Expert answer:Contagious: Why Things Catch On Jonah Berger, Simo
Answer & Explanation:Reading the book of Contagious: Why Things Catch On
Jonah Berger, Simon and Schuster, 2013 Wrtie a reading notes with Format: -Three-page maximum , single space, business block, justified margins, 10-point font -APA bibliographic citation of the work as your ‘title’- Central theme – identify author’s main lesson/argument – what is the author(s) teaching us -Critical analysis – evaluate the lesson/argument – strengths/weaknesses – considering pointing to a frame of reference in your own life or your training in the subject -Main takeaways – so what and now what? How do we best apply the knowledge from this book? contagious_why_things_catch_on___jonah_berger.pdf
contagious_why_things_catch_on___jonah_berger.pdf
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Contents
Introduction: Why Things Catch On
Why $100 is a good price for a cheesesteak . . . Why do some things become popular? . . .
Which is more important, the message or the messenger? . . . Can you make anything
contagious? . . . The case of the viral blender . . . Six key STEPPS.
1. Social Currency
When a telephone booth is a door . . . Ants can lift fifty times their own weight. . . . Why frequent
flier miles are like a video game . . . When it’s good to be hard to get . . . Why everyone wants a
mix of tripe, heart, and stomach meat . . . The downside of getting paid . . . We share things that
make us look good.
2. Triggers
Which gets more word of mouth, Disney or Cheerios? . . . Why a NASA mission boosted candy
sales . . . Could where you vote affect how you vote? . . . Consider the context . . . Explaining
Rebecca Black . . . Growing the habitat: Kit Kat and coffee . . . Top of mind, tip of tongue.
3. Emotion
Why do some things make the Most E-Mailed list? . . . How reading science articles is like
standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon . . . Why anger is like humor . . . How breaking guitars
can make you famous . . . Getting teary eyed about online search . . . When we care, we share.
4. Public
Is the Apple logo better upside down than right side up? . . . Why dying people turn down kidney
transplants . . . Using moustaches to make the private public . . . How to advertise without an
advertising budget . . . Why anti-drug commercials might increase drug use . . . Built to show,
built to grow.
5. Practical Value
How an eighty-six-year-old made a viral video about corn . . . Why hikers talk about vacuum
cleaners . . . E-mail forwards are the new barn raising . . . Will people pay to save money? . . .
Why $100 is a magic number . . . When lies spread faster than the truth . . . News you can use.
6. Stories
How stories are like Trojan horses . . . Why good customer service is better than any ad . . .
When a streaker crashed the Olympics . . . Why some story details are unforgettable . . . Using a
panda to make valuable virality . . . Information travels under the guise of idle chatter.
Epilogue
Why 80 percent of manicurists in California are Vietnamese . . . Applying the STEPPS.
Acknowledgments
Readers Group Guide
Questions for Discussion
Expand Your Book Club
A Conversation with Jonah Berger
About Jonah Berger
Notes
Index
To my mother, father, and grandmother.
For always believing in me.
Introduction: Why Things Catch On
By the time Howard Wein moved to Philadelphia in March 2004, he already had lots of experience
in the hospitality industry. He had earned an MBA in hotel management, helped Starwood Hotels
launch its W brand, and managed billions of dollars in revenue as Starwood’s corporate director of
food and beverage. But he was done with “big.” He yearned for a smaller, more restaurant-focused
environment. So he moved to Philly to help design and launch a new luxury boutique steakhouse
called Barclay Prime.
The concept was simple. Barclay Prime was going to deliver the best steakhouse experience
imaginable. The restaurant is located in the toniest part of downtown Philadelphia, its dimly lit entry
paved with marble. Instead of traditional dining chairs, patrons rest on plush sofas clustered around
small marble tables. They feast from an extensive raw bar, including East and West Coast oysters and
Russian caviar. And the menu offers delicacies like truffle-whipped potatoes and line-caught halibut
FedExed overnight directly from Alaska.
But Wein knew that good food and great atmosphere wouldn’t be enough. After all, the thing
restaurants are best at is going out of business. More than 25 percent fail within twelve months of
opening their doors. Sixty percent are gone within the first three years.
Restaurants fail for any number of reasons. Expenses are high—everything from the food on the
plates to the labor that goes into preparing and serving it. And the landscape is crowded with
competitors. For every new American bistro that pops up in a major city, there are two more right
around the corner.
Like most small businesses, restaurants also have a huge awareness problem. Just getting the word
out that a new restaurant has opened its doors—much less that it’s worth eating at—is an uphill battle.
And unlike the large hotel chains Wein had previously worked for, most restaurants don’t have the
resources to spend on lots of advertising or marketing. They depend on people talking about them to
be successful.
Wein knew he needed to generate buzz. Philadelphia already boasted dozens of expensive
steakhouses, and Barclay Prime needed to stand out. Wein needed something to cut through the clutter
and give people a sense of the uniqueness of the brand. But what? How could he get people talking?
—————
How about a hundred-dollar cheesesteak?
The standard Philly cheesesteak is available for four or five bucks at hundreds of sandwich shops,
burger joints, and pizzerias throughout Philadelphia. It’s not a difficult recipe. Chop some steak on a
griddle, throw it on a hoagie (hero) roll, and melt some Provolone cheese or Cheez Whiz on top. It’s
delicious regional fast food, but definitely not haute cuisine.
Wein thought he could get some buzz by raising the humble cheesesteak to new culinary heights—
and attaching a newsworthy price tag. So he started with a fresh, house-made brioche roll brushed
with homemade mustard. He added thinly sliced Kobe beef, marbleized to perfection. Then he
included caramelized onions, shaved heirloom tomatoes, and triple-cream Taleggio cheese. All this
was topped off with shaved hand-harvested black truffles and butter-poached Maine lobster tail. And
just to make it even more outrageous, he served it with a chilled split of Veuve Clicquot champagne.
The response was incredible.
People didn’t just try the sandwich, they rushed to tell others. One person suggested that groups get
it “as a starter . . . that way you all get the absurd story-telling rights.” Another noted that the
sandwich was “honestly indescribable. One does not throw all these fine ingredients together and get
anything subpar. It was like eating gold.” And given the sandwich’s price, it was almost as expensive
as eating gold, albeit far more delicious.
Wein didn’t create just another cheesesteak, he created a conversation piece.
—————
It worked. The story of the hundred-dollar cheesesteak was contagious. Talk to anyone who’s been
to Barclay Prime. Even if people didn’t order the cheesesteak, most will likely mention it. Even
people who’ve never been to the restaurant love to talk about it. It was so newsworthy that USA
Today, The Wall Street Journal , and other media outlets published pieces on the sandwich. The
Discovery channel filmed a segment for its Best Food Ever show. David Beckham had one when he
was in town. David Letterman invited Barclay’s executive chef to New York to cook him one on the
Late Show. All that buzz for what is still, at its heart, just a sandwich.
The buzz helped. Barclay Prime opened nearly a decade ago. Against the odds, the restaurant has
not only survived but flourished. It has won various food awards and is listed among the best
steakhouses in Philadelphia year after year. But more important, it built a following. Barclay Prime
caught on.
WHY DO PRODUCTS, IDEAS, AND BEHAVIORS CATCH ON?
There are lots of examples of things that have caught on. Yellow Livestrong wristbands. Nonfat Greek
yogurt. Six Sigma management strategy. Smoking bans. Low-fat diets. Then Atkins, South Beach, and
the low-carb craze. The same dynamic happens on a smaller scale at the local level. A certain gym
will be the trendy place to go. A new church or synagogue will be in vogue. Everyone will get behind
a new school referendum.
These are all examples of social epidemics. Instances where products, ideas, and behaviors diffuse
through a population. They start with a small set of individuals or organizations and spread, often
from person to person, almost like a virus. Or in the case of the hundred-dollar cheesesteak, an overthe-top, wallet-busting virus.
But while it’s easy to find examples of social contagion, it’s much harder to actually get something
to catch on. Even with all the money poured into marketing and advertising, few products become
popular. Most restaurants bomb, most businesses go under, and most social movements fail to gain
traction.
Why do some products, ideas, and behaviors succeed when others fail?
—————
One reason some products and ideas become popular is that they are just plain better. We tend to
prefer websites that are easier to use, drugs that are more effective, and scientific theories that are
true rather than false. So when something comes along that offers better functionality or does a better
job, people tend to switch to it. Remember how bulky televisions or computer monitors used to be?
They were so heavy and cumbersome that you had to ask a couple of friends (or risk a strained back)
to carry one up a flight of stairs. One reason flat screens took off was that they were better. Not only
did they offer larger screens, but they weighed less. No wonder they became popular.
Another reason products catch on is attractive pricing. Not surprisingly, most people prefer paying
less rather than more. So if two very similar products are competing, the cheaper one often wins out.
Or if a company cuts its prices in half, that tends to help sales.
Advertising also plays a role. Consumers need to know about something before they can buy it. So
people tend to think that the more they spend on advertising, the more likely something will become
popular. Want to get people to eat more vegetables? Spending more on ads should increase the
number of people who hear your message and buy broccoli.
—————
But although quality, price, and advertising contribute to products and ideas being successful, they
don’t explain the whole story.
Take the first names Olivia and Rosalie. Both are great names for girls. Olivia means “olive tree”
in Latin and is associated with fruitfulness, beauty, and peace. Rosalie has Latin and French origins
and is derived from the word for roses. Both are about the same length, end in vowels, and have
handy, cute nicknames. Indeed, thousands of babies are named Olivia or Rosalie each year.
But think for a moment about how many people you know with each name. How many people
you’ve met named Olivia and how many people you’ve met named Rosalie.
I’ll bet you know at least one Olivia, but you probably don’t know a Rosalie. In fact, if you do
know a Rosalie, I’ll bet you know several Olivias.
How did I know that? Olivia is a much more popular name. In 2010, for example, there were
almost 17,000 Olivias born in the United States but only 492 Rosalies. In fact, while the name
Rosalie was somewhat popular in the 1920s, it never reached the stratospheric popularity that Olivia
recently achieved.
When trying to explain why Olivia became a more popular name than Rosalie, familiar
explanations like quality, price, and advertising get stuck. It’s not like one name is really “better” than
the other, and both names are free, so there is no difference in price. There is also no advertising
campaign to try to get everyone to name their kids Olivia, no company determined to make that name
the hottest thing since Pokémon.
The same thing can be said for videos on YouTube. There’s no difference in price (all are free to
watch), and few videos receive any advertising or marketing push. And although some videos have
higher production values, most that go viral are blurred and out of focus, shot by an amateur on an
inexpensive camera or cell phone.*
So if quality, price, and advertising don’t explain why one first name becomes more popular than
another, or why one You-Tube video gets more views, what does?
SOCIAL TRANSMISSION
Social influence and word of mouth. People love to share stories, news, and information with those
around them. We tell our friends about great vacation destinations, chat with our neighbors about
good deals, and gossip with coworkers about potential layoffs. We write online reviews about
movies, share rumors on Facebook, and tweet about recipes we just tried. People share more than
16,000 words per day and every hour there are more than 100 million conversations about brands.
But word of mouth is not just frequent, it’s also important. The things others tell us, e-mail us, and
text us have a significant impact on what we think, read, buy, and do. We try websites our neighbors
recommend, read books our relatives praise, and vote for candidates our friends endorse. Word of
mouth is the primary factor behind 20 percent to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions.
Consequently, social influence has a huge impact on whether products, ideas, and behaviors catch
on. A word-of-mouth conversation by a new customer leads to an almost $200 increase in restaurant
sales. A five-star review on Amazon.com leads to approximately twenty more books sold than a onestar review. Doctors are more likely to prescribe a new drug if other doctors they know have
prescribed it. People are more likely to quit smoking if their friends quit and get fatter if their friends
become obese. In fact, while traditional advertising is still useful, word of mouth from everyday Joes
and Janes is at least ten times more effective.
Word of mouth is more effective than traditional advertising for two key reasons. First, it’s more
persuasive. Advertisements usually tell us how great a product is. You’ve heard it all—how nine out
of ten dentists recommend Crest or how no other detergent will get your clothes as clean as Tide.
But because ads will always argue that their products are the best, they’re not really credible. Ever
seen a Crest ad say that only one out of ten dentists prefers Crest? Or that four of the other nine think
Crest will rot your teeth?
Our friends, however, tend to tell it to us straight. If they thought Crest did a good job, they’ll say
that. But they’d also tell us if Crest tasted bad or failed to whiten their teeth. Their objectivity,
coupled with their candidness, make us much more likely to trust, listen to, and believe our friends.
Second, word of mouth is more targeted. Companies try to advertise in ways that allow them to
reach the largest number of interested customers. Take a company that sells skis. Television ads
during the nightly news probably wouldn’t be very efficient because many of the viewers don’t ski.
So the company might advertise in a ski magazine, or on the back of lift tickets to a popular slope. But
while this would ensure that most people who see the ad like skiing, the company would still end up
wasting money because lots of those people don’t need new skis.
Word of mouth, on the other hand, is naturally directed toward an interested audience. We don’t
share a news story or recommendation with everyone we know. Rather, we tend to select particular
people who we think would find that given piece of information most relevant. We’re not going to tell
a friend about a new pair of skis if we know the friend hates skiing. And we’re not going to tell a
friend who doesn’t have kids about the best way to change a diaper. Word of mouth tends to reach
people who are actually interested in the thing being discussed. No wonder customers referred by
their friends spend more, shop faster, and are more profitable overall.
A particularly nice example of how word of mouth improves targeting came to me in the mail a few
years ago. Every so often publishers will send me free books. Usually they’re related to marketing
and the publisher hopes that if I’m given a free copy, I’ll be more likely to assign the book to my
students (and sell them a bunch of copies in the process).
But a few years ago, one company did something slightly different. It sent me two copies of the
same book.
Now, unless I’m mistaken, there’s no reason for me to read the second copy, once I’ve read the
first. But these publishers had a different goal in mind. They sent a note explaining why they thought
the book would be good for my students, but they also mentioned that they sent a second copy so that I
could pass it along to a colleague who might be interested.
That’s how word of mouth helps with targeting. Rather than sending books to everyone, the
publishers got me, and others, to do the targeting for them. Just like a searchlight, each recipient of the
double mailing would look through his or her personal social network, find the person that the book
would be most relevant for, and pass it along.
GENERATING WORD OF MOUTH
But want to know the best thing about word of mouth? It’s available to everyone. From Fortune 500
companies trying to increase sales to corner restaurants trying to fill tables. And from nonprofits
trying to fight obesity to newbie politicians trying to get elected. Word of mouth helps things catch on.
Word of mouth even helps B2B companies get new clients from existing ones. And it doesn’t require
millions of dollars spent on advertising. It just requires getting people to talk.
The challenge, though, is how to do that.
From start-ups to starlets, people have embraced social media as the wave of the future. Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube, and other channels are seen as ways to cultivate a following and engage
consumers. Brands post ads, aspiring musicians post videos, and small businesses post deals.
Companies and organizations have fallen over themselves in their rush to jump on the buzz marketing
bandwagon. The logic is straightforward. If they can get people to talk about their idea or share their
content, it will spread through social networks like a virus, making their product or idea instantly
popular along the way.
But there are two issues with this approach: the focus and the execution.
Help me out with a quick pop quiz. What percent of word of mouth do you think happens online? In
other words, what percent of chatter happens over social media, blogs, e-mail, and chat rooms?
If you’re like most people you probably guessed something around 50 or 60 percent. Some people
guess upward of 70 percent and some guess much lower, but after having asked this question of
hundreds of students and executives, I find that the average is around 50 percent.
And that number makes sense. After all, social media have certainly exploded as of late. Millions
of people use these sites every day, and billions of pieces of content get shared every month. These
technologies have made it faster and easier to share things quickly with a broad group of people.
But 50 percent is wrong.
Not even close.
The actual number is 7 percent. Not 47 percent, not 27 percent, but 7 percent. Research by the
Keller Fay Group finds that only 7 percent of word of mouth happens online.
Most people are extremely surprised when they hear that number. “But that’s way too low,” they
protest. “People spend a huge amount of time online!” And that’s true. People do spend a good bit of
time online. Close to two hours a day by some estimates. But we forget that people also spend a lot of
time offline. More than eight times as much, in fact. And that creates a lot more time for offline
conversations.
We also tend to overestimate online word of mouth because it’s easier to see. Social media sites
provide a handy record of all the clips, comments, and other content we share online. So when we
look at it, it seems like a lot. But we don’t think as much about all the offline conversations we had
over that same …
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