Made to Stick

Customer Reviews

• Valuable insights for marketers, advertisers and sellers  Feb 25, 2007 (147 of 159 found this helpful)

  With an entertaining blend of case studies and startling research, the Heath brothers lay out the critical elements of a sticky idea. They are--
  
  1. Simplicity
  2. Unexpectedness
  3. Concreteness
  4. Credibility
  5. Emotions
  6. Stories
  
  As you might expect, the authors use these techniques to drive home their point. For example, in the chapter on stories, they talk about Subway's Jared campaign--quite a dramatic behind-the-scenes story besides being a near perfect example of storytelling in marketing.
  
  Although these six elements seem like common sense, they are woefully underapplied in business communication. The authors state it well--
  
  "Business managers seem to believe that, once they've clicked through a PowerPoint presentation showcasing their conclusions, they've successfully communicated their ideas. What they've done is share data."
  
  Well researched, easy to read and hard to forget.

• "Do it yourself" consulting: Crafting memorable messages with integrity   Jan 4, 2007 (154 of 170 found this helpful)

  If you are going to write a guide to crafting sticky ideas, your book had better embody your principles. Authors Chip and Dan Heath succeed admirably. What I love about "Made to Stick" is that it is not merely entertaining (though it is), it provides practical, tangible strategies for creating sticky ideas. Once you understand these recommendations, you can boil them down to a set of touchstone points to evaluate your own work. This sets "Made to Stick" apart from the work of Malcolm Gladwell, whom the Heath brothers cite as an inspiration. I enjoyed Gladwell's books but could not necessarily apply his ideas to my own work.
  
  My review copy of "Made to Stick" is covered with highlighter. I am reading the book once through for pure pleasure, and then I am going back again to apply the ideas to evaluate the communications of a non-profit organization I am working for. "Made to Stick" challenges you to distill the essence of your message, to get back to core principles and to communicate them in a memorable way. Chip and Dan point out that as we become experts, we tend to use abstraction to define our ideas, and we lose our ability to communicate with novices. They teach us how to bridge that gap so that our ideas are once again accessible by everyone.
  
  "Made to Stick" gives you the tools you need to revamp your own messages. It provides "do it yourself" conuslting in book form, which will be appreciated by activists, entrepreneurs, and businesses of all sizes.

• Excellent Presentation of Core Ideas with Lots of Examples  Apr 27, 2007 (81 of 91 found this helpful)

  
  This book is getting a great deal more attention than Allison Fine's "MOMENTUM: igniting social change in the connected age," so up front I want to say I consider them BOTH to be extremely complementary to one another, and MUST READS for any social activist or political reformer, as well as for those crafting educational or corporate messages.
  
  I cannot improve on Brian Bex Huf's review, which I voted for, but for the sake of coherence for those who are alerted when I do a review, here is the meat from Brian's review:
  
  * Simplicity: the idea must be stripped to its core, and the most important concepts should jump out.
  * Unexpectedness: the idea must destroy preconceived notions about something. This forces people to stop, think, and remember.
  * Concreteness: avoid statistics, use real-world analogies to help people understand complex ideas.
  * Credibility: if people don't trust you, they'll ignore you. In some cases, they will be openly hostile, which means they'll actively try to dispute your message!
  * Emotional: information makes people think, but emotion makes them act. Appeal to emotional needs, sometimes even way up on Maslow's hierarchy.
  * Stores: telling a story [gets] people into paying closer attention, and feeling more connected. Remember the Jared Subway commercials?
  
  The book ends with a five page reference guide that persuaded me of the author's value as consultants. They have given us a low-cost book we can use our5selves, but I am also persuaded they are valuable as brain-stormers for those trying to craft transpartisan and electoral reform messages, so I am recommending them both to the leadership of Reuniting America.
  
  LOTS of details and examples. Easily a five-star book with great social and political value.
  
  Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age
  The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual

• False advertising  Jan 19, 2009 (26 of 28 found this helpful)

  This is an abuse of the Kindle book listing system: It's essentially the "try now" sample feature listed for download as its own book. It should be removed as a stand-alone product, even if it is free. Otherwise, every book would be listed this way, cluttering the lists further. I won't buy the full book on principle.

• Caveat Emptor - Not complete book, only part  Aug 19, 2008 (32 of 36 found this helpful)

  This "book" is not a book at all but only part of a book. "Made to Stick (Introduction and Index): Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (Kindle Edition)" is what it says, only the Introduction and index and serves merely as a tool to get you to buy the book in serial chapter format at about 2.39 each. {$2.37 * 7(free intro, 6 chapters and an epilogue)=$16.73}
  
  So you see, if you want to buy the book, it would be cheaper to just buy the whole thing (Kindle version)for 9.99 from here (can't post a link, so use this search: "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (Kindle Edition)"