Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath is a nice little business book on why some ideas "stick in our brains" and why the rest is lost. For example if we think of the Bill Clinton campaign we think of It's the Economy Stupid. That was one of the three things James Carville wrote on the whiteboard. What were the other two - exactly. What was the difference. They have analyzed "sticky" things from each of their disciplines and have found 6 common elements. (most urban legends contain these same elements)
Below are some examples
The one thing I was thinking about today as I finished the book was the McCain campaign. What was his "sticky" message? I couldn't think of one either, but I sure know President Obama's "Change we can believe in." The essence of his message was I am not President Bush, I am not the typical white male, I am not old, I am not what you have always had. Brilliantly successful, but totally meaningless for actual policies. But your average voter doesn't care about the details, on either side of the coin, so he swept the country with the stickier message.
Below are some examples
The one thing I was thinking about today as I finished the book was the McCain campaign. What was his "sticky" message? I couldn't think of one either, but I sure know President Obama's "Change we can believe in." The essence of his message was I am not President Bush, I am not the typical white male, I am not old, I am not what you have always had. Brilliantly successful, but totally meaningless for actual policies. But your average voter doesn't care about the details, on either side of the coin, so he swept the country with the stickier message.
2 comments:
No question that it worked this time and he has spouted policies that many of us could live with to overcome the ones we definitely could not. Now the question is will he stick by those that are not traditionally the Democrats policy or let the Democrats in Congress take the heat for what he really thinks.
Everyone I talked to who voted for Obama could not tell me why, except he would change things. What things? Everything. Yet, we all know that is not really possible, yet people fell for it, now we just sit back and watch what happens. Lots of promises, everything will change, means lots of responsibility. Good luck President.
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