The Six Principles of Sticky Ideas
Posted on August 20, 2007 - Filed Under On Ideation, Cool Ideas, Inspiration
You can learn how to create sticky ideas. That’s the premise of a new book by a Stanford biz school prof called Made to Stick. In 1999, an Israeli research team analyzed 200 award-winning advertisements and some 200 others (from the same sources and for similar products) that sucked.
The study found that “89% of the award-winning ads could be classified into six basic categories, or templates,” while only 2% of the less successful commercials could be. In other words, the most successful ads were more formulaic than the less successful ones. Similarly, the authors argue, creating a sticky idea—be it a marketing message, corporate philosophy, or teaching method—isn’t a matter of creativity; it’s a matter of following certain rules or principles.
The authors studied a range of sticky ideas, from myriad industries, and found that each tended to have one or more of six common traits:
- Simple,
- Unexpected,
- Concrete,
- Credible,
- Emotional, and
- Story-based
In my opinion, this outline is not necessarily a formula for success, but more like a guideline. Perhaps it’s a foolish belief in the mystery of creativity and ideas that supports this, but I don’t believe that you can take the same 12-step process to create a perfect marketing campaign/new product innovation every time. I believe that the theory behind the principle of sticky ideas is correct, but the formulaic method they describe to achieving those ideas leaves something to be desired.
However, one cannot deny the fact that the six principles outlined in the book do provide an excellent basis to evaluate if the idea that you’ve come up with is going to “stick”. So, use the principles like a measuring stick, not a map.
- Christian
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