Made To Stick

Made To Stick examines advertising campaigns, urban myths and compelling stories to determine the six traits that make ideas stick in our brains, so you don’t just know why you remember some things better than others, but can also spread your own ideas more easily among the right people.

For something to stick, you have to notice it first. If an article’s headline isn’t good, neither does it matter if the rest of the article is, because you’ll never even start reading it. The same thing holds true for advertisements, books in a book store, or products in the supermarket – if it doesn’t stand out, it’s as if it’s not there. People have long become blind to online banners too, so whatever doesn’t take us by surprise gets left out in the cold.

That’s why sticky ideas are always the ones you don’t expect.

For example, imagine instead of the usual humdrum speech a flight attendant gives, she’d suddenly say: “I know there are more than 100 ways to leave your lover, but there’s just one off this plane.” Would that get your attention?

Or a banner ad that showed nothing more than a mysterious symbol? How about a book with a bright, orange cover, that sticks out from the rest? Or a coffee brand that comes in elegant capsules, all black on black?

To get people to perk their ears up at your ideas, you have to risk sticking out like a sore thumb. No risk, no fun!

If you think getting peoples’ attention is hard…then you’d be right. However, once you have it, it gets even harder, because now, you have to hold it. The reason people run on autopilot in the first place is that they think they know everything they need to know right now. However, if you can convince them that they don’t, guess what’s going to happen? Of course, they’ll do whatever it takes to find out!

Showing people that there’s something important they don’t know yet, and giving them a way to find out is a very powerful way to make your ideas stick, and it’s called a curiosity gap.

So when Marvel asks you on Twitter whether you’re #TeamCap or #TeamIronMan, the first thing you want to know is who else is on each team and what the heck the two camps are even about. Typical clickbait headlines on sites like Buzzfeed use the same principle, by asking you thought-provoking questions, like “Can We Guess Your Favorite Season Based On Your Favorite Disney Princess?”

Present powerful facts, figures and questions as your opening line, and you’ll have poked your audience’s interest.

Then, it’s storytelling time.