Tag: Contagious: Stories

Virality

When trying to generate word of mouth, remember to focus on “What people are talking about”

Chris Labs

On August 16, 2004, Canadian Ron Bensimhon had broken into the Olympics. He wasn’t actually on the Canadian swim team. When Rom jumped off the springboard, he wasn’t naked, but he wasn’t wearing swim trunks either. He wore a blue tutu and white polka dot tights. And emblazoned across his chest was the name of an Internet casino, GoldenPalace.com. Millions of people were watching, and the story got picked up by news outlets around the world. It also got huger amount of word-of-mouth chatter. Someone crashing the Olympics and diving into a pool in a tutu? What a story. Pretty … Continue reading When trying to generate word of mouth, remember to focus on “What people are talking about”

Learnings

You can try to get people to learn information… But people remember stories

Chris Labs

That’s because people don’t think in terms of information. They think in terms of narratives. But while people focus on the story itself, information comes along for the ride. Narratives are inherently more engrossing than basic facts. They have a beginning, middle, and end. If people get sucked in early, they’ll stay for the conclusion. […] You started down a path and you want to know how it ends. Until it does, they’ve captured your attention. Take the story of the coat my cousin bought from Land’s End. -Contagious, p.181 Continue reading You can try to get people to learn information… But people remember stories