Chip and Dan Heath
The intent of this book is to create a framework for constructing communication that will stick with the intended audience. The entire goal is effective communication aimed at retention and understanding of the key ideas presented. Often, a presentation is given but the message is transferred about as well as water poured into someone’s hands. They might have a few drops left when the process is over, but the vast majority of the content completely missed the target. The authors aim to establish what it is that makes an idea ‘sticky’ and use those principles as best they can when sharing their ideas with the reader. Some of the key points may seem like common sense but are harder to implement in practice. The authors give concrete methods for implementing these strategies in practical scenarios.
“The most basic way to get someone's attention is this: Break a pattern.”
“The Curse of Knowledge: when we are given knowledge, it is impossible to imagine what it's like to LACK that knowledge.”
“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
“When you say three things, you say nothing.”
“The story’s power, then, is twofold: It provides simulation (knowledge about how to act) and inspiration (motivation to act).”
“Your brain hosts a truly staggering number of loops. The more hooks an idea has, the better it will cling to memory.”
The authors use the SUCCES framework (yes, there’s a missing S in the acronym) to help readers remember the six elements that make up sticky communication. Those elements are Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Stories. By properly utilizing these six elements, you can
Messages need to be simplified so they can stick in the brains of the audience. Those most informed of the message are most likely to complicate it and therefore lose the key message in the act of sharing it. This is embodied in the commonly used phrase from journalism, “burying the lead”. It means losing the essential message among the minutiae or being unable to see the forest for the trees. Trying to communicate too many ideas at once loses the simplicity of a message.
The element of surprise is as useful in communication as it is in war. No matter the message, your audience will always have expectations. When those expectations are upended, we pay attention. It breaks the convention and becomes something new and worth paying attention to. I think of the Tide Superbowl commercials from a few years back. You start by seeing something that looks like a beer commercial, a truck commercial, or one of a half dozen other stereotypical ads run during the biggest game of the year. But instead of pushing any of those products, the characters point out the vibrant colors in everyone’s clothes and suddenly, it has become “a Tide ad”. This unexpected twist made the commercials stick in the minds of millions of viewers much longer than the predictable alternatives.
Many of the ideas we share are abstract and difficult to fully appreciate until they are translated into something more tangible and concrete. The author shared a story where advocates for nuclear disarmament dropped a BB into a metal bucket to represent a single nuclear event. They would then describe the horror and destruction caused by the power of a single nuclear weapon. They would drop a representative number of BBs in the bucket to illustrate the number of missiles tested during the cold war. Each addition was accompanied by a loud metallic clack as the BB dropped into the bucket. Finally, a whole bag full of BBs was added to show the number of nuclear missiles held in reserve by the US and the Soviet Union. The deafening noise of all the little metal balls being captured by the bucket connected a real physical discomfort with the horrifying realization of the sheer capacity of destruction power held by these two countries. This demonstration made the issue more real than any number or statistic could have.
Our messages must be backed by the authority we have to share them. Individuals with no credentials related to the message they are sharing will gain no respect or trust from their audience. Third parties that can verify the authority of the one giving the message help to establish credibility. Somewhat counterintuitively, data and statistics may not always add credibility to a message as they are so often seen as something that can be doctored or manipulated. Similarly, it’s not necessarily authority and expertise in the form of people with long and lofty titles, but simple demonstrations of ‘honesty and trustworthiness’ that can bring the strongest measure of credibility.
Messages that make us feel something are much more likely to make us act on something. It’s no accident that commercials asking for donations don’t show us slide decks enumerating the millions of impoverished children suffering around the world, they show you pictures or videos of real children who are visibly suffering. We connect so much more with a single individual than we do with numbers and figures. We don’t always have to tug on the heartstrings of our audience to make them feel guilted into action, excitement, humor, concern, and even anger are also emotions that spur audiences to a reaction that will help them remember your message long after the fact.
It’s no surprise that much of human history was passed on in the form of stories from generation to generation. They are easy to tell and easy to remember. Even many modern memory tricks take advantage of this fact by associating facts or data with a story or mental image that is much easier to remember than raw information. By the same token, when we illustrate our messages with the use of stories, they not only instruct but also entertain. A great example of the power of storytelling is Subway Jared. By showing people how much weight Jared lost by eating Subway sandwiches, they convinced a nation of the health benefits of their food. It helps that stories, Jared’s included, often incorporate the previous five elements of sticky messages. The demonstrated weight loss was simple to understand, undeniably concrete, and tied up with many emotions that many Americans feel associated with either the desire for or the celebration of weight loss. No other marketing campaign could have been as effective as his simple story.