Made to Stick

1. Simple: Find the core and share it compactly

"If you argue ten points, even if each is a good point, when they get back to the jury room they won't remember any."

Find the core. The essence of making ideas stick is to strip them down to their most critical elements. This process involves relentlessly prioritizing and excluding superfluous information. Like the Army's "Commander's Intent," which provides a clear, concise objective for soldiers to follow in unpredictable situations, your message should have a singular focus that can guide action and decision-making.

Share the core compactly. Once you've identified the core idea, communicate it in a way that's both simple and profound. This doesn't mean dumbing down your message, but rather expressing it concisely and memorably. Consider proverbs as a model: they pack deep wisdom into short, easily remembered phrases. For example, Southwest Airlines' core idea of being "THE low-fare airline" guides employee behavior across countless situations, from deciding whether to serve chicken salad to choosing which routes to fly.

• Examples of compact, core ideas:
  • "Names, names, and names" (Hoover Adams' newspaper strategy)
  • "It's the economy, stupid" (Clinton's 1992 campaign focus)
  • "Man on the moon before the decade is out" (Kennedy's space goal)

2. Unexpected: Break patterns to grab and hold attention

"Surprise acts as a kind of emergency override when we confront something unexpected."

Grab attention by violating expectations. Our brains are wired to notice changes and pay attention to the unexpected. To make your ideas stick, you need to break people's existing mental patterns. This could be as simple as a flight attendant delivering a humorous safety announcement or as profound as presenting a counterintuitive fact that challenges common beliefs.

Hold attention by creating and filling knowledge gaps. Once you've captured attention, maintain it by creating curiosity. Highlight gaps in people's knowledge and then fill them. This is why mystery novels are so engaging – they create a knowledge gap (who did it?) that keeps us reading until it's resolved. In your communication:

• Pose questions or puzzles that your audience will want answered
• Present incomplete information that creates a desire for closure
• Use the "news-teaser" approach: hint at interesting information to come

Examples:

• Nora Ephron's journalism teacher revealing the surprising lead: "There will be no school next Thursday"
• The "Truth" anti-smoking campaign shocking teens with the tobacco industry's deceptive practices

3. Concrete: Make ideas tangible and memorable

"Abstraction makes it harder to understand an idea and to remember it. It also makes it harder to coordinate our activities with others, who may interpret the abstraction in very different ways."

Use concrete language and examples. Abstract ideas are hard to grasp and remember. Make your ideas concrete by using sensory language, vivid imagery, and specific examples. This helps people understand, remember, and relate to your message. For instance, rather than talking about "improving customer service," share a story about a Nordstrom employee who gift-wrapped a present bought at Macy's.

Bring statistics to life. Numbers alone are often forgettable. Make them concrete and impactful by putting them into a human context. For example:

• Instead of "37 grams of saturated fat," say "as much saturated fat as a bacon-and-eggs breakfast, a Big Mac and fries for lunch, and a steak dinner with all the trimmings—combined!"
• Rather than "5,000 nuclear warheads," demonstrate the scale by dropping 5,000 BBs into a metal bucket

Use analogies and metaphors. These tools help people understand new concepts by relating them to familiar ones. For example, Disney refers to its employees as "cast members," instantly conveying expectations about performance and customer interaction.

4. Credible: Help people believe through authority and details

"A credible idea makes people believe. An emotional idea makes people care. The right stories make people act."

Tap into external credibility. Use authorities, experts, or anti-authorities to bolster your message. An anti-authority can be particularly effective when targeting skeptical audiences. For example, the anti-smoking campaign featuring Pam Laffin, a young mother dying from smoking-related illness, was more impactful than lectures from health experts.

Build internal credibility. Make your ideas more believable by:

1. Using vivid details: Specific, concrete details make a story feel more real and credible.
2. Employing statistics on a human scale: Make numbers relatable by comparing them to familiar concepts.
3. Using the "Sinatra Test": Find one example so strong that it alone establishes credibility. ("If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere.")
4. Providing "testable credentials": Allow your audience to test your claims themselves.

Examples:

• The "Where's the beef?" campaign allowing customers to visually compare burger sizes
• A textile factory that purifies water, demonstrating environmental commitment
• The NBA rookie orientation where players unknowingly interact with HIV-positive women, making the risk tangible

5. Emotional: Make people care using self-interest and identity

"If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will."

Appeal to self-interest. Show people how your idea benefits them personally. This doesn't always mean appealing to base desires; consider Maslow's hierarchy of needs, including higher-level needs like self-actualization. For example, Floyd Lee, running a mess hall in Iraq, motivated his staff by framing their job as "being in charge of morale," not just serving food.

Tap into identity. People make decisions based on their sense of identity. Frame your message to align with how people see themselves or how they want to be seen. The "Don't Mess with Texas" anti-littering campaign succeeded by appealing to Texans' pride and identity, rather than using traditional environmental messages.

Use the power of one. People are more likely to care about individuals than large groups or abstract concepts. This is why charities often focus on a single child's story rather than statistics about widespread poverty.

• Strategies to make people care:
  • Show how your idea affects a single, relatable individual
  • Appeal to group identity (e.g., "What would someone like me do in this situation?")
  • Connect your message to higher-level aspirations and values

6. Stories: Inspire action through simulation and inspiration

"Stories are like flight simulators for the brain."

Use stories to simulate. Stories act as mental flight simulators, allowing people to imagine themselves in situations and rehearse responses. This makes them powerful tools for teaching and inspiring action. For example, sharing stories of how employees solved problems can help others navigate similar situations in the future.

Inspire through stories. Certain story plots are particularly effective at motivating action:

1. Challenge Plot: Overcoming obstacles (e.g., David vs. Goliath)
2. Connection Plot: Bridging gaps between people (e.g., the Good Samaritan)
3. Creativity Plot: Solving problems in innovative ways (e.g., the Apple falling on Newton's head)

Spot and share sticky stories. You don't always need to create stories from scratch. Be on the lookout for real-life stories that embody your message, like the Subway employee who dramatically lost weight eating their sandwiches, which became the Jared campaign.

• Elements of effective stories:
  • Concrete details that make the story feel real
  • Unexpected twists that maintain interest
  • Emotional resonance that makes people care
  • A clear connection to your core message

7. Overcome the Curse of Knowledge to communicate effectively

"The Curse of Knowledge is a villain in our stories about why some ideas fail to stick."

Recognize the Curse of Knowledge. As experts, we often forget what it's like not to know something. This "curse" makes it difficult to communicate effectively with those who don't share our knowledge base. It's like being a "tapper" in the tapping game, frustrated that "listeners" can't guess the song you're tapping out.

Strategies to combat the Curse:

1. Use concrete examples and analogies to bridge the knowledge gap
2. Tell stories that illustrate your points in relatable ways
3. Test your message with people outside your field of expertise
4. Consistently refer back to the SUCCESs checklist to ensure your ideas are accessible

Remember, what seems obvious to you may be novel to your audience. Always strive to translate your expertise into terms and concepts that are easily understood by your target audience.

8. Use the SUCCESs checklist to make ideas stick

"There is no 'formula' for a sticky idea—we don't want to overstate the case. But sticky ideas do draw from a common set of traits, which make them more likely to succeed."

Apply the SUCCESs framework. Use this checklist to evaluate and improve the "stickiness" of your ideas:

• Simple: Find the core and express it concisely
• Unexpected: Grab attention by breaking patterns
• Concrete: Make ideas tangible and memorable
• Credible: Help people believe
• Emotional: Make people care
• Stories: Inspire action

Combine elements for maximum impact. The most sticky ideas often incorporate multiple elements of the SUCCESs framework. For example, the "Don't Mess with Texas" campaign was Simple (clear message), Unexpected (coming from a state known for independence), Concrete (specific action), Credible (featuring local celebrities), Emotional (appealing to state pride), and used Stories (showing real Texans taking action).

Iterate and refine. Creating sticky ideas is a skill that can be developed. Use the SUCCESs framework as a tool for continuous improvement:

1. Analyze successful sticky ideas to understand how they work
2. Apply the framework to your own ideas and messages
3. Test your ideas with your target audience
4. Refine based on feedback and results

Remember, you don't need to be a creative genius to create sticky ideas. By systematically applying these principles, anyone can dramatically improve the impact and memorability of their communication.

Last updated: January 22, 2025