly true in the workplace when a “non-techie,” has to ask IT personnel for help. They know their language; many of us don’t.
As writers, we should be mindful of our audience. It’s a balancing act between informing our audience without insulting their intelligence, and is why the Heath Brothers warn us to stay away from Maslow’s basement.
We need to keep the “music” out of our minds in order to deliver a clear and effective message that will be remembered. Many of you may recall the acronym, “KISS,” for “keep it simple, stupid.”
What makes urban legends so salient or proverbs immortal? What makes them sticky? Can the unexpected cause us to pay closer attention? Why have Aesop’s fables lasted throughout 2,500 plus years of history? Is there a concreteness in the underlying truths of the human experience expressed in Aesop’s fables that causes us to remember them?
One popular urban legend, known as “The Kidney Heist,” is a story in which a businessman unwittingly accepts a drink from a pretty stranger, and wakes up to discover that his kidney has been harvested. The story, and many versions of it, have been recounted for many years. Social media still indulges this legend. These stories “would not spread unless people found their core ideas credible” (Campion-Vincent, pg. 1).
Then there’s the “Kentucky Fried Rat” story. As a youth, I remember this story in a slightly different version-the rat was a mouse. The point is, the legend lives on. The strength of this legend lies in its believability, making it credible.
As the authors so accurately point out, “No urban legend ever has to be repeated ten times” (pg. 9). I wish that was the case when I taught English classes! Although I was creative with lesson plans, I don’t think urban legends would have gone over well with administrators and parents.
If you spend even a little time on social media, you can easily see that these stories are still popular, even if there are slight changes made. Only about a month ago, someone was posting pictures on Facebook of their Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket, asking friends, “What do you think this is?” pointing out the odd shaped fried dough in their order.
In copywriting, it is a good idea to use schemas that are already part of your audience’s consciousness to help them build up to more complex ideas. It is far more difficult to build on new ideas and unfamiliar topics, particularly if your message is pressing.
Unexpected delivery of ideas help garner the attention of the listener or reader. Creating a surprise or mystery can fuel interest. Take the story about an airline stewardess who delivers her safety message by referencing the song, “fifty ways to leave your lover,” but “only six ways to leave the aircraft.” (pg. 64).
Sometimes the unexpected comes in an action, like the Nordstrom employee who accepted a return of tire chains, even though the store doesn’t sell them. As the Heath Brothers said, sometimes “To make a message stick, you’ve got to push it beyond common sense, to uncommon sense” Nordstrom wanted to be known as providing the “best customer service in the industry” (pg. 74).
Ever notice how local news programs will run “teaser ads” to get the attention of viewers? Even national news will tell you about what’s coming up, and keep you waiting so long, you may give up, but probably won’t. This is known as the “Gap Theory” of curiosity. It is a void that we want to fill, because it is “too painful” not to know how it turns out (pg.84).
Make your ideas concrete, don’t use abstractions, make them relatable. Put hooks into your ideas and writing. When your audience does not seem to relate to your message, pull in examples or let them experience a thought, feeling or circumstance through your words. Use hooks are relatable to your audience, driving the message and making it much more memorable.
Be credible, and use “testable credentials” (pg. 287). Sometimes people take testable credentials to the extreme as explained in the story of Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, who discovered that a bacterium could be responsible for stomach ulcers. To make a long story short, Marshall became frustrated one morning with people who did not believe his findings. He took colleagues with him before breakfast into the lab and swallowed a glass filled with H. pylori. Within a few days, he showed symptoms of an ensuing ulcer and then cured himself with antibiotics.
At times, you may want to use an unlikely messenger, called the anti-authority figure, to drive a point home that you are trying to make. Anti-authority figures may introduce your audience to grizzly realities by sharing their own experience. Anti-smoking commercials demonstrate this technique often. The people in the commercials are victims of the results of smoking. Audiences understand that message better than statistics.
In the Chapter (5), “Emotional,” researchers conducted studies regarding giving. What they discovered, is that the method of appealing to people’s emotions, is far more successful when the example used is for an individual, rather than an entire group. In short, it’s easier to relate to another person. Even Mother Teresa was quoted as having said, “If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will” (pg. 165). Appealing to the emotions of your audience is important if you want to engage them.
As writers, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, we know the importance of being in tune with our audience. Copywriters may be asked to write a fund-raising letter for a charity or other non-profit. We should be familiar with this format; it seems that as a society, we are always getting fundraising or appeal letters in our mailboxes. Most often the copy refers to an individual, whether it be for people or animals.
Sponsorship of a child or animals that you can adopt are very common types of fundraising techniques. The requests for help of a specific person or animal tugs at people’s heartstrings and is more effective than a general plea. It can also be personalized, as you may even get a note or postcard updating you on their circumstances. On Maslow’s scale, this appeals to transcendence, or self-actualization. It’s no longer about “what’s in it for me.”
Last, but not least, is the Story. If you neglect or skimp on any of the other elements, at the very least, be sure to have a good, memorable story. Stories have one of three plots: the challenge plot, the connection plot and the creativity plot (pgs. 226-229). “Sticky” tells us to become great story “spotters.” Sometimes, life will provide us with the story if we are observant.
This is evident in the story of the two employees of Ingersall-Rand who were tired of waiting for the slow product development phase that their employer had a reputation for. One day, while out on a sales call, in a rented car, two members of what is known as the “Grinder Team,” attached plastic and metal grinders to the bumper of the car and dragged them around the building until they were stopped by police. The result of their “drag test,” was that the plastic grinder was as sturdy as the metal one. The test was faster than waiting for a lab study with all kinds of measured variables. This example makes me think of the expression, “you can’t make this stuff up.” No, we probably can’t, but it is definitely memorable!
In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath provide us with a lot of insight regarding sticky ideas. The book is full of ideas, approaches, examples, and intriguing experiments. For me, personally, I found the book to be thought provoking and inspiring. As copywriters, writers, marketers, or advertisers, it is imperative that we stay in tune with our audience, tune out the music that we already know, and bring forth a message that is both memorable and actionable by our audience.
Bibliography
Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Made to Stick (New York: Random House, 2008)
Campion-Vincent, Veronique, “Organ Theft Narratives as Medical and Social Critique,” Journal of Folklore Research, 39, No. 1, Jan-April, 2002: pp. 33-50