MADESTICK

TO

WHY SOME IDEAS SURVIVE AND OTHERS DIEby Chip Heath & Dan Heath

6PRINCIPLES

ofSticky Ideas

S.U.C.C.E.S.(s)Simple

ConcreteUnexpected

CredibleEmotionalStory

Simple = CORE & COMPACT

“Finding the core” means stripping an idea down to its most criticalessence. To get to the core, we've got to weed out superfluous andtangential elements.

To make a profound idea compact you've got to pack a lot of meaninginto a little bit of messaging.

If we’re to succeed, the first step is this: Be Simple.

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection notwhen there is nothing left to add, but when there

is nothing left to take away.”

ADOPT THE SAME MENTALITY AS ADESIGNER OF IDEAS – KNOW HOW MUCHCAN BE WRUNG OUT OF IDEA BEFORE IT

LOSES IT’S ESSENCE

simple

UNEXPECTEDGetting Interest

CREATE MYSTERY. HIGHLIGHT A KNOWLEDGE GAP. TEASEWITH INFORMATION.

Maintaining Interest

GETTING INTEREST

△ Methods:

▲ Break a pattern

▲Open a knowledge gap

▲Pose a question or puzzle

▲ Challenge people to predict an

outcome

▲Use a mystery story

MAINTAINING INTEREST

△ Methods:

▲ The gap theory of curiosity

▲ Close knowledge gaps while opening

new ones

▲ Turning point concept

▲ Shift from conveying information

to deciding what questions you want

your audience to ask

EXAMPLE: NORDSTROM

△ Nordstrom is a departmental store known

for outstanding customer service.

▲ Staff ironed a new shirt for a customer

who needed it for a meeting that afternoon

▲ who made a last-minute delivery of party

clothes to a frantic hostess

▲ warmed customers’ cars in winter while

they finished shopping

CONCRETE

NATURALLY STICKY IDEAS AREFULL OF CONCRETE IMAGES, BECAUSE OUR BRAINS ARE

WIRED TO REMEMBER CONCRETE DATA.

HELP PEOPLEUNDERSTAND AND

REMEMBER

Velcro Theory of MemoryImagine your brain as having thethousands of loops of a piece ofVelcro™ - representing all of its

diverse ling cabinets of memory.The more hooks in your idea, thebetter. Make them experience the

idea.

HELP PEOPLECOORDINATE

Find a way to invite peopleto the table, to help thembring their knowledge to

bear.

CREDIBILITYHow do we make people believe our ideas?

HELP PEOPLE BELIEVE

1. External Credibility▷ Endorsement of authorities and anti-authorities (stories withreal people).▷ Honesty and trustworthiness matters, not status!

2. Internal Credibility

▷ Boost Credibility – use vivid details▷ Make statistics available. “Humanize” them.▷ Sinatra Test – “If you can make it there, you can make itanywhere.”

EmotionalHOW TO MAKE PEOPLE CARE

ABOUT OUR IDEAS?

APPEAL TO SELF - INTEREST

If you want people to care, tap into things thatthey care about. We get them to take off their

Analytical Hats. We create empathy for specificindividuals. We show how our ideas are

associated with things that people already careabout.

We appeal to their self-interest, but we alsoappeal to their identities – not only to the peoplethey are right now, but also to the people they

would like to be.

StoriesTO STIMULATE & INSPIRE

Stories naturally embody most of the S.U.C.C.E.S(s)

framework.

❀ Stories are almost always Concrete. Most of them haveEmotional and Unexpected elements.

❀ The hardest part of using stories effectively is making surethat they’re Simple – that they reflect your core message.

❀ We just need to be ready to spot the good ones that lifegenerates every day.

CHEAT SHEETFor an idea to stick, it must

make the audience:

1. Pay attention - UNEXPECTED2. Understand and remember it - CONCRETE

3. Agree / Believe - CREDIBLE4. Care - EMOTION

5. Be able to act on it - STORY