The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Julius CalderonEntrepreneurship

Topics

THE THREE RULES OF EPIDEMICSThe Law of The Few

ConnectorsMavensSalesmen

The Stickiness FactorSesame Street Blue’s Clues

The Power of Context

IDEA as an EPIDEMIC

“The best way to understand... mysterious changes is to think of them

as epidemics”

IDEA as an EPIDEMIC

CONTAGIOUSNESS

SMALL THINGS HAVE BIG EFFECTS“A waterfall only begins

with one drop of water.”

HAPPEN INA HURRY

THE THREE RULES OF EPIDEMICS

THE LAW OF THE FEWTHE STICKINESS FACTORPOWER OF CONTEXT

THE LAW OF THE FEW

CONNECTORSMAVENS

SALESMEN

CONNECTORS

People who bring the world together

Can spread a word-of-mouth epidemic (piece of news travels a great distance in a short period of time)

6 Degrees of SeparationNot all degrees are equalWe are linked to the rest of the

world through a special few

CONNECTORS

Know a lot of peoplePhonebook TestSome people just have a

knack for making friends and acquaintances

Not self-servingThey manage to occupy

many different worlds and nichesThey bring these different

worlds together

MAVENS

Information specialists or brokers connect people to informationExperts in the marketplace

Yiddish word meaning “one who accumulates knowledge”

They know things that others don’t

What sets them apart is that they are socially motivatedMotivated to educate and to help

Their advice is always followed by those with whom they shared the information

SALESMEN

Skilled at persuading peopleAlso just want to help

peopleTom Gau

The Power of PersuasionNewscaster’s bias

Jennings’ facial expressions influenced the viewers

Headset testNodding affected their opinion

about tuition fees

SALESMEN

WHY SALESMEN ARE EFFECTIVE1. Little things make a big difference2. Non-verbal cues are more powerful

than verbal cues Physical movements affect how we

feel and think

3. Persuasion is subtleCultural Microrhythm

A bond is formed between people who are conversing

You can draw others into our own rhythms and be synchronized with them

Salesmen cannot be resisted

Summary:

The success of any kinds of epidemic relies on the involvement of particular people with a rare set of social gifts.MAVENS – They provide the

messageCONNECTORS – They

spread the messageSALESMEN – They

persuade people to change

THE STICKINESS FACTOR

The Stickiness Factor

The messages must have a certain character which causes them to remain active in the recipients' minds. The stickiness of a message can often only be determined by testing and experimentation. (Sesame Street)The message must be repacked and tweaked several times before tiny changes cause the message to become sticky. (Blue’s Clue)

It is the quality that compels people to pay close, sustained attention to a product, concept, or idea.

Define as a unique quality that compels the phenomenon to “stick” in the minds of the public and influence their future behavior.

Gladwell purports that there are "relatively simple changes in the presentation and structuring" of an idea that can make it more sticky (Fear Campaign/The Gold Box)

The PBS show Sesame Street represented a vast improvement in the “stickiness” of children’s television

The ability to combine long-established assumptions about children’s cognitive abilities and television-watching behaviors on their heads.

These changes, based in large part on extensive research, resulted in a show that actually helped toddlers and preschoolers develop literacy.

Sesame Street was an example of how an agent of infection (television) was able to infect a positive virus (literacy).

People vs Muppets; Reality vs Fantasy

The success of Sesame Street and its groundbreaking format was not achieved by accident. The producers thoroughly test their episodes on children to make sure that the content holds their attention.

Sesame Street

Television show Blue’s Clues applied and improved most of the techniques from Sesame Street, resulting in the development of a program that research has shown can generate significant improvements in children’s logic and reasoning abilities

Blue’s Clue

First Idea: More kids are engaged in watching something (intellectually and physically) the more memorable and meaningful it becomes.

Second Idea: the idea of repetition

The Blue’s Clue Show Format

Gladwell references numerous studies in marketing and television to conclude that advice needs to be practical and personal in order to become memorable.

“Fear Experiment“, in which 2 versions of tetanus booklet were shown to the university students.

One version was a “high fear” version (containing gory pictures) and the other one was a more objective version containing same factual information but without any gory pictures but both results are disappointing.

A simple change in booklet (including a map of the campus with health center circled and times shot were available) tipped the vaccination report to 28%.

Fear Campaign

Gold CampaignLester Wunderman has a showdown with the McCann Erickson for the Columbia Record Club

Lester Wunderman proposed a test, selected 26 media markets will be use for the TV commercial; 13 will air the McCann "awareness" television ad while the other 13 would air Wunderman own set of TV commercial

The one with the greatest response in TV Guide and Parade advertising would win the whole account; Response in Wunderman's market were up by 80% while McCann has 19.5 percent

The gold box make the commercial sticky, it gave reason for viewers to look for the ads, it created connection and make reader/viewer part of the interactive advertising system

We have become, in our society, overwhelmed by people clamoring for our attention. This information age has created a stickiness problem.

As human beings we can only handle so much information at once. Once we pass a certain boundary, we become overwhelmed. This “intellectual capacity” is defined as our ability to process raw information.

Cluttering

Has our generation become the victim of too much information?

Stickiness means that a message makes an impact and doesn’t go in one ear and out the other.

It is not the quality of an idea, concept, TV show, or product that makes it sticky, but something about the way it is packaged and presented.

Summary

For Wunderland... creating a "Gold Box" treasure hunt

For Levanthal... giving them a map and a schedule

For Blue's Clue... a literal show and repeating the show 5 times

For Sesame Street's... mixing real people with muppetsThere is a simple way to package information that under the right circumstances, can make it irresitable. All you have to do is find it.

THE POWER OF CONTEXT

THE POWER OF CONTEXT

BROKEN WINDOWS THEORYChange can be brought about

by a feature in the environmentTransit system reclamation

Inner states are a result of outer circumstancesZimbardo’s Prison

experimentSchoolchildren’s Honesty test

THE POWER OF CONTEXT

FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION THEORY Underestimate the effect of

the contextCharacter is a bundle of

habits, tendencies and interests dependent on the contextThe “Good Samaritan

Experiment” – those who were in a rush did not stop to help

THE POWER OF CONTEXT

Groups play a critical roleThe Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya

Sisterhood and Book clubsConnections with many

groupsClose-knit groups magnify

the epidemic potential of an idea

The Rule of 150HutteritesGore Associates

THE POWER OF CONTEXTTransactive Memory –

store information in other peopleExplore the bonds of

memory and peer pressure

PARADOX OF EPIDEMICBreak people up into

smaller groups

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