Contagious: Why Things Catch On

We'll written and enjoyed the book. Nothing too earth shattering new, but a nice discussion and we'll presented. There is some original research in here, which I found interesting. Most is repurposed from previous works, but all authors put their own twists on the same material and it leads to incremental learning and new perspectives, which I value. I'd recommend it overall.

This book, in fewer pages and with less anecdotes than Made to Stick, teaches you all you need to know about how to help make your message go viral. I read both books this week and definitely recommend this over Made to Stick, which I'd rate 4 stars. The 6 STEPPS, once you understand them, will completely change how you write or create content. There is a nice table in the Epilogue which I typed up and pinned to my wall next to my computer to use as a guide when I write new articles or script out my podcasts.

A great read. I've been working on viral marketing campaign ideas for work and this book helped stimulate a lot of discussions with the team and even helped formulate some executables! Highly recommend!

Loved this book. Gave me the opportunity to understand the psychology associated with creating captivating and 'Contagious' content. If you are in marketing and want to understand why some products/services attract so many people, this is the book for you.

Good quick read, good examples, great summary information and also ways to implement. If you go to Johah Berger's web site you can also get sample workbooks and questions to aid in implementation. Overall good product line. His 6 STEPPS, outline in the book, to harness social influence and word of mouth to get any product or idea to catch on are social currency, triggers, emotions, public, practical value and stories.

Having focused in image marketing and branding for almost 30 years now across both for profit and non-profit organizations, I found that Jonah Berger's book contains some very helpful and practical strategies for understanding how things catch on, and how a movement starts. If you are interested in understanding how to improve your position and nudge a movement forward in our emerging culture, I would highly recommend this book, whether you are a new to the game or a seasoned veteran. I have the Audible audio copy, and both a hard copy and e-book from the store, which are marked for future reference. This is the first review I have felt compelled to write for a book on the store, and I have never met the author.

This book is excellent and well researched. It literally provides a step by step guide along with solid examples of successes and failures.

It wish also so well written that I found myself at the end of the book before I knew it. I am sure it's a book I'll come back to for reference.

Well done,

Outlines the six step to why things catch on. Social Currency, triggers, emotion, public visible, practical value and stories.
Case studies provides. How to add your message within a story to convey a shareable idea.

Wharton Professor Jonah Berger builds on the work of the Heath brothers (Made to Stick) with a good primer on the qualities that make support for organizations grow virally. It doesn't cost a fortune: it's really more like a forest fir. A single spark -combined with the right conditions and ingredients makes campaigns escalate rapidly.

I've studied marketing for many years, and it keeps changing as time and technology move on. This books offers some new and valuable insights into why some things catch on and some things don't. It's a brilliant examination of the modern viral movement. All marketers need to read this to keep up with the changes.

A must-read! Berger's research on what makes content shareable is valuable as marketing advice, a study of human behavior, and an examination of what makes for good content. Essential for marketers, writers, and anyone interested in how the web changes the way social media changes the way information spreads through groups.

If you have ever wondered why your product or service do not take off of the ground at heights that you would wish to get it why people do not recommend you, "word of mouth" is one the most important things to make you really successful in the business world and this is the right book to teach you how to make you business contagiously a word of mouth and successful...... Excellent Book....

Excellent insights into the responses of the public to various marketing aspects. Berger's research identifies the elements in marketing needed to garner wide-spread acceptance of your PR and marketing output. I know it sounds a little clinical, but it's comprehensible, and a bit exciting when it sinks in.

Jonah Berger, in a few hundred pages give an incredibly useful primer on marketing for the new age of social media. His six STEPPS are an easy to understand and use guide to a successful marketing campaign, one that will create sticky content that people will both talk about and share. The book is peppered with real world examples of what works and does not work and how each example relates to one or more of his six STEPPS.

I am a professional marketer with about two billion dollars in consumer sales under my belt. I read marketing and business books from time to time and usually take a nugget or two away from them. This book is chock-full of gold nuggets primarily because it is data-driven. I had my whole company buy it and read it on company time. If you are a marketer or executive with marketing direct reports, you need to read this book.

Easy read, lots of examples and stories about how other products caught on and how to think positively about how my product should be viewed by my clients in a "Contagious" manner and how they can "catch on". Its just about how you think about it, and then represent it in social media, in marketing and in the direct and partner sales processes...

I am a professional marketer with about two billion dollars in consumer sales under my belt. I read marketing and business books from time to time and usually take a nugget or two away from them. This book is chock-full of gold nuggets primarily because it is data-driven. I had my whole company buy it and read it on company time. If you are a marketer or executive with marketing direct reports, you need to read this book.

Easy read, lots of examples and stories about how other products caught on and how to think positively about how my product should be viewed by my clients in a "Contagious" manner and how they can "catch on". Its just about how you think about it, and then represent it in social media, in marketing and in the direct and partner sales processes...

I had read that Jonah Berger was the "anti-Malcolm Gladwell". I didn't get that at all from reading this book. He's a smart, young guy with some interesting thoughts and insight. I bought the book as there were a few points I wanted to be able to reference from time to time.

Not groundbreaking information. But definitely packed with ideas and concepts that have you thinking. I considered nearly everything I read. Definitely will take a lot of its teachings into consideration.

If you liked Malcom Gladwell's - The Tipping Point, you'll love this book. It's a slightly different take on why things catch on. Jonah Berger explains why certain things go viral and others don't. However, he goes a step further and gives you some steps to help your products and ideas catch on.

This was such an insightful and well written book. The facts and how certain strategies have played out either by plan or by accident are really helpful. This book made me rethink all my business plans. But most importantly, the book was a joy to read. I'll likely be reading it again soon.

Create an exceptional product or service, which you can sell at a great price, throw some advertising at it, and you just have to succeed. Right?
Not even close.
If a fellow foodie raves about a new restaurant you would be more likely to try it than you would if you saw an advert for it. One of the most compelling reasons for trying a different product or service is because someone you trust recommends it to you. Word of mouth is a powerful force.
With the advent of online social media, broadcasting an opinion has never been easier. Vast numbers of friends, and friends of friends, can be reached with little effort. This fact leads to the conclusion that most word of mouth has its origin through this medium.
Research by the Keller Fey Group finds that only 7%, (not 70%, not even 17%,) of word of mouth happens online! The amount of time we spend online might be high, but the amount of time we spend offline is way higher. Even if online does have greater reach, offline conversations have power way beyond the capability of online.
So why are some products, ideas and behaviours talked about more than others?
This is the question that Wharton professor, Jonas Berger, has spent ten years studying and answers in this book. His answers are not speculative or theoretical; rather they are fact based conclusions. From his own research and that of others, Berger has identified a set of six principles which cause products, services and ideas to spread like a virus.
The six principles are: social currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical value and stories. Together the principles form the acronym STEPPS and the more of these that are present, the more likely an idea is to spread.
People don’t share everything with everyone because most ideas are of little interest to them. In the same way that the car we drive and the clothes we wear influences how others perceive us, so does what we talk about. If we want to be seen as sophisticated, contemporary, successful or knowledgeable, we will choose to talk about matters that reflect this.
On the other hand, not to bore people, we choose who to tell what to, and when, in order for the social currency of our content to be most effective.
In New York City there is genuine “old hole-in-the-wall” hot dog restaurant that serves 17 varieties of hot dogs. At the far end of the restaurant is a vintage wooden telephone booth complete with a vintage telephone. Dial 2 and you will be asked, “Do you have a reservation?” If you do, a secret door on the other side of the booth will open and you enter a pub called “Please Don’t Tell.
Reservations to this pub open daily at 3:00 and by 3:30 it is fully booked making it one of the most sort after drinking spots in New York.
Knowing about the pub, and even better, having been there, gives you a social currency that makes you look good in certain groups. That is why you tell others about “Please Don’t Tell.”
Talking about the unusual pub you visited on your last trip to New York will generate interest, but can the mundane do the same? The second principle, the Trigger, shows it can.
In an experiment designed to understand how to change eating behaviour, students were shown one of two slogans: “Live the healthy way, eat five fruits and veggies a day” and “Each and every dining-hall tray needs five fruits and veggies a day.” In all they saw the slogan 20 times in different fonts and colours and were asked to evaluate the slogan they saw.
That trays need fruit and vegetables was rated “corny” and was deemed to be less than half as attractive as the “live healthy” slogan. Additionally, the live healthy was viewed as far more likely to change their behaviour.
Students who saw the “tray” slogan ate 25% more vegetables than the “healthy way” group. The reason is that they use trays to collect their food every day, and the trays acted as a memory trigger.
The slogan “Kit Kat and Coffee” revived the sales of Kit Kat in the US not only because of the memorable alliteration. Kit Kat and coffee do not go better together than Kit Kat and hot milk, but coffee is a more frequently consumed beverage than milk and so provides many more triggers each day for eating a Kit Kat.
Triggers also get us talking about a subject and the more triggers there are, the more we talk.
Clearly, if the subject also has the right amount of the right emotion attached to it, the chances of it being talked about are far higher. If the idea can be translated into something visible and public, it will spread faster. If many people have bought in already, we are more likely to believe it than if few have.
Armstrong’s Livestrong bright yellow rubber wrist bands went viral for exactly this reason – publicly visible support for a good cause – support for cancer sufferers.
Virtually anything can become contagious if the right ingredients are present. The ability to go viral isn’t born, it is made - and this is extremely important news!
Readability Light --+-- Serious
Insights High +---- Low
Practical High +---- Low

Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy

Having a concept all ready created this book gave me several strategy ideas to make the Concept thrive from the get go.

Uber Pete Created The Greek "Fresh Grill"

Thank You Professor Berger..."You Rock"

The book covers the elements of the author's STEPPS theory, and at the end wraps it all up in a neat bundle, complete with a table that summarizes the requirements for a successful viral campaign. I believe it will be useful for my marketing campaigns, and I hope it works!

I have so many books on markets which say interesting things, but when I'm done listening, I have NO idea what to do to reproduce the kind of success talked about. This guy has really broken things down. Whether he's right or wrong is debatable (I think he's mostly right), but there is no question what sort of things you can do to give your project a real shot at going viral.

We had read Made to Stick and were pleasantly surprised to see that this was a different approach. it is well researched without being too academic and the case studies used make sense and illustrate the topics. Readable and able to apply.

Really love this book! I not a marketing person but this book compelled me to write this brief review. The principals discribed are evident with examples of success of many well known companies and these same examples help stir ideas.

Full of really helpful and interesting ideas about how to make an idea contagious. I learned a great deal from this book and have been using that information to increase the success of my business and career. Definitely worth the read!

I am currently preparing my marketing plan on my little cafe shop, and this book came out as my perfect reference books. Convincing examples with well-explained concepts. Why this book was not my college marketing textbook?

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Really enjoyed this easy read. It is very well written and the best marketing book I have ever read. I wish more of my undergrad books were this engaging. Highly recommend it for anyone who likes marketing and/or learning about human behaviors and what makes things go viral.

Just finished reading this wonderful book and have pages of notes to prove it. Well written, researched and a quick read, this book will have you looking at your business in a new way. Marketing ideas will emerge that you had yet to consider and ways that you currently market will be re-evaluated for effectiveness based upon Jonah's content.
Nancy Weil - Author of If Stress Doesn't Kill You, Your Family Might

Once again, another book that should have been an article in a business magazine. If I was to put you in a room for one hour to write why things catch-on or go viral on YouTube or as a product, you would probably come up with the same conclusion as this writer. But he spent the hour, wrote it down and made his money. What frustrates me with these kinds of books is they do not use any science or psychology or physiology to explain their reasons. They just use simple observation and good writing skills. I do recommend appointing someone from Marketing to read it over the weekend and summarize the points in an email or a presentation (preferred). The points are relevant and good. I think when things go viral it’s more a Black Swan (refer to Taleb on the phenomena on randomness) than some organized “for sure” concentrated effort. But if something does succeed, I have no doubt it will have the same ingredients mentioned in this book so marketers please read, deploy and of course enjoy.