Book Review: Contagious: Why Things Catch On - by Jonah Berger

I saw this book's bright orange cover several times at the store before picking it up. There is a current flourishing of books targeted toward creatives and other marketers who want to deliver a message that will self-propagate. The goal of "going viral", however, is usually not as supportive of long-term success as marketers anticipate. In response to the steady stream of go-viral-quick advice out there, I've become picky in terms of what I'll invest my time in reading. I'm happy to say that Contagious, by Jonah Berger delivered in terms of useful information that moves beyond simple hit videos and the number of followers on your Instagram.

Rather than focusing on a particular medium, Contagious encourages you to consider the reasons people share ideas. He contends that there are discernible drivers in terms of people's motivation to pass things on. By ensuring that these drivers are embedded in the marketing concept from the beginning, companies will increase the likelihood of their brand being amplified by social sharing. He emphasizes that this effect can occur regardless of whether the product or service is inherently interesting or boring.

One example is Blendtec's Will It Blend series on YouTube. The concept is simple. There is a host wearing a lab coat and safety goggles who attempts to blend all kinds of strange things. My personal favorite was the glow sticks! Will It Blend illuminates the great quality of a boring product - blenders - and gets people talking because the ability to successfully blend an iPhone is remarkable. Blendtec leveraged the drivers of social currency and practical value to generate a 700% increase in retail sales of blenders over two years.* As of this writing (September 1, 2017), the Blendtec YouTube channel has 894,000 subscribers.

Each of the drivers of sharing behaviors (social currency, environmental triggers, emotions, degree to which the behavior is public, and practical value) is addressed in detail in its own chapter and features case studies as fascinating as the one above. Consider the $100 cheesesteak sandwich... Importantly, Berger makes connections between and emphasizes the interrelatedness of the drivers. In that way, the reader is encouraged to move away from a silo approach when it comes to developing a campaign.

I recommend this book for brand managers who are interested in having a framework for increasing the inherent shareability of their content such that it converts more customers and drives increased sales.

* statistic taken from the text of the book.