University of California, Riverside BUS 103 Reading notes 4

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Berger, J. (2013). Contagious: Why things catch on. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. Central Theme: Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger is a book in which the author discusses some of the ... reasons behind why some product or services “catch on” or in other words, become popular. Mr. Berger has studied how ideas spread, what and how things become ‘word of mouth’, why things go viral online, and how your social environment affects the decision you make from the type of shampoo you buy, to the names you give your kids. The author is a business marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania, so he declares that everything he talks about is based on research that has been conducted recently, or in the past decade. Berger summarizes these concepts by what he likes to call, “STEPPS”. He claims that in order for your product or service to become widespread, you must follow these key steps: Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical values, and Stories. Critical Analysis: The first part of the process to achieve popularity is called “social currency”. Although it may not be monetary currency, it’s a very important type of currency because it reflects the impression that a group of people have on other people, such as yourself. The author claims that for you to achieve social currency you must, “Find inner remarkability, leverage game mechanics, and make people feel like insiders” (29). So, what exactly does this mean? The first question we may ask ourselves is how do we find ‘inner remarkability’? Ask yourselves, ‘what makes me feel amazing, or notable?’ This is important because whatever that thing may be that makes you feel good it’s what’s going to create that positive impression upon that object, and then that impression is going to create a certain popularity among you and among those individuals whom you interact with. Remember, the things we say affect how other people see us. This is the reason why we acquire our reputation with the people we talk with. If you think about it, we either talk to our friends about products that we really like or about the ones we really hate, nothing in between. Why is this? It’s because we deal with so much every single day of our lives that we are most like to remember the great memories that we’ve experienced or the worst ones. Thus, social currency is important because that is one of the ways that our word of mouth starts to form and gets transferred. The second part of the STEPPS process is called “triggers”. Triggers means something that is in the top of mind, or that comes to the tip of tongue. This has a huge effect on the popularity of a product/service because it’s something that will most likely be shared with others. Since it is in the top of mind, it’s one of the major things that will create the reputation for that brand. The author talked about a few examples. The first one was the one he gave was about Rebecca Black, the singer of the “Friday” song. He did a research about what weekday do people mostly search or listen to her “Friday” song, and the results came to be on Friday! Shocked? Well you shouldn’t be. This isn’t surprising because it makes a lot of sense of why people would search up a song called “Friday” on a Friday. If it’s a Friday, it already is at the top of the person’s mind. It may even be one of the first few things they think about when they think about that weekday. Why is that? Because people talk about what’s in their mind or the stuff that are relevant in their surrounding environment. The other example Berger talked about was Cheerios. He asked an audience what they thought would be the most word of mouth company— Disneyworld, Cheerios, or Scrubbing Bubbles. The majority of the audience voted on Disneyworld, however, they were wrong. It turns out that Cheerios is the company that most people talk about, especially between 7am to 11 am. Strange? Not at all because people are constantly thinking of food, and if they are always in the run, they’ll most likely grab something quick and easy, such as cereal. Thus, “triggers” is the concept that relates ideas to our mind because those concepts are related somehow. You were probably taught in high school that in order for a story to be great it should comprise of ethos, pathos, and logos. The question here is, why should you talk about emotions when other people may not feel the same way as you? Well, whether they react the same way or not, it doesn’t really matter so as long as you’ve captured their attention or feelings in some way. The third step that Mr. Berger talks to us about is called “Emotion”, which he likes to call, “When we care, we share” (93). So it should be obvious to you by now that people like to talk about stuff they love. They can go on and on about the perfect dinner they had last night, or about the amazing house that they just bought. But there’s a point behind t [Show More]

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