41. Book Review: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

By: Chip Heath, Dan Heath

Published on January 2, 2007

Publishing House: Random House

Made to Stick is a detailed perception of two brothers, Chip and Dan Heath about why some ideas survive and others die. We, humans, are curious being, sometimes our minds work in overdrive, many times it comes up with ideas and stories, fiction or perception about something occurring. All of us have thoughts, opinions and ideas but only a few of those have the ability to stick. By ‘stick’ the authors mean that the ideas are understood and remembered, and have a lasting impact- they change the audience’s opinion or behaviour.  The book gives an interesting perspective on why some ideas stick and others don’t and how to make your ideas stick longer.

The book starts with the popular narration of the ‘Kidney heist tale’. The tale is of doubtful origin, but despite that, it is very popular. It is a ridiculous story with many different narrations but something that stood out and had the ability to stick around for long. On the contrary, the writers narrated a non-profit financial strategy which is also an idea but without any stickiness and has no probability of being remembered for long. Both are ideas, but, because of their nature, one is inherently interesting (Kidney heist) and the other inherently uninteresting (Non-profit financial strategy). This nature versus nature debate of the ideas being interesting goes on but the important questions stay: Are ideas born interesting or made interesting? How do we nurture ideas so they’ll succeed in the world?

The ‘movie popcorn’ story is the best example of a sticky idea. In this case, the idea was fairly normal and not something that could have caused a sensation, but the CSPI used that discovery of movie popcorn containing 37 grams of saturated fat and delivered it in a way that caught everybody’s attention. This story also proves that sometimes ideas could be generic but the creativity used while the delivery of the message decides its stickiness.

When asked people how to make ideas sticky, following are some general advises given: improving the way of delivery, structuring the idea effectively and knowing your audiences well. But, many ideas even after satisfying all these conditions are not able to last long. So, how do you define ‘What sticks?’

The writers studied various sticky ideas (both natural and created) of different nature and derived a conclusion that all the ideas had some factors in common. These factors are termed as six principles to make the idea stick. The principles are described in details in the form of chapters as follows: Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions, and Stories. 

The authors state, ‘We can create ideas with an eye to maximizing their stickiness’. Applying the above mentioned six principles can make your idea sticky and memorable. Following is a brief description of the principles:

Simplicity: “"As a lawyer, 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." To strip an idea down to its core, we must be masters of exclusion.” The core message of the idea should be very clear and easy to understand. What is it that you want people to take away from your idea, identify it and communicate it simply.

Unexpectedness: The audience has a very short attention span of 7 seconds, this makes it all the more difficult to grab and withhold their attention throughout your idea presentation. This is where unexpectedness plays a crucial role, give them something that is out of the box, which has the potential to generate curiosity and maintain their interest.

Concreteness: Humans have the ability to visualize the narrations when prompted. A storyteller is good when he/she intrigues the listener’s interest and stimulates their imagination. When structuring any idea, the communicator should make the message clear and concrete. “Because speaking concretely is the only way to ensure that our idea will mean the same thing to everyone in our audience.”

Credibility: While giving the example of former surgeon general C. Everett Koop, the authors said, people are more likely to accept ideas coming from authorised or renowned personality without scepticism. This provides credibility to the idea. Always communicate the stories with vivid details to make the story believable sticky.

Emotions: The ideas that are able to evoke feelings always have a lasting impact. “How do we get people to care about our ideas? We make them feel something. For example, in the case of movie popcorn, we make them feel disgusted by its unhealthiness.”

Stories: How do you make people remember your idea? You tell stories. The authors have interestingly articulated these points by giving the example of a fire-fighter and how they tell stories and add to theirs as well as the listener’s experience.

Adding to the context, the authors mentioned using Velcro theory of memory, human scale principle, and creating curiosity gaps to make ideas sticky.

Having said that, not all communication needs to be sticky, there are some normal, mundane communications which are not supposed to last longer, they serve a one time purpose. Sometimes some ideas stick without the communicator’s intent of making it last. The authors have clearly made this point by giving examples such as, Leo Durocher, the coach of the Dodgers and the misconception of his one-sentence which led to his autobiography Nice Guys Finish Last. And the astounding fact that Sherlock Holmes never actually said, "Elementary, my dear Watson." According to the authors, these examples prove that while making ideas stick, we also give the audience the opportunity to misinterpret or manipulate the meaning of our idea.

Made to stick makes you realise the importance of effective and strategic articulation of an idea to make it sticky. It is a must-read especially for Public Relation and communication professionals.