Cracking the Burden of Brilliance - Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Jack Gallivan

Advertising Literacy

11/12/07

Cracking the Burden of Brilliance:

Made To Stick

Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

My experience at Southern Methodist University, specifically in the advertising realm, has been pledged by a constant search to produce clever ideas that are relevant to my career. As I've learned, the hard working idea man reaps the most benefits. I know from readings and mentoring that great ideas, at their core, are usually an overlooked and unrealized truth about humanity. Take for example, the highly effective "Truth" Campaign (excuse the irony) launched in the late 90s to combat teen smoking. How do you get teens to realize smoking is bad for you? You don't, they know. So how do you get kids to stop smoking something they know is killing them? The idea that the American Legacy Foundation, who produced the campaign, came up with is so simple. The over looked human truth turns out to be one reason why most teens smoke in the first place. At a young age it's a way of rebelling against parents, principals, Ð''The Man', or whoever. A cig behind the dumpster is representative of an "F you!" to mainstream culture. Now this seems counterintuitive because we just found out why teens smoke, not why they don't or shouldn't. The punch line is how advertisers reframed the idea, Ð''teens smoke to rebel' into, Ð''teens rebel by not smoking'. The spots played out as follows. A few long shots establish the streets of New York City. There is a group of young people is outside a Ð''Big Tobacco' building. They are unloading long, white body bags into the street. The statistic is played out, "1,800 people die from cigarettes every day", and there are 1,800 body bags on the sidewalk. The highly emotional commercials makes the bad guy big tobacco, communicating that kids should rebelled against him by not using his products.

The focus here is not the uncovering of things that make for great ideas. The central theme in the book, Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath is that once an idea is conjured up, there is a systematic way of communicating it to insure that it "sticks" with its audience. The book walks thought a checklist of six principals that if understood and applied, will turn any idea into a sticky one. But before we get into that let's look at why it is so hard for people to communicate a good idea in the first place.

The Cures of Knowledge

During the Holidays when my friends come back in town from their respective colleges, we all get together for a reunion of sorts. It typically involves a case of cold beer, some Mama's pizza pies, and a night of Charades. Nate is this super animated, bundle of hilarity that tends to be the centerpiece of our friends. Everyone anxiously waits for Nates turn to go and sometimes we just tell him to be the actor the whole time. Acting out ideas or prompts for an audience is frustrating if you don't know how to communicate the message clearly. This is a clear example of The Curse of Knowledge. When Nate goes he assumes his audience knows things, typically common since stuff, so he jumps into acting out the main idea, or the big picture. This strategy is flawed because once you've read the card, you forget what its like not knowing what your trying to act out. You can't un-read the card in an attempt to understand the mind set your partners are in. Nate's crazy hand motions increase, as he gets more and more frustrated with his teammates, finally someone yells, "time" and he blurts out, "It was George Clooney! You guys are idiots." So when entrepreneurs explain their business ideas to investors, they tend to communicate Kevin Bacon, when they came up with a great George Clooney. This is The Curse of Knowledge.

Using SUCCES to Succeed

The six principles of sticky ideas spell out SUCCES, that wasn't the authors corny intent but it makes it easy to remember. To make an ideas stick they must be Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Stories. Take the "Truth" Campaign. Is it simple? Rebel by not smoking. Yes. Unexpected? Seeing how it's the direct opposite of common belief, yes. Are there concrete details? NYC streets, body bags, Big Tobacco. Yes. Its Credentials are in the statistics and the fact that it's a PSA aimed at helping us. Is it emotional? If the 1,800 body bags don't draw some emotion, seek help. And it's a story told by real people played out in a 30 sec TV spot. So why is it so hard to execute these principal well? Lets look at them in more depth.

SIMPLE: Simple doesn't mean dumbed down. It's a madder of finding the core of an idea. What is the basic and fundamental about our idea? Proverbs have a knack for expressing this simplicity while maintaining a profound message. "A bird in hand is worth two in the bush." This short bit of insight draws on years of experience. It "packs a big nugget of wisdom that is useful in many situations"(47). Proverbs are naturally sticky which is why they tend to survive the test of time. As a manager you could take a list of proverbs and use them as a heading for daily memos and no doubt you will be giving insight to your employees. However, it won't make them work much harder or create better insight on what the company is really about. Southwest Airlines' CEO, Herb Kelleher, found a way to use his own proverb to communicate to his employees.

"I can teach you the secret to running this airline in thirty seconds. This is it: We are THE low-fair airline. Once you understand that fact, you can make any decision about this company's future as well as I can"(29). Simply put, Kelleher made his employees understand that every decision on all levels should be made with the intent of Ð''We are THE low-fair airline'. Example: If the marketing director proposes that having a light chicken Caesar salad from the Houston to Las Vegas flight would be popular and pleasing. Kelleher would ask, "Does having a chicken Caesar salad on that flight make us the unchallenged low-fair airline?" As long the salad increase costs, the answer is no, so there will be no salad. Now Southwest isn't known for being jerks and starving their customers, actually Southwest is known for its fun and inviting environment. Employees know that as long as whatever they do