Dan Heath looks like a buttoned up sportscaster as he sits in front of the New York skyline at a broad cherry desk. His brother Chip sits next to him, looking gleefully wonkish, with wire-rimmed glasses and a broom of fine hair combed staight down onto his forehead.
Together, they are the authors of Made to Stick, a business book that attempts to bottle what poets and artists have known since the dawn of time–that when it comes to words, surprising specifics are better than predictable generalizations–that blue butterflies works better than azure-hued insects.
In appealing simplicity, they lay out why this is so, and give examples from the marketing world. For instance, one of the most successful campaigns in recent years has been Jared, the Subway spokesperson, who lost 245 pounds by eating Subway every day.
Jared’s ad is simple–a fat guy lost a lot of weight. It is surprising to learn that one can lose weight eating fast food. It is concrete, especially when Jared holds up his gi-normous pants. It is credible because Jared is like us–a regular guy. It has emotion in it, because it is a story of triumph. And finally, it works because it’s a story about a fat guy who was on a diet and made it work.
And that’s what you learn in this book. They have an acronym for it. SUCCES. S for simplicity. U for unexpected. C for concrete. C for credible. E for emotion. And S for story.
SUCCES helps us remember that simplicity is more persuasive than complexity. That the unexpected grabs attention more than the predictable. That the concrete is more graspable than the general and abstract. That credibility with the audience is essential. That emotion has to be present. And finally, that narrational discourse is usually more interesting than rational discourse–in other words, stories hold attention.
All good stuff for presenters. Now, how do we get this into our data-rich presentations?