Made To Stick by Chip & Dan Heath

Me-too Version of Malcolm Gladwell’s bestseller The Tipping Point

Jun 19, 2007

What makes a product a success? Like Gladwell, The Heath brothers have outlined their tips for S.U.C.C.E.S and what makes something "stick".

In a nutshell, Made To Stick by the Heath Brothers is a “me too” version of Malcolm Gladwell’s bestseller The Tipping Point.

Like The Tipping Point, Made to Stick takes an historical perspective of products, ideas, myths, trends and movements which caught on with the masses, and explores what it is about each that “made them stick” in the consumers consciences, making each a success.

The Brothers Heath are professionally a college professor (Chip) and a researcher (Dan). It’s quite possible their professional background was the impetus for their creating the acronym – S.U.C.C.E.S (explanations below). – to describe the recipe resulting in “stickiness”. Their respective backgrounds may also explain the reason this moves along at the pace of a text book or research report rather than an interesting work of non-fiction.

Tedious writing style aside, the S.U.C.C.E.S acronym is a memorable, useful and accurate tool to explain why some things are “Made To Stick” and ultimately succeed in the consumer marketplace. Here's what S.U.C.C.E.S stands for:

Simple

The Heaths' first step to successful stickiness is to make sure that the premise of your item can be explained in a simple, memorable manner.

Unexpected

The brothers next recommend that there be an unexpected twist to your product, idea, etc. that catches people off-guard and lodges in their memories.

Concrete

Beyond simple and unexpected, things that are “made to stick” also possess the attribute of being “concrete”; a premise that is solid and not based on a lot of “what ifs” and assumptions.

Credible

The second “C” along the path to success requires that the foundation of something “sticky” is believable; is based on information that seems factual and based on information that is similar in context and known to be true.

Emotional

Few of those who study the ways that consumers interact with the marketplace include the process of emotional response and connection to behavior. The Heath Brothers do, and this one component is most probably the core to determining what sticks and what does not. An emotional reaction is essential to creating something that’s “made to stick”. Does the product, idea, urban legend, political movement or fashion trend strike an emotional chord? Do people smile, laugh, or become repulsed or frightened? If so, then you’re on the right path to creating something that’s “made to stick”.

Stories

The final step along the Heath Brothers’ path to success is being able to relate the facts of your “made to stick” something as a memorable and easy to re-tell story. Aligning this theory with the manner in which oral histories are passed from one generation to the next, a simple and easy to tell story is the vehicle that ensures that one person tells another and guarantees that something is “made to stick”.

Made To Stick by Chip and Dan Heath helps explain why some things catch on and remain viable over years and even across generations. It’s just unfortunate that they take 291 pages to do so, and even more unfortunate that the reader must make themselves stick to reading to the end.

The copyright of the article Made To Stick by Chip & Dan Heath in Modern American Fiction is owned by Linda Christy. Permission to republish Made To Stick by Chip & Dan Heath in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.