My sister Emily, the accounting major, has recently been on a Nip/Tuck frenzy, where her fascination for blood and deception has consumed her. I always told her to go pre-med, but my convincing failed miserably. I thought for someone so intrigued with surgery, accounting might not be her forte. Regardless, the FX hit series follows the lives of plastic surgeons Christian Troy and Sean McNamara, as they fulfill the desire to be beautiful. This summer, my sister started season one, and was hooked. Before I knew it, she had run through just about every episode in the series. Personally, I used to be a Nip/Tuck fan, until the storyline took a turn for the worst, and developed some of the most outrageous plots I have ever seen on television.
Fast-forward to December break, it was Christmas Eve, and my family although Jewish, had dinner together. My sister, flat out obsessed with the show at this point, sat at the dinner table surrounded by my 10 cousins, trying to convince the group to give Nip/Tuck a chance. Sharing storyline after storyline and describing character after character, my sister had turned into a broken record and I was determined to do anything to shut her up. Then out of nowhere my interest peaked. It just so happens she brought up a storyline of interest; the kidney thief hoax. Although a slightly different variation than the Heath brother’s, the point was the same. Liz, the practices anesthesiologist, wants liposuction, which just so happens to go against everything she once stood for; natural beauty. Long story short, Liz goes in for surgery, wakes up sans lipo, and with only one kidney.
I vividly remember sitting at that dinner table ready to knock my sister over the head, but the kidney thief story for some reason grasped my attention and I resisted any temptation to change the subject. I was flat out intrigued. *Please do not repeat this to my sister, but later that night I 100 percent went home to watch season 4, and the only reason I am admitting this is because it proves the Heath brothers point that the kidney story was in fact sticky.
This idea of being sticky was taken from Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, “which examined the forces that cause social phenomena to ‘tip,’ or make the leap from small groups to big groups.” Chip Heath and Dan Heath take this examination further and dissect what exactly it means to be sticky. They came up with six characteristics. To be sticky and thus a successful idea, it must be a simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional story. However, it is important to make note that not every idea needs to possess all six characteristics in order to be successful.
“It is like discussing attributes of a great basketball player. You can be pretty sure that any great player has some subset of traits like height, speed, agility, power, and court sense. But you don’t need all of these traits in order to be great. Some great guards are five feet ten and scrawny. And having all the traits doesn’t guarantee greatness: No doubt there are plenty of slow, clumsy seven-footers.”
The Heath brothers use the basketball player story to stress the importance of these six characteristics, while at the same time illustrating their leniency. Throughout the books entirety, the Heath brothers use a checklist, or as they refer to it as a scorecard, to keep track of different messages and their measure of stickiness.
Lets backtrack for a second, and highlight the Heath brother’s kidney hoax opener once again. What characteristics does this story possess? Well, for starters it is simple. Although it is not a sentence long, the story is in fact short and to the point. What could have been a book in itself, was covered in only a single page in the 311-page book.
The kidney story is also unexpected. According to the Heath brothers ‘surprise’ is the key to gaining an audiences attention. The kidney story uses the surprise factor to its advantage. By not sharing the punch line until the end of the story, the storyteller develops suspense and thus gains the audiences attention. When you hear a man who innocently had a drink at an airport bar, wakes up in a tub of ice, kidney theft is the furthest thing from your mind. Here in lies much of why this story is sticky; it is unexpected.
The next characteristic that the kidney story possesses is concreteness. There are specific, concrete details in the story for the audience to remember and recall. The ice-filled bathtub, the tube sticking out of the man’s back, and the note are all vivid images that the audience can make sense of.
Credibility. That is the fourth principle that the Heath brothers recognize as a characteristic of something sticky. However, the kidney story lacks credibility, which is exactly why it is a hoax. It is important to remember that not every idea needs to encompass all six characteristics.
The kidney story is also emotional. According to the Heath brothers it is important to make your audience ‘feel.’ Whether your idea generates emotions of hate, discomfort, love, or sadness, any of the above will lead to an emotional tie to the idea, good or bad. “We are wired to feel things for people, not for abstractions.” Hearing that a man was robbed of his kidney, knowing he endured both emotional and physical pain, will cause the audience to care about the idea, story, or cause at hand.
The last characteristic of a successful sticky idea is that it is story-like. No explanation needed here. The kidney story was in fact presented in story form.
