Stories - People do not just share information, they tell stories. And stories are like Trojan horses, vessels that carry ideas, brands, and information. To benefit the brand, stories must not only be shared but also relate to a sponsoring company's products. Thus the epic failure of viral sensations like Evian's roller baby video (50M views) that did little to stem Evian's 25% drop in sales. Stories are the most effective way to share ideas and information. As Berger explains, “Information travels under the guise of what seems like idle chatter… we need to… (embed) our products and ideas in stories that people want to tell… [by making] our message so integral to the narrative that people can’t tell the story without it.” If you have whooping cough, you're contagious from about 6 days after the start of cold-like symptoms to 3 weeks after the coughing starts. Jonah Berger is the rare sort who has studied the facts, parsed it from the fiction—and performed groundbreaking experiments that have changed the way the experts think. If there’s one book you’re going to read this year on how ideas spread, it’s this one.” — Dave Balter, CEO of BzzAgent and Co-founder of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association

Contagious – Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger (Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania) distills years of research into understanding why certain ads, products, YouTube videos, political movements, songs, and/or restaurants catch on, while others are ignored. 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. Word-of-mouth is what makes it happen. And word-of-mouth is the reason why social media and advertising will never be efficient in creating movements and gaining sales. The content that we post on social media is marketing. We’re trying to get users to engage with the brand, and our efforts are marketing tactics designed to increase brand awareness, follower count, and shares. People care about how they look to others. They want to seem smart, cool, and in-the-know. So be sure to find the inner-remarkability (e.g. Will it Blend? ) and make people feel like insiders. When it comes to pricing, “diminishing sensitivity” can influence buyer behavior, which is where the “Rule of 100” becomes handy. It helps merchants increase the likelihood that people buy your product and share with others. The general rule:Judgments and decisions are not always rational or optimal. Instead, they are based on psychological principles of how people perceive and process information. Which gets to my second-to-last gripe. In the intro and conclusion he claims that he has used cutting-edge science to demonstrate to us how word of mouth, psychology of sharing, social influence, conformity, herd behavior work. In reality, he simply points out patterns of these behaviors. There is no "cutting-edge science" and disappointingly he tosses aside the wasted opportunity for meaningful analysis. He hasn't sufficiently explained the psychology behind any of the the "why's" that naturally arise from the reading (offering merely superficial explanations). This is a fun book, full of ideas for advertising new ideas or products. It contains many good anecdotes about promotions that worked and didn't work. For example, there is a description of a youtube video that went viral, that advertised a blender--and boosted sales enormously. Then there is a video that went viral, and advertised a casino--but didn't boost sales at all. Why not? The video had absolutely nothing to do with the casino--it was just a catchy video! The first signs of whooping cough are similar to a cold, such as a runny nose and sore throat (a high temperature is uncommon).

Jonah Berger knows more about what makes information ‘go viral’ than anyone in the world.” — Daniel Gilbert, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University and author of Stumbling on Happiness The writing here is well done. Berger brings psychology and social psychology to bear here in his examination of what causes trends, products, and styles to hit their so-called "tipping points." When it comes to public, this refers to how prevalent something is in the public eye. Things that are highly public and visible are more likely to be talked about and imitated than those that are more private. Nevertheless, there are ways to bring private phenomena into the public sphere. For example, donating to a charity tends to be a rather private affair. However, both the Movember movement in support of colon cancer (featuring the highly conspicuous mustache), and Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong campaign in support of cancer (featuring the yellow wrist-band), managed to bring charitable support into the public sphere, thus contributing to the success of these campaigns. Great marketing book and a good way to see why some of the dollars you spend are not working. It's interesting to take the 6 factors discussed and review them against your corporate advertising. Does your company have any ideas that fit those factors that would make them great items to share and if not, how can you start too.It was an interesting book, if only because it solidified the fact that I would never want to work within any profession where this book is applicable. You can have a pretty good overview of the book in this 4 minute video I made with a summary on it.