Before we started the biestmilch business I worked as freelancer developing marekting concepts for very different companies, huge ones like DuPont, small and tiny ones. Key issue has always been the uniqueness of the story which had to have the power to even survive the product itself. In those days I called this process terraforming. This is now round about 10 years ago. I have to admit nobody, at least almost nobody understood my concern then, my approach to tackle communication was too weird. I always underlined that communciation needs a story and continuity beside the whole fuzz around quality of all sorts. Nowadays it seems so normal and when I found the review about the book »Made to Stick« I felt reminded of these early years of my independence. I like the quoted lines and take them as a kind of mental and moral support for our biestmilch marketing concept. I called it »against all odds«.
Below you find the original post from:
http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/brandautopsy/2007/01/sticking_with_m.html
The authors of MADE TO STICK, Chip & Dan Heath, http://www.madetostick.com/theauthors/… believe the best ideas have most of these traits: They are simple, core messages; they are unexpected; they are concrete, credible, and emotional, and they are stories.” [source: Inc. Magazine | Jan. 2007]
SIMPLE
“It’s hard to make ideas stick in a noisy, unpredictable, chaotic environment. If we’re to succeed, the first step is this: Be simple. Not simple in terms of ‘dumbing down’ or ‘sound bites.’ What we mean by ‘simple’ is finding the core of the idea. ‘Finding the core’ means stripping an idea down to its most critical essence.” (pgs. 27, 28)
UNEXPECTED
“The most basic way to get someone’s attention is this: Break a pattern. Humans adapt incredibly quickly to consistent patterns. Figure out what is counterintuitive about the message—i.e., What are the unexpected implications of your core message? Communicate your message in a way that breaks your audiences’ guessing machines.” (pgs. 64, 72)
CONCRETE
“Abstraction makes it harder to understand an idea and to remember it. It also makes it harder to coordinate our activities with others, who may interpret the abstraction in very different ways. Concreteness helps us avoid these problems.” (pg. 100)
CREDIBLE
“How do we get people to believe our ideas? We’ve got to find a source of credibility to draw on. A person’s knowledge of details is often a good proxy for her expertise. Think of how a history buff can quickly establish her credibility by telling an interesting Civil War anecdote. But concrete details don’t just lend credibility to the authorities who provide them; they lend credibility to the idea itself.” (pgs. 138, 163)
EMOTIONAL
“How can we make people care about our ideas? We get them to take off their Analytical Hats. We create empathy for specific individuals. We show how our ideas are associated with things that people already care about. We appeal to their self-interest, but we also appeal to their identities—not only to the people they are right now but also to the people they would like to be.” (pg. 203)
STORIES
“A story is powerful because it provides the context missing from abstract prose. This is the role that stories play—putting knowledge into a framework that is more lifelike, more true to our day-to-day existence. Stories are almost always CONCRETE. Most of them have EMOTIONAL and UNEXPECTED elements. The hardest part of using stories effectively is make sure they’re SIMPLE—that they reflect your core message. It’s not enough to tell a great story; the story has to reflect your agenda.” (pgs. 214, 237)
