SXSW Day 3: Harness triggers in everyday life – top of mind means tip of tongue says Jonah Berger in “Contagious: Why Things Catch On”

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SCOTT-DAY2-4.jpgBy Scott Woodhouse at SXSW

On the eve of daylight savings and knowing that today could involve multiple parties, Mish and I kept it super quiet last night. And that’s a good thing, because for the first time so far I’m writing this on the right day, sans hangover. Granted I am at the pub with some weird rum cocktail in hand, but that’s still good clean living for us these days.

Not sure what to make of this, but the highlight of my day today at SXSW was a book reading. In “Contagious: Why Things Catch On”, Jonah Berger explores the science behind social transmission and why people talk about and share some stories more than others. Basically, he attempts to codify the psychological drivers that make content [dare I say it] go “viral”.

Malcom Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” is half wrong

Berger questions marketers’ fixation with the idea of “influencers”, and the notion that there are “special” people out there who have the power to make things catch on. He believes this way of thinking has led us to focus so much on the messenger that we’ve forgotten about the message. According to Berger, “The Tipping Point is half wrong”. Ok Bergs, you’ve got my attention!

Scott-DAy-2.jpgAccording to the book, there are six principles that can guide the creation of content that people will naturally talk about and share:

·  Social currency – Access to VIP areas, the sense of being an insider, stories to re-tell etc.

·  Triggers – Ideas that are pointed to by things in peoples’ everyday environment.

·  Emotion – When we care we share, so make people feel something.

·  Public – We’re social learners and people copy one another, so making things more visible makes them easier to imitate.

·  Practical value – How are our ideas making people better off?

·  Stories – Ideas that are wrapped up in a broader narrative are more sharable.

Most of this stuff is already widely accepted, but there were a couple of interesting nuggets in there that are worth mentioning…

Harness triggers in everyday life – top of mind means tip of tongue

Berger believes brands need to craft ideas that are frequently triggered by things in peoples’ everyday worlds.

He used the example of Rebecca Black’s insanely viral song “Friday”. It’s been called “the worst video of all time”, but if it’s so terrible, why did it become so popular? If you look at YouTube queries for “Rebecca Black”, there’s a pattern. Search spikes are seven days apart – every Friday. The song is equally bad on every day of the week, but the key is that Friday works as a kind of trigger – a reminder for people to play it and share it.

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SCOTT-DAY2-5.jpgSo there seem to be two key implications of this idea for marketers:

1.  Consider the context – Think deeply about the environment your audience lives in. What are objects and behaviours in their everyday worlds that you can tap into?

2. Grow your habitat – How frequently do triggers occur? Friday is a good weekly trigger, but what if you could tap into and own daily coffee-drinking moments for example?

Use stories as a Trojan Horse for the brand message

Storytelling isn’t new, but it’s a massive topic here at SXSW, and Berger had an interesting take on it.

He believes in making brands so integral to the creative idea that people can’t re-tell the story without mentioning it. The Panda Cheese spots are a good example of this. “I challenge you to explain the Panda Cheese ads without mentioning panda and cheese”.

So some interesting points landed, but [without having read the book yet] I do wonder why Berger hasn’t considered things like meme culture and participation or unexpectedness as drivers of sharing [think Harlem Shake]. But more importantly, I’m not sure I believe there’s a “science” to engineering contagious content. What he seems to have overlooked is the power of creativity – moments of magic that can’t be codified. Oh, and not to mention damn good luck!

ACOTT-DAY2-3.jpgMish and I saw a whole bunch of other excellent stuff during the day. The session “The best interface is no interface” was the goods though. It posed that sometimes, the problem with the interface is the interface itself. So instead of just slapping a shiny new touchscreen on something, first think about the existing human behavior and how we can enable it – not slow it down with layers of tech. This idea of fitting in with peoples’ world and how they like to do things is pretty consistent across all areas of the conference – as summed up beautifully by @chrisrisdon: “We should look at what kind of impact people’s behaviour should have on design”.  

Other highlights: Mish and I being harassed by cross dressers and yams at the trade show, Google’s talking shoes and their new vision for the future of advertising: #artcopycode.

Right then, off to the Crowdtap party and then to see Alpine. Out.

Scott Woodhouse (pictured second from top) is a planner and Mish Fabok is a digital producer – both are from Whybin\TBWA Group, Melbourne and both are in Austin to get serious about interactive, tacos and parties. Woodhouse is writing a daily SXSW diary exclusively for Campaign Brief.