Social Sciences - General & Miscellaneous, Marketing

Contagious: Why Things Catch On

Name: Contagious: Why Things Catch On
Author: Jonah Berger
ISBN: 9781451686579

by Jonah Berger

Available on Bookshop Available on Amazon Write a review

Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.

Overview

New York Times bestseller

What makes things popular?

If you said advertising, think again. People don’t listen to advertisements, they listen to their peers. But why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral?

Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger has spent the last decade answering these questions. He’s studied why New York Times articles make the paper’s own Most E-mailed List, why products get word of mouth, and how social influence shapes everything from the cars we buy to the clothes we wear to the names we give our children. In this book, Berger reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos.

Contagious combines groundbreaking research with powerful stories. Learn how a luxury steakhouse found popularity through the lowly cheese-steak, why anti-drug commercials might have actually increased drug use, and why more than 200 million consumers shared a video about one of the seemingly most boring products there is: a blender. If you’ve wondered why certain stories get shared, e-mails get forwarded, or videos go viral, Contagious explains why, and shows how to leverage these concepts to craft contagious content. This book provides a set of specific, actionable techniques for helping information spread—for designing messages, advertisements, and information that people will share. Whether you’re a manager at a big company, a small business owner trying to boost awareness, a politician running for office, or a health official trying to get the word out, Contagious will show you how to make your product or idea catch on.

Synopsis

The New York Times bestseller that explains why certain products and ideas become popular.

“Jonah Berger knows more about what makes information ‘go viral’ than anyone in the world.” —Daniel Gilbert, author of the bestseller Stumbling on Happiness

What makes things popular? If you said advertising, think again. People don’t listen to advertisements, they listen to their peers. But why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral?

Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger has spent the last decade answering these questions. He’s studied why New York Times articles make the paper’s own Most E-mailed list, why products get word of mouth, and how social influence shapes everything from the cars we buy to the clothes we wear to the names we give our children.

In Contagious, Berger reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos. Learn how a luxury steakhouse found popularity through the lowly cheesesteak, why anti-drug commercials might have actually increased drug use, and why more than 200 million consumers shared a video about one of the most boring products there is: a blender.

Contagious provides specific, actionable techniques for helping information spread—for designing messages, advertisements, and content that people will share. Whether you’re a manager at a big company, a small business owner trying to boost awareness, a politician running for office, or a health official trying to get the word out, Contagious will show you how to make your product or idea catch on.

About the Author, Jonah Berger

Jonah Berger is the author of the New York Times bestseller Contagious: Why Things Catch On, and is the James G. Campbell Jr. Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. His research has been published in top-tier academic journals, and popular accounts of his work have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Science, Harvard Business Review, and more. His research has also been featured in the New York Times Magazine’s "Year in Ideas." Berger has been recognized with a number of awards for both scholarship and teaching. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

Thanks to the internet, we now all know that not just viruses go viral. Whether the recipient of all the attention is Fifty Shades of Gray, the new One Direction video, rebranded toothpaste, a trendy upscale restaurant, or even a false rumor, things get noticed more quickly than ever. (In just her first three days, actress Megan Fox attracted more than 250,000 Twitter followers.) Wharton marketing phenom Jonah Berger thinks that this click-quick, fast-spreading fame or infamy is not only understandable; it can be replicated. In Contagious, he describes the six step process that can make ideas or products almost instantly well known. Editor's recommendation.

Publishers Weekly

Faster-spreading than the flu are the ordinary conversations people have about products and ideas, according to this infectious treatise on viral marketing. Drawing on his own nifty research, Wharton marketing professor Berger investigates all manner of phenomena—surging name brands, chic restaurants, YouTube hits, most–e-mailed articles—that catch on through word-of-mouth popularity. There are discernible dynamics behind the apparent chaos of trendiness, he argues: we naturally want to talk about things that seem fashionable, secretive, useful, or remarkable, that arouse our emotions, that come to mind frequently in mundane settings, and that wrap themselves in compelling stories. He applies these principles to illuminate a slew of marketing and PR conundrums, explaining why a Philadelphia restaurant prospered by charging for a cheese steak, why “Just Say No” ads may make kids say yes, why people sometimes pay more to get a discount, and why that Budweiser commercial featuring dudes saying “Wassup?” was a stroke of genius. Berger writes in a sprightly, charming style that deftly delineates the intersection of cognitive psychology and social behavior with an eye toward helping businesspeople and others spread their messages. The result is a useful and entertaining primer that diagnoses countless baffling pop culture epidemics. Agent: James Levine, Levine/Greenberg Agency. (Mar.)

Charles Duhigg

“Why do some ideas seemingly spread overnight, while others disappear? How can some products become ubiquitous, while others never gain traction? Jonah Berger knows the answers, and, with Contagious, now we do, too."

Chip Heath

“If you are seeking a bigger impact, especially with a smaller budget, you need this book. Contagious will show you how to make your product spread like crazy.”

Daniel Gilbert

“Jonah Berger knows more about what makes information ‘go viral’ than anyone in the world.”

Dan Ariely

“Jonah Berger is as creative and thoughtful as he is spunky and playful. Looking at his research, much like studying a masterpiece in a museum, provides the observer with new insights about life and also makes one aware of the creator's ingenuity and creativity. It is hard to come up with a better example of using social science to illuminate the ordinary and extraordinary in our daily lives.”

Dave Balter

“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.”

The Boston Globe

“Contagious contains arresting — and counterintuitive — facts and insights. . . . Most interesting of all are the examples Berger cites of successful and unsuccessful marketing campaigns.”

The Christian Science Monitor

“The book is just plain interesting. Berger’s cases are not only topical and relevant, but his principles seem practical and are easily understood. . . . I have a strong feeling that this book will catch on.”

Discover

“Think of it as the practical companion to Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point.”

Kirkus Reviews

A marketing professor at the Wharton School explains how fads are generated and why certain products, ideas and behaviors gain social currency. Berger suggests that the secret lies in generating a buzz by turning a product into a conversation piece. Facebook and Twitter can play a role in this, but surprisingly, writes the author, "only 7 percent of word of mouth happens on-line." Berger uses the acronym STEPPS to describe the attributes of a product or an idea that goes viral. The author has assembled a team of collaborators who analyze why some products market themselves while others, which seem equally promising, are duds. Social currency is achieved when the item is memorable. One of Berger's examples is a cheesesteak sandwich, made with Kobe beef and lobster, that sells for $100. Triggers can be fortuitous associations. The sale of Mars bars peaked in mid-1997, he explains, when the Pathfinder landed on Mars and NASA was in the news. Emotional content that stimulates arousal heightens memory. Happy or sad associations are less likely to be shared than something funny. Public refers to the way average consumers are reassured by the popularity of an idea or item. Practical value is essential--it's why infomercials are effective and discounts and coupons are good selling points. Lastly, the package must be embedded in a good Story. Throughout the book, Berger provides a number of entertaining, illustrative examples in the vein of Malcolm Gladwell or Freakonomics. A provocative shift in focus from the technology of online transmission to the human element and a bold claim to explain "how word of mouth and social influence work...[and] can [be used to] make any product or idea contagious."

Library Journal

Berger (marketing, Univ. of Penn.) informs and entertains while presenting his argument for why some products and ideas generate interest by word of mouth, and grow virally, and why others don't. Berger's writing is, in a sense, "contagious." This superbly written and thought-provoking book is hard to put down; the stories, especially those describing innovative social media campaigns, drawn from a variety of industries, are extremely engaging. Berger introduces six important "STEPPS" to ensure that products and ideas are "contagious": they must have Social Currency; must be Triggered, Emotional, Public, Practically Valuable; and can be told as a Story. VERDICT Readers don't need a business or marketing background to understand this text. The scientific data blend persuasively into the arguments. Highly recommended.—Caroline Geck, Camden Street School. Lib., Newark, NJ