But Why are Certain Things Popular? - “Contagious” by Jonah Berger - Grant Hiskes
Picture From Amazon.com
Not of the pandemic domain, Jonah Berger’s Contagious seeks to answer the question of why certain trends, products, and practices catch on. Berger is a very respected marketing professor at the world-renowned Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Contagious, a New York Times bestseller released in 2013, provides six principles as to why ‘things’ catch on - social currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical value, and stories. It is important to understand though that not all of these principles have to be imminent for a trend to go viral.
A brief explanation of each of these six principles is as follows…
Social Currency - “We share things that make us look good”, if you know of a high-end restaurant that is very exclusive and requires a three-month reservation in advance, you will likely share with friends, family, or coworkers that you dined there because of the clout that it gives you. Because you share this information with those around you, the restaurant becomes even more popular as your ‘word of mouth’ marketing drives a desire in others to eat there, making it even more difficult to get a reservation in the future.
Triggers - “Top of mind, tip of tongue”, when thinking something else leads us to think of a particular trend. If people are thinking of burgers, it is more likely that they will think of french fries than another side dish like applesauce. Therefore, the more popular burgers get, the more popular french fries will be. Viral trends spread more easily when they are more frequently and actively triggered by items that are already staples.
Emotion - “When we care, we share”, the odds we share something that evokes emotion within us are higher than when we see, hear, or read something we don’t give a shit about. That emotion does not just have to be good, it can also be negative. If one of your friends on Snapchat posts a picture of the meal they are having when they are out to eat, you likely don’t care all that much. If your friend posts a story of him or her meeting Shaq, you will be pretty excited and likely ask your other friends if they saw that so-and-so met Shaq. It goes the other way as well. If someone posts a cringey Tik Tok, you will likely be annoyed, but you will still share it.
Public - “Built to show, built to grow”, this one seems obvious, but the more public people are about certain trends, the more likely they are to catch on. In the book, Berger points this out regarding “Movember”. Before the mustache-crazed trend of November, men’s health issues like testicular cancer were kept private. But when everyone started rockin’ the ‘staches in November, a fashion trend seemingly out of date, they were raising awareness about the cause. “What are u growin’ out the ‘stache for?” someone may ask. Just like that, a conversation is started and a traditionally private topic becomes publicized.
Practical Value - “News you can use”, we have a tendency to weigh the value of the deals we receive, but we still have a hard time processing these deals. If you go to the store to buy a lawnmower and find that a $300 Mower is on sale for $240, are you more likely to buy that lawnmower than the one that was originally $220, but now is only $210? We don’t like to feel like we are being ripped off, and it feels like we are gaining something more if we buy something more expensive if it is more discounted than something cheaper and not as good of a deal.
Stories - “Information travels under the guise of chatter”, trends and ideas travel well when encapsulated in other stories. The best example I can give here is the one that Berger uses himself. His cousin had moved to the East Coast from California and now needed a winter jacket. He bought a nice winter jacket from Lands’ End, but the zipper broke. Jonah’s cousin then called Lands’ End to ask how much it would cost him to repair the zipper, but Lands’ End said don’t worry, it’s on them. Sure, Lands’ End footed the cost of the broken zipper, but think of the publicity and positive brand reputation they just garnered through their customer service. A new coat is not the most exciting purchase in the world, but if I got my coat replaced for free, it seems like it would be so hard to not pass that kind of news on to family and friends.
It seems like these principles can be grouped into two broad categories, “conscious” and “subconscious”. Conscious spreads of trends stem from the Social Currency and Public principles, subconscious means through Triggers and Emotion, and Practical Value and Stories can be either/or.
What is to be made of this? People like to flex. Humans get excited when they feel like they are being let in on a secret, when they are an insider, or when they have information people don’t have. Unfortunately, Berger does not go into the psychological or scientific explanations of this phenomenon in this book. My scientific knowledge is most certainly limited, but the idea that humans have a predisposition to make themselves more appealing, or look better, definitely seems like it could relate to fundamental characteristics of the animal kingdom: eat, defend, and reproduce. So maybe we are attracted to insider information because we innately associate that with a greater chance of survival, even though today, eating at a fancy, ‘underground’ restaurant in Brooklyn does not mean we will have any greater chance of survival. Maybe, it is a way to draw attention to ourselves or make us more appealing to a sexual partner, like a peacock’s vibrant plume of feathers is intended to do.
But there’s also the subconscious side. As Berger explains, triggers, emotions, and stories are all integral components of a trend’s virality. Yet, the reason these principles are so effective is that they don’t require the subject to think of them directly. It’s pretty crazy to think that we do not actually have control of our thoughts. Seeing an object may cause us to think of past experiences with said object, but it is very difficult to dictate where our thought processes go after that. To me, it’s extremely fascinating that our bodies are governed by thoughts that trigger emotions in a manner that is outside of our conscious mind’s realm of control.
Buy Jonah Book Here: https://www.amazon.com/Contagious-Things-Catch-Jonah-Berger-ebook/dp/B008J4GQKW
