Made to Stick is a great book designed to help you made your ideas more memorable. It is not designed to give you the power to come up with new ideas, but to make the most of what's available to you. The authors use a wide variety of examples of "sticky" and non "sticky" concepts to show you what works and what does not.

The epitome of their framework is the "Jared" marketing campaign that Subway used several years ago. This campaigned contained all of their features for a "sticky" idea: Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotion, and a Story. As you can see, they even tried to make their framework sticky by having it spell out SUCCES.

The book itself stays true to its word, in that the examples and framework they provide are sufficiently memorable that I feel the knowledge I have gained from reading this will "stick" with me for many years to come.

Highly recommended.

Chip and Dan Heath have written a priceless book, full of wisdom and great stories about what makes for effective teaching and leadership. It's not the razzle-dazzle of our teaching that makes a difference, they say, but whether we incorporate six key characteristics. I've been in the education business for almost 40 years and I learned a LOT from this book. Highly recommended!

The Heath brothers have created one of the best and most memorable contributions to true marketing creativity. They utilize off-the-beaten path stories and analogies to bring their concepts to life and help the reader visualize the benefits of sticky marketing. While some reviewers have said the book was hard to get through, I'd urge you to stick with the book to the end -- and start making a habit of reading the Heath brothers' column in Biz Week

The cover made this book seem like it would be dynamic, fun and engaging to read. I did not find that to be the case, so I never made it clear through the book. The content was interesting once I got through it. I think the reason I had a hard time with the reading was that the authors didn't move through the content in a concise way. Topics felt a bit drawn out. Still, the fundamental ideas here are valuable and worth knowing.

Enjoyed this book and will be keeping it in my collection for future reference. Emphasis on crisp messages and refinement of language to get down to the most effective and essential message.
More people should take this advice to constantly improve and refine their message until it is tight and sharp.

Well, I was impressed with the cover and the color of the book. Interestingly enough, the authors "made it (the contents) stick after a few chapters. The clinics while helpful could have been reduced. A little to academic for the common man ( I have my masters degree). My total assessment is still out with the jury at this point.

Really love this book - one of the best actionable business books I've read in a long while.

Hey this is a must have for any researcher who struggles to get their message out there. The why's of how things work in the skill of remembering process is amazing. I read the book twice and now have it as my bible!

I loved Made to Stick. The authors provide a formula based on research for making your message stand out and be remembered.

Author of Knockout PresentationsKnockout Presentations: How to Deliver Your Message with Power, Punch, and Pizzazz

The author explores the role each of the following has on sticky ideas. Simplicity, Emotions,Credibility, and Unexpectedness.

It's rare a book comes along with such specific applicability for business and life - for building brands and building relationships. Simply my favorite book in the past decade.

What is most appealing is that the authors used their own technics. Reading the book is a must because the many examples make the concepts more concrete, but the last chapter is a good quick reference.

I did not buy this book on Amazon because it was an impulse purchase (apparently consistent with my reading habits) and it keeps coming up in my recommendations. I am curious if doing a review will remove it from that list without treating is non-representative of what I read.

As a teacher I'm always looking for ideas that will help me make my presentations more memorable for my students. This book really brought home some ideas that I'd was vaguely aware of, but that never really bubbled up into my awareness. Not all the concepts were new, but were certainly presented in an interesting, even memorable, way.

If you're a teacher or a lecturer, you certainly should read this book. if you're a business leader, you no doubt should read this book. If know a lot about any anything, uhmmm..., of course you should read this book.
Anywone of us who starts to become an expert on any subject, naturally forgets how it felt when we knew nothing about it. And when we talk about this subject, we tend to forget the basic rules that make messages to stick.
The Heaths wrote a fantastic entertaining book. Anywone should read it.

The author does not practice what he preaches. The important point is to get to the "core" of your idea, simplify it enough so that the important message "sticks", and tell stories.

Here are his two best "sticking" examples, so you can save your money and time. When Bill Clinton ran for president he had several important points to make, James Carville helped reduce those points down to "It's the economy stupid" and it stuck. The other good example was Regan's line that got him elected "Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago?". These were "core" messages that worked.

The rest of the book did NOT stick. It was a mostly a slow, drawn out snooze-fest. Get anything by Seth Godin instead if you want marketing inspiration.

Teaching is my passion and I am always looking for ways to make my courses relevant, accessible, and fascinating. When I came across a review of "Made to Stick," I immediately recognized that the principles identified in the book could be adapted to my teaching. My courses will never be the same. From now on, even the most esoteric mathematical ideas and techniques will be presented using the principles expounded in "Made to Stick." The book should be required reading for anyone aiming for professional and personal success. Of all the skills we need in this world, communication is number one. "Made to Stick" shows us how to become convincing and fascinating communicators. Preparing my lectures is now fun again.

Cut right to the Core of your message following the formula for 'SUCCESs' = Simple, Unexpected, Credible, Concrete, Emotional, Stories. And you can't forget the formula because it is presented in a very 'sticky' way. Very enjoyable reading. I have already recommended this book to others. You WILL laugh and learn at the same time.

Made To Stick presents you with a template for making your communications be remembered by the listener. The advice is very practical and concrete, and easy to understand. I have already had the opportunity to apply the template presented in the book in order to improve presentations, and look forward to take advantage of this system many times more in the future. Note that this book does not teach communications skills, but rather which content to present to make it memorable.

I just finished reading Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. In this wonderful book on communicating ideas so that people will remember them the author has 6 principles:

* Simplicity - Find the core or your idea, don't bury the lead of your story
* Unexpectedness - Surprise will get people's attention
* Concreteness - Ideas that are concrete on more memorable than those that are abstract
* Credibility - Authorities or details can be used to increase credibility
* Emotions - People will remember what they care about
* Stories - Stories are useful to get people to act on an idea

I find that I examine communication ideas now through the lens of these principles. A friend pointed out a good example of these principles in an ad from the American Lung Association. Kids know that cigarettes are bad for them but how can you truly get that message across in a way that is in this case simple, unexpected, concrete and emotional. One third of the people who smoke will die from it. That's the statistic. How to communicate that? The American Lung Association made this ad that equated what it would be like if you had a one in three changes in dying by crossing the street. This is an idea that is made to stick.

Nutshell review - This is a really great book on marketing. Very well presented in an entertaining and easy to digest and learn from manner. Nice balance of explaining the ideas and concepts and case-studies for emphasis.

This book has significant value. Its obvious implication is in the field of advertising. However, it has much merit in the education arena. The book depicts 6 ways to make your ideas stick in people's heads. Educators are repeatedly researching ways to make their materials relevant and important enough to the students that they will remember the necessary information.

The more important educational use of the book deals with creating "vision" for your school district or school. School leaders are constantly attempting to bring all parties together to see one common vision. This book provides parameters to do just that.

*Simplicity: the idea must be stripped to its core, and the most important concepts should jump out. In the face of assessments, standardized tests, etc., educators need to be reminded what the school or district's number one goal is.
* Unexpectedness: the idea must destroy preconceived notions about something. This forces people to stop, think, and remember. Teachers and administrators need "wake-up" calls occasionally. A particular parent or student's behavior might jade their vision. Unexpectedness can help refocus staff.
* Concreteness: avoid statistics, use real-world analogies to help people understand complex ideas. Student in classrooms around the United States could benefit from "understanding subtraction" like Japan and Taiwan teaches in their classrooms.
* Credibility: if people don't trust you, they'll ignore you. In some cases, they will be openly hostile, which means they'll actively try to dispute your message. A school's relationship with their community plays a critical role in credibility. Schools without credibility have a much bigger struggle to create ideas that stick.
* Emotional: information makes people think, but emotion makes them act. Appeal to emotional needs, sometimes even way up on Maslow's hierarchy. Educators have not capitalized on this as much as they so obviously could in the classroom and with the community.
* Stories: Schools have ample opportunity to instill a more connected feeling with their students and community. They also have a very real place in learning. Brain research by Pat Wolfe and many others has confirmed story telling as a very successful way to establish long-term memories.

Are you a sales person, professional trainer, fund raiser or a public speaker? Do you find it difficult to plant your ideas in people's mind? Are you looking for effective ways to share your thoughts with others? This is the book to read.

The book explains 6 principles that make ideas to stick - Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Credibility, Concreteness, Emotions & Stories (SUCCESs).

When reading this book, you'll feel many a times "Ahaa... this is what I've been missing all these days". If you review some of the memorable speeches you've heard, you'll realize that these STICKY factors are present in them.

This book gives you techniques that you can use in your next speech or presentation.

This book has some good points, and it would have made a great article in something like "Reader's Digest." But a full-length book? Not so much. All of the ideas presented are s t r e t c h e d into too many pages. Then they become diluted, simple, and annoying.
But the cover is cool.

"Where's the beef?" is a line from a 20-year old Wendy's commercial. Those of us watching TV back then remember 80-something Clara Peller uttering those immortal words while staring at a giant bun and a miniature burger.

"So easy even a caveman could do it," will also likely survive for another 20 years. You can't forget the sensitive Neanderthal so upset about Geico's insult that he has lost his appetite.

What is it about these phrases and the accompanying mental images that make them so indelible?

Chip and Dan Heath explain brilliantly why `sticky' ideas escape the dustbin of history. Even better, they provide a framework that enables us to communicate more memorably:

"If you want to spread your ideas to other people, you should work within the confines of the rules that have allowed other ideas to succeed over time...Regardless of your level of `natural creativity'... a little focused effort can make almost any idea stickier [and] more likely to make a difference."

Six core concepts underlie the creation of sticky ideas that last--and form a sticky acronym: SUCCESs.

* Simple ideas: as in Southwest Airlines mission to be THE low-fare airline
* Unexpected ideas: "are more likely to stick because surprise makes us pay attention and think." Think Geico cavemen.
* Concrete ideas: this is why we can easily describe a watermelon vividly but might have trouble defining `truth.' A watermelon has loads of hooks in our memory, but the concept of truth has few.
* Credible ideas: here's the secret behind `where's the beef.' Simple observation showed that Wendy's burger was bigger.
* Emotional ideas: an army chef in Iraq runs a gourmet mess hall, where he and his staff are driven by his mission, "I am in charge of morale," to create an oasis in the desert for our troops.
* Stories: Think Jared and his Subway diet that burned off 245 pounds. A local franchise owner found Jared and fought for the sticky idea vs. a corporate alternative of "7 under 6," meaning 7 sandwiches less than 6 fat grams. No contest.

If you want to create sticky ideas that can make a positive difference for your organization, Made To Stick makes it possible.

Anyone trying to write a provocative story or trying to market an idea should read this book. I have heard other story-telling "experts" which have stated similar simple principles as the Heath brothers present here (though I'm not sure who has borrowed from whom). Read it, re-read it, and constantly review these principles and your writing/marketing will surely improve.

I just took a class at Stanford from Chip Heath - I have only read part of this book, but what I have read is excellent. What I can say is his class was incredible - I haven't enjoyed a class that much in a long time. Very eye opening.

I found this book exceedingly interesting. To begin with I was immediately surprised at how quickly it read. The writing style was quite conversational and actually held my attention throughout. In this manner, one could definitely say that writers Chip and Dan successfully practice precisely what they preach. By employing the very techniques they are attempting to explain, the book itself becomes a very concrete example of what it means to relay sticky ideas. What I found to be particularly helpful about making the whole 6 aspect concept of sticky ideas (Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories) actually stick was the unique way the authors outlined and laid out the entire text. An excellent introduction provides an overview of exactly what is going to be detailed. This is followed by 6 chapters providing a mix of colorful examples and various studies supporting and shedding further light on each respective aspect of "stickiness." The book provided just the right amount of anecdotes and outside studies to break up the monotony but not so much so that the flow is lost and the reader is confused. Overall I found the book quite informative as well as entertaining.

Made to Stick is a book I've listened to on CD many, many times. The Heath Brothers make an excellent case for the importance of making your brand 'sticky',thus the duct tape on the cover of the book. Their research and practical application make this essential reading to increase your marketing and public relations skills. This is bound to be required reading for MBA programs because of it's instant application to any business setting. Sticky brands lead to life long customers and that's what you'll learn after mastering the strategies of this book.

Yes, this book provides practical ideas for creating "sticky ideas." It's worth reading for that alone. However, there is a concept in the book that really got me thinking. They call it the "curse of knowledge."

The essential idea behind the "curse of knowledge" is that we tend to forget what it's like not to know something, because we've known it for so long! Just think about what you know about the business you're in. How much of what you know would be foreign to people you meet. If you're like me, that's probably a lot. Yet, I know that I tend to communicate assuming people get what I'm saying.

Made to Stick has challenged me to think about what it was like not to know certain things, and to communicate accordingly.

Great read!!!

We're all tappers and forget what it's like to be the listener.

This book is a compliment to Gladwell's "Tipping Point". Much more pragmatic and useful too. Instead of just describing "Sticky", they demonstrate how to do it. It's a lot easier than you'd think.

I've been able to use this on a weekly basis. Focusing on making my idea Simpler, more Unexpected, more Concrete, adding Credibility, adding Emotion and focusing on Stories.

Thank you Heath brothers.

We're all tappers and forget what it's like to be the listener. Read the book or you'll be the victim of organ harvesters!

What a great book - Chip and Dan Heath have really helped me refine and articulate my message.We Plan, God Laughs: Ten Steps to Finding Your Divine Path When Life is Not Turning Out Like You Wanted

This book has tried hard to emulate "The Tipping Point" - the authors admit that too - but it falls short of being or bringing the very essence of 'unexpected' that the authors preach. Reading the contents of the book leave very little to chance what you might expect in subsequent chapters.

The book is divided into chapters like simple, credible, unexpected, stories etc. which can sometimes slow you down if the next chapter, say 'credible' does not particularly interest you.

Books like the "The Tipping Point" or "The Blink" or "Freakonomics" do a better job of sticking to the principles described in "Made to Stick" than the book itself.

Well written and full of humor, this book was helpful and easy to read. The authors admit that their concepts are simple, but provide plenty of examples to demonstrate that even the most common sense ideas are easy to lose in the messiness of everyday life. I can't think of a single person who wouldn't benefit from these ideas, and highly recommend reading this book!

When one business colleague suggests I read a book, I write the title down. When three tell me, I get on-line and order it. Made to Stick is contagious in its humor, specific in its principles, and consistent in its use of case studies to demonstrate practical application of Chip and Dan's sticky messaging theories. I've often grabbed the book, turned it over, and sized up an idea against the SUCCES qualities checklist on the back cover.

I enjoyed the book, but felt like the authors' core ideas had been covered or predictable by the time I got to page 120 or so. No doubt, there are compelling things in here. However, I felt that the Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible Emotional Stories theme is something that could have been handled well in the context of a 25- to 30-page article.

For my money, a better option is Cliff Atkinson's Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire. Yes, I know what you're thinking...a book about PowerPoint is your preferred option? No. It's a book about storytelling.

I enjoyed the book, but felt like the authors' core ideas had been pretty much covered or predictable by the time I got to page 120 or so. While there are compelling things in here, I felt that the Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible Emotional Stories theme is something that could have been handled very well in the context of a 25- to 30-page article. When finished, I had no urge to keep it on my shelves, nor did I feel compelled to pass it on.

For my money, a far better option is Cliff Atkinson's Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire. Yes, I know what you're thinking...a book about PowerPoint is your preferred option? No. It's a book about storytelling.

The brothers Heath have synthesized for us a methodology in which people such as marketeers, engineers and imagineers can get their ideas communicated in a very effective manner. Their formula or telling STORIES in a certain way is a sure fire method to capture almost anyone's attention. It's gotta be SIMPLE and UNEXPECTED.. you start to get them hooked then complete loop with CONCRETENESS - CREDIBILITY & EMOTION.
If you've got to sell something important to your boss or spouce (or both) read this book first. Perhaps it's best to carry a highlighter. It will be a fun read... I promise.

If you are going to write a guide to crafting sticky ideas, your book had better embody your principles. Authors Chip and Dan Heath succeed admirably. What I love about "Made to Stick" is that it is not merely entertaining (though it is), it provides practical, tangible strategies for creating sticky ideas. Once you understand these recommendations, you can boil them down to a set of touchstone points to evaluate your own work. This sets "Made to Stick" apart from the work of Malcolm Gladwell, whom the Heath brothers cite as an inspiration. I enjoyed Gladwell's books but could not necessarily apply his ideas to my own work.

My review copy of "Made to Stick" is covered with highlighter. I am reading the book once through for pure pleasure, and then I am going back again to apply the ideas to evaluate the communications of a non-profit organization I am working for. "Made to Stick" challenges you to distill the essence of your message, to get back to core principles and to communicate them in a memorable way. Chip and Dan point out that as we become experts, we tend to use abstraction to define our ideas, and we lose our ability to communicate with novices. They teach us how to bridge that gap so that our ideas are once again accessible by everyone.

"Made to Stick" gives you the tools you need to revamp your own messages. It provides "do it yourself" conuslting in book form, which will be appreciated by activists, entrepreneurs, and businesses of all sizes.

This book was recommended to me with much fervor, so I had to see what the shouting was about. Now that I've read it, I can see why it's so highly regarded.

The premise of Made to Stick is that we all want to communicate well, and we want our message to be understood and remembered. While not _everything_ we say needs to be memorable, we do care about getting our point across... and having someone care enough about that point to take action.

That may sound as though the book is primarily for people in the business of communicating, such as advertising professionals, teachers, salespeople, or politicians. But anyone in business needs to sell her message. You want to convince the boss that your proposal is a good one. You need to get your tech team to understand the point of the project, so that they can make good decisions even when (inevitably) the reality doesn't match the project plan. You want your kids to buy into your values.

This could have become a pedantic tome with lots of "Thou Shalt" pronouncements. But the Heath brothers have written an enjoyable, engaging book that is _very_ readable and -- well, duh -- memorable. They apply their own advice, with lots of concrete examples, plenty of storytelling, and "simple" explanations (in the sense of "easy to understand" not "dumbed down"). At least a dozen times while I was reading the book, I interrupted my husband to say, "Hey, let me read you this, it's really great --"

I had several "Aha!" moments, even though I've been a journalist (and thus professional communicator) for many years. The story the Heaths imparted about Nora Ephron's high school journalism teacher will probably stay with me forever; and gosh, I had thought I already *knew* how to write a lead paragraph!

This book is fun as well as immediately useful. Highly recommended.

This was a wonderful book on how to come up with great ideas that won't be easily forgotten. It grabbed my interest from the very first sentence and I literally flew through the book in one night. I now need to go back and examine it more carefully so I can apply what I've learned!

Made to Stick provides practical, real life strategies for creating sticky ideas and the authors give what they feel are the important rudiments of a sticky idea:

1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility
5. Emotions
6. Stories


Although these six basics seem like common sense, they are often not used by business managers in their communications.

It was well researched as well as easy to read. You will find that the book itself is Made to Stick!

Definitely recommended for anyone who ever needs to convey any message effectively. A great read !

This book was chosen by many as the most important book of the year and I absolutely share that praise. If you want to success in nowadays environment, you really need to have clear ideas, with strong basis, easy to understand by others and with minimal possibility to get lost in the execution stage.
Heath brothers made a profound research about the 'ingredients' of successful ideas, and in this book they share their findings, moreover, they teach you how to apply this principles in you daily life so your ideas can reach a high level of achievement.
I believe that this book will become a classic and a it will be a basic reading, just because good ideas increasingly rules who wins.

I don't normally write a book review, and this is my first on amazon. The only reason I feel the urge to write is that I am sure many will benefit tremendously from the framework, ideas and examples in this book (I am not going to repeat the principles here as many other reviewers have done a good job summarizing them). I am an entrepreneur-minded person and find this book has given me many more ways to explore and expand on my ideas. It is not just a book to open the door to the world of ideas - it is a handbook for ideas.

I adore this book and not just because of the cool duct-tape cover. It should be required reading for anyone in the business of persuasion (that includes entrepreneurs, marketing and sales pros, teachers, writers, and many more). It's an entertaining read that's full of terrific stories and examples to illustrate the authors' points.

Well-written, accessible, and most importantly - applicable. I originally read a library copy, and was so impressed with it that a couple of months later I purchased my own copy, essentially as a reference. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in designing effective messages.

Does anyone remember what you say? Do you ever leave a point behind? Or do you just torture people with your long drawn out story of dense details?
Can you remember the story someone just told you 5 minutes ago?
This book gave me 7 tips to communicate in a way that is interesting enough to log into people's memory - try some of them and see what a difference it will make to your audience.

The book delivered on its claims. These concepts can be applied to selling a new idea, product or service both internally and externally. For a company that has very traditional marketing techniques it would be very helpful to pass this along to the marketing and communications staff so that they can shift their paradigms and embrace these concepts.

For some reason I picked up this book thinking it was about marketing. Of course the principles and examples in this book apply to marketing professionals, to be sure, but this book is about communicating. When we communicate we do so through ideas. Some of those ideas remain with us and some do not. I remember hearing that eighty percent of all that is said over a pulpit is lost within a few short hours. But when thinking about the speeches, talk and presentations (in formal and informal settings) that I do remember and what has stuck with me it is clear that the presenter used the characteristics in this book, perhaps without knowing they were doing so. The six skills and habits good communicators employ are: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional and Stories (SUCCESs). Each chapter is broken down to discuss one of these skills and there are drills to help the reader gain an understanding of the meaning and application of each skill. This book is for everyone as we all must communicate and can always learn to do so more effectively.

This book provides a terrific template for making a point and getting it across to your audience.