Summary Of Contagious Why Things Catch On By Jonah Berger

Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger is a marketing book that uncovers the hidden truth behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Berger is a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and begins the book with a catchy opening that instantly captured my attention. It was about Howard Wein who recently moved to Philadelphia. Wein earned his MBA in hotel management and helped Starwood Hotels start its W brand as well as handled billions of dollars in revenue as Starwood’s corporate director of food and beverage. He was done with “big” and wanted to direct his attention to a smaller restaurant focused environment. Consequently, he helped launch a new luxury boutique steakhouse called Barley Prime.
Wein knew that creating a restaurant with good food and a great atmosphere would not be enough so he sought to create something that would be talked about and set Barley Prime aside from the rest of the steakhouses in Philadelphia. Average was not an option and neither was shutting down, so Wein created the $100 cheesesteak. But why would he do that when cheesesteaks sell for 4 to 5 dollars at a ton of restaurants nearby? Because he did not just create another cheesesteak with a hefty price tag, he created a conversation piece. The response was incredible and people did not just order the sandwich, they rushed to tell others. It was featured in countless articles, eaten by a ton of celebs and filmed for segments on TV.
Another example of a contagious story that Berger started with was a seemingly average blender that evoked emotions like surprise and amazement and generated over 6 millions views the first week on YouTube.
These videos are called, Will it Blend? and it features the CEO of Blendtec, Tom Dickson, putting random items into blender to see if they will blend, and they almost always did. But how did these videos generate so many views? That is because it made the user “cool and in the know” for passing it on and provided useful information. Berger sections the book into six chapters, or six STEPPS as he calls them, that causes things to be talked about, shared and imitated. He believes that products, ideas and behaviors catch on because 1. They are just plain better: People tend to lean toward products that are easier to use and more effective. 2. Attractive Pricing: Not surprisingly, people prefer to pay less than more for products and services and 3. Advertising: Customers need to know about the products because they just jump the gun and buy. Berger thinks that quality, pricing and advertising play a large role in products and ideas being successful but that is not all. Two important factors are social influence and word of mouth. People love to tell stories, news and information with those around them. Word of mouth is not just frequent, it is also important because it is more targeted and persuasive than traditional
advertising.