A sad reality for marketers is that customers forget most ads immediately.  But what makes some marketing messages memorable?  Is there a formula to creating advertising that will stick in the minds of its target?  In their soon-to-be-released book, Made to Stick, authors Chip and Dan Heath come close to providing such a formula.

People remember the message that Jared lost 245 pounds by eating Subway sandwiches every day.  They’re less likely to remember Subway’s previous campaign “7 sandwiches with under 6 grams of fat.”  The authors assert that, for advertising to stick, it must tell a simple story that connects to the customer emotionally.  Of course, it’s not necessarily easy to do that.  Advertisers suffer from what the authors call “the curse of knowledge” – they’re too close to the subject matter, so it’s difficult for them to come up with a simple idea that will resonate with customers.

In their research, the authors found that sticky ideas share certain attributes that are frequently absent in ideas that are less memorable.  They also provide examples of how these attributes work not just for inherently interesting ideas, they can also be applied to ideas that are less exciting (e.g., movie popcorn has 37 grams of saturated fat).  The six traits that are shared by sticky ideas are: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and stories.  To learn more or to pre-order the book, see their website, www.madetostick.com.

To learn which ideas will resonate with your customers, talk to them!  Call Bureau West at (818) 752-7210. 

Sources:  Inc. Magazine, January, 2007; madetostick.com