Jonah berger what makes ideas contagious

When people think about your product, they will likely talk about it, share their experience with it, and become repeat customers over time. In fact, more frequently trigger-associated products can increase word-of-mouth by 15 percent, and because it is top of mind, it generally means someone will be more likely to act on what they are thinking about.

They had not changed their marketing campaigns, yet sales were up. For example, in , Colleen Chorak was the Hershey brand manager tasked with revitalizing the Kit Kat brand.

To get consumers thinking about the brand again she looked at when people ate Kit Kats the most… during breaks and usually with a hot beverage. She began releasing ads that tied Kit Kats to coffee breaks at work, specifically eating them while drinking coffee.

Effective triggers are caused by frequency how often we interact with a trigger i. Thus, it is important to think about context of the environment of the people you are trying to target: whether seasonal candy corn and Halloween ; geographic cheesesteaks and Philadelphia. Emotional content evokes feelings, both positive and negative, that drive people to share and act on those emotions.

Tax hikes, price increases, new iPhone releases, elections and policy stances — all evoke positive and negative outbursts that drive people to talk about it with those around them. In many cases, it can drive activism in politics, switching from one product to another, or writing a Yelp review online to encourage people to eat or not eat at a certain cafe.

Awe, excitement, humor evoke as much arousal as anger and anxiety, while contentment and sadness leave people to do nothing at all. Understanding arousal can help you drive viral content and products for yourself, by focusing less on information features and benefits around your product or idea, and focus on how people think, feel, and react to certain messages. By making our products more public, we create self-promoting ideas that produce lasting memories that stick around well after the first interaction.

Berger provides the following example to illustrate this rule: Say you see someone you know and respect using an Apple Computer at a cafe identified by the Apple logo and exterior casing , this form of public visibility might mean that you are likely to want to imitate their behavior and buy a Mac because it looks cool or because you want to emulate their behavior.

Berger provides the example, of looking for a restaurant in an unfamiliar city: we look for restaurants that are full of people because it must be delicious or hip , and we walk by the restaurants that are empty food too expensive or bland. So, they make choices based on what they see. A variation of this technique is also used in radio stations.

Where a new song is put between 2 good songs, over and over. That way people link the "good" also to the new song. I read this in a book about habits. So basically if you apply this to how people think the way they do, it is what they hear and see all the time which makes them think the way they do. Maybe you've already heard the sayings "you are the average of the 5 people that surround you", well it explains that you become like the people around you and will be thinking like them.

Now, in the recent world we also have movies and series that people look at. So this makes people also influenced by that. This means that people will also be thinking like everything they watch, inclusing youtube. This could be why advertisements could be so effective.. See all 15 questions about Contagious…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Jan 16, Liz rated it did not like it Shelves: first-reads.

If this material is enough to cover an entire Wharton MBA course, then I'm not sure what that says about Wharton's program. There is just not that much information in this book far beyond common sense most people already intuitively know.

I had been looking forward to this book release as the topic is interesting and even possesses its own themed six characteristics, conveniently ascribed the acronym STEPPS, which the author Jonah Berger explains contributes to why products or ideas become conta If this material is enough to cover an entire Wharton MBA course, then I'm not sure what that says about Wharton's program. I had been looking forward to this book release as the topic is interesting and even possesses its own themed six characteristics, conveniently ascribed the acronym STEPPS, which the author Jonah Berger explains contributes to why products or ideas become contagious.

Berger argues that if we want our product or idea to catch on and spread like wildfire, we must try to build into it as many of these six STEPPS as we can.

If there is built into a product or idea easy cues that can trigger it to come to mind, then it has a strong 'Trigger'. If your product or cause can be broadcast to others, it is 'Public'.

If it provides 'Practical value', it is more likely to be shared. Lastly, if a memorable story can be spun around it, then it has the added benefit of having a 'Story'. Dre headphones and why these retro audio phones [form factor] are fashionable; or why you see Toms shoes all about as they really are plain and resemble the old cheap kungfu shoes that are dirt cheap and available in any chinatown but they have a strong cause behind them- hence Public' factor Eyeballs will be attracted to it; curiosity will be aroused.

Lastly, 6 it contains attempts to contain some entertaining stories to hopefully have a place in your memory prevalent enough for you to tell others about this book. Now, that, in a nutshell, is the book. That's it. Thin sheets of wet paper towels are placed one by one slowly over a victim's face.

Each sheet is very thin and the victim can breathe through each layer. As each new sheet is applied at slow intervals, it becomes a little bit harder to breathe.

This is a drawn out, protracted torture. Finally, the weight of the wet sheets becomes so heavy, the victim, whose breathing has become increasingly labored, eventually suffocates.

This book for some awful reason was akin to a literary version of that torture. Books like this usually follow the formulae: tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them.

Well, in this book, everything you need to know is explained adequately in the introduction. Then the body of the book is layer upon layer of thin wet sheets foisted upon you until you are suffocating from the repetition and hammering of simple ideas - over and over and over again. If you like Malcolm Gladwell's books, you probably will like this book. I do not like Gladwell's books but I do think Mr. Gladwell is a great story weaver and a strong writer.

I cannot say the same for Mr. Berger who authored this book. For the same reason I am not a fan of Gladwell's books, I felt like most of Berger's arguments were oversimplified, heavily subject to anecdotal argumentation, left unsubstantiated or unexplained as to the deeper "why" behind a pattern. Berger explains patterns well - but they aren't anything startling - yet he fails repeatedly to analyze deeply why the pattern exists. He cites a study he conducted in his citations.

Nothing further. Where subjects need more flushing out, Berger repeatedly disappoints, yet where he's made a simple point effectively, he proceeds to drown you with it.

Well, since negative book reviews "can" sometimes boost reviews, here you go, Mr. Berger - my gift to you in exchange for boring me to death - a bad book review that "can" inspire better sales. People will be curious to see for themselves whether I tend toward hyperbole, if there is any merit to what I have stated. Noise is better than silence; some publicity is better than none.

That's common sense for selling something. There are numerous other uninspiring moments in this book, similar to this. For example, in his discussion relating to "practical value", he instructs us that if you find a good Ethiopian restaurant, you are more likely to share your recommendation of it than you would had you had found a good American restaurant.

The reason being you probably have many more friends who like American food than Ethiopian food; therefore, you will feel much more conviction to tell those fewer applicable friends about the Ethiopian restaurant. You simply know too many people who would be interested in American food to compel you to recommend the American restaurant.

What an unremarkable observation. Another example is when he goes on and on about the fact that things that are remarkable are interesting, moving us to share about it. This is why certain cute or remarkable YouTube videos spread virally; we like to share articles or videos we think our friends or family will find interesting.

You need research to make such a statement? Or when he claimed he tested at length whether something that inspires awe in us, will evoke us to tell others about it. Such common sense notions like this are laid out and overanalyzed throughout the book.

The author needed to conduct research to discover that awe drives people to share? Come on, dude. This book is a dumbing-down of common knowledge, contributing to the pain of plowing through the book. If not for my habit of sheer reading discipline despite my extreme boredom, I would not have finished this book. I don't need to be instructed that the Nobel Prize is prestigious along with a paragraph of examples.

Why do I need to know it was a cold, wintery day when Daniel Kahneman gave a lecture on bounded rationality? Irrelevant fillers like this spread throughout the book - makes for bad writing.

Most of the material covered in this book is widely known common knowledge in the industry. Airlines know it works - that's why they entice frequent fliers with status and levels.

Game theory is widely applied in marketing. Which gets to my second-to-last gripe. In the intro and conclusion he claims that he has used cutting-edge science to demonstrate to us how word of mouth, psychology of sharing, social influence, conformity, herd behavior work. In reality, he simply points out patterns of these behaviors.

There is no "cutting-edge science" and disappointingly he tosses aside the wasted opportunity for meaningful analysis. He hasn't sufficiently explained the psychology behind any of the the "why's" that naturally arise from the reading offering merely superficial explanations. Lastly, I end with the formatting. I would read an argument and wonder what basis the author had to make a certain statement. I'd have to check the back of the book to see if there existed any citation. There was no system to indicate that a citation existed for reference to any statement put forth.

Perhaps this is limited to the advance release edition; if so, forgive my criticism. Also relating to formatting, there were innumerous typos. Again, this may be limited to the copy I read but editing was pitiful in my advance copy. View all 29 comments. Apr 28, ScienceOfSuccess rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorites.

Contagious is a well-written book for marketers, full of interesting stories. If you are interested why people talk about certain things more than about others this book can explain it perfectly. View all 3 comments. Feb 08, Orsolya rated it liked it Shelves: advertising-pr-marketing , the-brain , library. Although I can predict trends and see market value; I was very curious about why ideas and brands affect us. However, moving past this initial caution opens up a book which combines a business marketing how-to, case studies, sociology, and psychology.

Using this unique concept, Berger strives to not just describe how to market ideas and brands but why. With that being said, there are heavier science sections which creatively combine business with a description of human emotional and psychological responses.

Yet, this demonstrates the inconsistency mentioned. Furthermore, the information and studies are very current and recognizable which eliminated the issue of a dated piece although it will be dated in the future. Berger has the tendency to be repetitive within each chapter on matters being currently discussed and with re-demonstrating past information. Although this may be to make ideas stick natch!

Berger appears more adept at these areas than marketing. The conclusion this includes the Epilogue , however, is weak, unbalanced, and lacking any remarkable traits.

View all 7 comments. Jun 15, David Rubenstein rated it liked it Shelves: psychology , audiobook , business. This is a fun book, full of ideas for advertising new ideas or products. It contains many good anecdotes about promotions that worked and didn't work. For example, there is a description of a youtube video that went viral, that advertised a blender--and boosted sales enormously. Then there is a video that went viral, and advertised a casino--but didn't boost sales at all.

Why not? The video had absolutely nothing to do with the casino--it was just a catchy video! The author, Jonah Berger, is a pr This is a fun book, full of ideas for advertising new ideas or products. The author, Jonah Berger, is a professor at Wharton. He has studied how messages become "viral". He claims that most communications about products are not through the Internet, but are through word of mouth, person-to-person. Much of the book is just plain common sense.

Nothing very deep here--but it is an entertaining book. View 2 comments. I picked this book up in my local library, only intending to flick through a few pages. This book is really a study of human behaviour and psychology more than anything else, which is why I found it so interesting.

I soon began to look at advertisements and social media from an entirely new perspe I picked this book up in my local library, only intending to flick through a few pages. I soon began to look at advertisements and social media from an entirely new perspective.

Jonah uses many examples to help explain his ideas — I found this a really good way of learning, as it helped easily break down concepts that were at first confusing. This book explains why — from horrendous Rebecca Black videos to Apple iPods.

A by-product of reading Contagious is that I now have greater ability to see through certain marketing strategies and content delivery. Overall, Contagious is a quick and enlightening read on how things go viral, how to make your own product go viral, and how companies manipulate consumers into helping their product succeed. Highly recommend to all business owners, bloggers or anyone with a social media account! Dec 15, Nada Elshabrawy rated it it was amazing Shelves: audio , english , business-and-tech.

View 1 comment. Aug 01, Jay Connor rated it really liked it. Those of us who work across sectors in community are always trying to find the magic formula for engaging and moving our respective audiences to action. For Berger, there are six essential factors that contribute to contagious ideas: think of th Jonah Berger has given us a very good read that builds on "Switch" and "The Tipping Point.

For Berger, there are six essential factors that contribute to contagious ideas: think of them as the STEPPS to having your ideas catch on. Not all elements are necessary for an idea to catch on, but a combination of some or all these elements would certainly increase the likelihood.

A quick look at some of the most successful viral campaigns reveals each of these elements 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. In community: involvement in an effort to solve seemingly intractable problems would provide social currency, but if jargon makes it too hard to explain either the issue or the solution we preclude virality.

Ideas that are top of mind spread. Like parasites, viral ideas attach themselves to top of mind stories, occurrences or environments. In community: think of how to frame your ideas in order that they might have triggers for the larger community. For example: your work on poverty reduction might have more triggers if you were also able to talk about it in economic development or community betterment terms.

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. In community: we've been fairly adept at the first part of the equation - care - but we have had more difficulty with creating the vehicle for sharing, be it a video, website or story.

He notices a pile of sawdust on the floor on one of his first days at work. Why is there sawdust on the floor? He wanted to make a really strong blender. This is gonna be a viral home run. Bought a white lab coat, some of those goofy glasses you often see people wear when they chop wood or something, and just filmed the CEO doing what the guy was already doing: trying to break blenders…. They distributed it to their mailing list, they distributed it to others, and it caught on like wildfire.

People saw it, and they had to pass it on and share it with their friends. What it takes is understanding the psychology behind social transmission — what makes us talk about and share things. Then by generating content or building in features of your products, you create that viral user growth. What can companies learn from that? But also, creating ads that build in an understanding of why people talk about and share things. But they will share really engaging content, even if that content happens to relate to a brand.

A few years ago, Burger King had a great example on the web, the subservient chicken. You could go to this website, and you could type in whatever you wanted. This guy in a chicken suit would do whatever you typed in. The more you brand something, the more it looks like an ad, the less willing people are going to be to talk about and share it. But inside, you hide the brand or the benefit.

People are watching it because they love to see this blender tear through things. It also happens offline. It comes with a little bottle of champagne. Along the way, they talk about the brand. Knowledge Wharton: You talked a little bit at the beginning about how a lot of people seem to think that going viral or becoming contagious is about luck, but that these six steps are what are really coming into play.

For a company trying to harness these six steps, what kinds of issues do you see? How much do opposing market forces come into play? And what about sheer luck? Does luck have anything to do with it at all? This book will show you how to raise your viral batting average. Definitely not. But I can guarantee that it will raise the likelihood that consumers talk about and share your ideas. If a person on average tells one person, we can increase it to two. We have evidence-based principles that show why people talk about it and share.

There is some luck to get a billion views. There is a snowball effect on the web. But you can guarantee that more people will talk about your brand or more people will share your idea, if you understand why people talk and share. Knowledge Wharton: How have changes in the advertising and technology landscapes altered the nature of how things become contagious and, conversely, the reasons or the speed at which they maybe become uncontagious, or just peter out? Berger: Advertising is great for broad awareness.

It gets broad, broad awareness.