The Stickiness Factor
Law #2
Molly, Kamila, Grace, Emily, Rachael, Chelsey, Maggie, Cleary
Defining the Law
A simple modification can drastically change
how information is relayed to the audience,
to make it more memorable
-Much of what we are told or read or watch we won’t remember (effectiveness
of a 15-sec. advertisement is practically at 0%)
- “Messengers are what make something spread. But the content of the
message matters, too. And the specific quality that a message needs to be
successful is the quality of 'stickiness.' Is the message-or the food, or the
movie, or the product-memorable? Is it so memorable, in fact, that it can
create change, that it can spur someone to action?"
Example : Tetanus Shot
-Howard Leventhal, a social psychologist (1960) conducted an experiment on
a group of seniors at Yale University
-Each group got a 7-page booklet on the dangers of tetanus, and the
importance of getting a shot
-Half the students received a book filled with gruesome pictures while the
other got a book without pictures
-A month later, only 3% of all students that were part of the experiment went
for a tetanus shot
-A small change was made, and the percentage rose from 3% to 28%
-a schedule of times when the tetanus shot was being administered at the
nurse’s office
Example: Restaurant Popularity
- Roger Horchow faxed all his buddies about a fab
restaurant that his daughter took him to
- Word-of-mouth can be a very strong advertising tactic
because people are more likely to trust the opinions of
their friends than an ad or something of the like
- But these recommendations need to have substance, the
restaurant has to be a memorable place in order to keep
people talking about it. It has to be so fantastic that
people feel the need to return and/or tell others about it.
Example: Children’s Television
Gladwell had researched his “Stickiness Factor” on a
demographic who are at the age where the human brain
is the most sticky- Early Childhood
- Used children’s television to test the effectiveness of
retention in a child’s brain
- Sesame Street
Sesame Street
- One of the most popular children’s shows in
history
- Created to boost literacy rates of young
children (especially disadvantaged kids)
- The producers applied trial and error in
order to discover the most effective way to
teach children through television
Sesame Street’s “Oscar’s Blending”
-The producers had conducted an experiment where they tested the children on their ability to
absorb a certain word spelled and explained in a certain episode
- In the specific episode, “Oscar’s Blending” , Oscar the muppet, and his friends played a game
where words are put together and taken apart
- the word “Cat” was repeated and was assembled at the bottom of the screen while the muppets
repeat it, and moved around repeatedly
- Only 35% of the children were paying attention to the written letters
- 0% read the letters from left to right
- After analyzing the data, producers realized that
-having the word at the bottom was useless as children’s eyes are drawn to the center of their
viewpoints, making it hard for them to memorize
- the constant movement of the characters drew their attention away from learning the words,
defeating the purpose of the episode
- producers had seen the errors and corrected them in later episodes
Sesame Street’s “Hug”
-Different approach than “Oscar’s Blending”
- calm, one on one lesson with a female muppet
-The muppet is attempting to teach the children the word “Hug”, by sounding out the word,
separately letter by letter, and repeating very often
- While she sounded out the words, the letters were put in the center of the screen in order to keep
the children’s attention while calmly teaching them the word
-76% were watching the letters shown on-screen
- 83% were reading the letters left to right
- Comparing both of the sketches, you realize that children take in information when
-there is less interaction of characters on screen
- the information is centered
- the word is repeated multiple times
Sesame Street Videos
As you watch the following videos try to apply
the aspects of the stickiness factor to
determine which clip from Sesame Street is
stickier.
http://youtu.be/qfk_FgFtk_g
http://youtu.be/WaMggdSm3fM
Sesame Street Videos
Not sticky: Spelling “RUN”
This clip does not have the stickiness factor because there is too
much movement in the video and the words are located at the
bottom of the screen, not where children tend to look.
Sticky: Spelling “HOT”
This clip is much stickier because it makes the letters the biggest
feature on the screen and puts them in the center so that they are
in plain view. Also, the actions of the muppet act out the word
“hot,” making the clip even more memorable to children when
they can link the letters to the word to the meaning.