As the authors point out, this can be especially dangerous for charities, where the worthiness of a cause is often taken for granted by those who support it. Most important, sticky ideas steer clear of what the authors call the Curse of Knowledge - the tendency to forget what it was like not to know an idea. So what are the characteristics of sticky ideas? The authors employ a somewhat awkward acronym, SUCCESs, to enumerate them: Simple (they rely on core ideas) Unexpected (they're capable of sparking interest) Concrete (they're grounded in experience) Credible (they draw on believable sources) Emotional (they appeal to self-interest and -identity) and Story (the best form for conveying them). Businesses can't even communicate their purpose to their own workers in a recent poll of 23,000 employees, only 37 percent had a clear understanding of their employer's mission. Urban myths, sleazy scams, and conspiracy theories spread like wildfire, while charitable appeals fall on deaf ears and important public service announcements are quickly forgotten. The authors make it clear why this is important: while everybody agrees that some ideas are memorable and others are not, what is truly disturbing is the fact that the stickiness of a message has little to do with its value. In Made to Stick, the brothers Heath endeavor to identify the traits of stickiness and demonstrate how they can be used to generate unforgettable messages. In The Tipping Point, Gladwell used "stickiness" to describe a key characteristic of memorable ideas. That is the conundrum tackled by Chip Heath, Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, and Dan Heath, consultant at Duke Corporate Education, in Made to Stick, a book inspired by Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. Why is that? Why is the tagline of a seedy bar or the theme song of a cheesy sitcom more memorable than the brand messages of far worthier enterprises? Why do some ideas stick in our heads and others vanish into thin air? But ask me to sing the theme song to "Gilligan's Island," and I won't forget a word. What's more embarrassing, I can't recite their mission statements, either. On the other hand, it's a struggle for me to remember the slogans of most of my past employers - noble enterprises all. You can be sure its motto wasn't the product of branding experts or marketing consultants, but in four words it perfectly captures the ambience, clientele, and mission of the establishment - "Day Care for Drunks." I don't think I'll ever forget that slogan, and I bet you won't, either. To my mind, the most memorable slogan in New York City - perhaps in the world - belongs to a ramshackle bar in lower Manhattan that I often pass on the way to Chinatown.
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