The phenomenon of things going viral is a recent one, thanks largely to social media. Is there a way to decipher this trend? While there is no clear formula yet, the book Contagious by Jonah Berger, gives some great insights into how to engineer this, through a whole bunch of engaging stories and examples. Do pick up this book!

1. Book Review:
Why do certain things
“CATCH ON?”

2. How much would you pay for this?
• Rs 100 ?
• Rs 500?
• Rs.1000?
• Rs 5000?
But what if, you paid Rs.5000 – and then thought it was
totally worth it ?

3. Why do some products, ideas and behaviors succeed when others fail?
• Something BETTER ?
• Attractive PRICING?
• Advertising?
But how do we explain these?
• Baby names?
• Or Kolaveri Di ?

4. A new currency: SocialTransmission & Word of Mouth
• Every hour > 100 million
conversations about brands!
• Word of mouth is the primary
factor behind 20-50 percent
of all purchasing decisions
• Word of mouth leads to an
almost 200$ increase in
restaurant sales
• A 5 star review on Amazon
leads to approximately 20
more books sold than a one
star review!
Its more persuasive & much more targeted!

5. So, how do we go about generating Word of Mouth ?
• Online Presence?
• Only 7% ofWOM actually
happens online!
• Finding the “Influentials” ?
• Involve “babies” and “kitten” ?
• Randomness ?
• Are some products / ideas just
born contagious?
Understanding contagiousness :The Story of Blendtec

6. The Six Principles of Contagiousness
• Social Currency
 What we talk about influences how others see us
• Triggers
 Top of mind leads to tip of tongue
• Emotion
 When we care, we share
• Public
 Monkey See, Monkey Do
• PracticalValue
 Because people innately like to help others
• Stories
 Because stories are the vessels that carry
ST E P P S

7. 1. Social Currency
• Smartbargains.com versus Rue La La.
• Mc.Ribs from Mc.Donalds
• A hot dog place called CRIF DOGS & their bar called PLEASE DON’T
TELL !
• Snapple Facts:
 A mosquito has 47 teeth!
 Fish can drown!
• Jet Blue: A low cost airline experience!
• The BlairWitch Project: 35K investment grossing 248 million USD
worldwide!
• Frequent flyer miles, Credit cards, Facebook friends & likes,Twitter
followers, Farmville
• Burberry:The Art of theTrench

8. 1. Social Currency: Learning
• If something is a secret, people may well be more
likely to talk about it
• WOM (Word of Mouth) is a prime tool for making
a good impression
• Remarkable things (unusual, extraordinary,
surprising, worthy of notice or attention) get
talked about more often & more “remarkably”!
• Breaking patterns generates surprise. So do
mystery and controversy.
• Game mechanics boosts word of mouth
• Scarcity and exclusivity boostWOM by making
people feel like insiders. Having insider
knowledge is social currency
ST E P P S

9. 2.Triggers
• Mars bars: Mid-1977 sales uptick
• Effect of music on wine sales in super stores
• Effect of triggers in elections
• Budweissers “Wassup?” campaign
• Kit Kat and Coffee
• Using competitors as triggers
• Quiz:What gets moreWOM – DisneyWorld or Cheerios?

10. 2.Triggers: Learning
• Interesting products receive more immediateWOM – but not necessarily
ongoingWOM
• Triggers are like little environmental reminders for related concepts and
ideas
• People converse & share – not only to look good, but also to fill
conversational spaces.Topics that are triggered by the environment get
talked about more
• By acting as reminders, triggers not only get people talking, they keep
them talking
• A strong trigger can be much more effective than a catchy slogan
• Negative reviews / messaging can also be triggers
• Effectiveness of a trigger depend on frequency, strength of the link, time
of occurrence & contextST E P P S

11. 3. Emotion
• The mysterious cough, caught on film!
• Susan Boyle audition in Britans GotTalent
• United Breaks Guitars
• Google: Parisian Love
• Delhi: Nirbhaya case

12. 3. Emotion: Learning
• More interesting articles are 25% more likely to make the “most
emailed list”
• More useful articles are 30% more likely to make the “most
emailed list”
• Awe inspiring articles are 30% more likely to make the “most
emailed list”
• Emotion sharing is a bit like social glue, maintaining and
strengthening relationships
• When we care, we share. Emotions drive people to action
ST E P P S
HIGHAROUSAL LOW AROUSAL
POSITIVE
Awe
ExcitementAmusement
(Humour)
Contentment
NEGATIVE
Anger
Anxiety
Sadness

13. 4. Public
• FlippedApple logos
• Social proofing: How we choose
restaurants
• Or even how people choose kidneys
• MavalliTiffin Rooms
• The Movember Foundation
• The hotmail revolution – followed by
iphone & Blackberry
• Livestrong wristbands

14. 4. Public: Learning
• “Seeing” others do something makes people more likely to do
it themselves. If its hard to see, its hard to imitate.
• If something is built to show, its built to grow
• Behavior is public – and thoughts are private. People can
imitate only when they can see what others are doing
• The more public a product or service is, the more it triggers
people to take action
• Behavorial residues facilitate imitation and provide chances for
people to talk about related products or ideas
• Making the private, public – can be double edged
ST E P P S

15. 5. PracticalValue
• Clean Ears Everytime
• Daniel Kahneman & Prospect theory
• The psychology of the “sale”
• The tenet of “diminishing sensitivity”
• Highlighting incredible value can be by:
• Promotions that seem surprising or
surpassing expectations
• Limited availability
• Timing or Frequency
• Quantity limits
• Who gets access
• The rule of 100

16. 4. PracticalValue: Learning
• Offering practical value helps make things contagious
• Passing along useful things also strengthens social bonds.
• Practical value is really about saving people time or money or
helping them have good experiences. Sharing is caring.
• People don’t evaluate things in absolute terms.They evaluate
them relative to a comparison standard or “reference point”
• The same change has a smaller impact the farther it is from the
reference point.
• Narrower content is more likely to be shared
ST E P P S

17. 6. Stories
• TheTrojan Horse
• Panchatantra, Aesops fables,
Mahabharata, Ramayana, Odyssey
• The Jared Fogle Subway story
• Tim Pipers “Evolution”
• Ron Bensimhon: Fool in the pool
• Evians “Roller babies”

18. 5. Stories: Learning
• 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
• Stories are always engrossing and engage people
• Stories act as vessels, carriers that help carry and
transmit information to others
• People are less likely to argue against stories than
against advertising claims
• Virality is most valuable when the brand or product
benefit is integral to the story.When its woven so
deeply into the story that people cant tell the story
without mentioning itST E P P S

19. www.focusu.com