Chip Heath

For all of you who were as taken with Chip's message as I was, here are some things that velcroed themselves to my mind:
Ten percent of arts support comes from local officials which mounts to three billion dollars on a national level.  Is that fact or urban legend?  Well, since Bob Lynch said it, it must be etched in stone somewhere in Washington.  After all, he does wear a tie.

You only use ten per cent of your brain. Is that fact or urban legend?

"Who did the research on that? This is a bogus idea that has persisted over eighty years."  Chip has an easy, everyman kind of scratching his head kind of appeal when he speaks.  This works well on large crowds especially when you say things like, "The Great Wall of China is the only man made structure visible from outer space. But the Wall is thin, like a two lane highway, or a Walmart.  Shouldn't you be able to see those too?

How about this?  Guy goes in a bar ends up in an ice filled bathtub, missing a kidney.  Would that change your behavior?  This is a tale widely told on college campuses around the world, where this might actually happen.

These are silly urban legends, tales with no support but they spread. What is a sticky idea ?  When JFK said  let's put a man on the moon within the next decade, that was a sticky idea.  My dad worked for IBM and thought of himself as working to put a man on the moon.  True and useful idea that affect behavior and how people think about themselves."

OK, here's the skinny

Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotional
Stories

Our messages need as many of these attributes. Simplicity is the art of exclusion.  What you don't say. Trial lawyer polls jurors after the verdict.  If you say ten things you say nothing.

High concept pitches like these:
Blockbuster by mail with no late fees.  Netflix
France without the attitude.  Visit Quebec.

Unexpected To get attention, break a pattern. Surprise causes you to stop your world, eyes wide, jaws drop so you can't talk.  Art is pattern breaking. Pattern, a diet.  A diet that circulates like an urban legend, the Atkins diet because it is different.

Some examples: Fitness clubs have hit a plateau. Can't grow market share beyond twenty five percent.  Why? The pattern is young fit people in ads. Curves, a niche fitness club is small, for women, quick, near offices, and is one of the fastest growing businesses in this industry.

How do we keep attention?  Think of evening news teasers.  Tune in at eleven.

Psychology professor Robert Cialdini studied science writing.  What are the rings of Saturn made of?  Three distinguished teams reported in the following result:, Cambridge said gas, MIt said dust, Cal Tech said ice crystals.  He decided to emulate the excitement in these science writings by working in a mystery, or opening up with a puzzle leaving students begging to know the answer. Make people curious about how art is made, how artists use tools, etc.  By the way, ice covered dust was the answer.
Concrete You feel something.  Kidneys, bathtub full of ice.  You shiver.

Big brother, big sisters. What would make you give time or money? Little moments, big magic?

Dave Deforest-Stalls, of Big Brothers, Big Sisters in Colorado created a series of powerful emotional experiences that call up pictures in people's minds that they can see and hear that answering the following:
You know it's mentoring when....
Get people to care enough to act.

Roadside litter in Texas.  Eighteen to thirty year old truck driving male (Bubba) is the target audience.  How do you get Bubba to care enough to not litter? Cute little owl?  Bubba shoots animals. Crying Indian? Bubba thinks they are sissies. Fines for roadside litter $500? Might appeal to Bubba's rebel side. Don't mess with Texas. This message was launched with images of famous Texans.  Five years, total amount of litter dropped seventy five percent.  Worked with Bubbas and other Texans and their shared pride of being Texans.

Change consequences. Consequences vs identity. Make identity is an issue. Jewish history museum, Paris, France wanted to become one of the top tourist attractions in Paris. Their message was: How do you preserve identity?  Jewish people preserve their identity in a culture.  This message resonates universally with people and their identity.
Find your right identity.  This a story that needs to be told.

Why don't we see more brilliantly designed ideas? The curse of knowledge.  Experts forget what it is like not to know.  Experts can be geeks, doctors, or eleven year old video game players.

Simple.      Complex,nuance
Concrete.   Abstraction
Emotion.     Why, seems obvious.

Murray Dranoff, duo piano foundation wrote a mission statement to inspire people to love duo piano music.  Two pianos in a bar banging out show tunes?  Why do they deserve to exist?

Here's their original mission statement:
We exist to protect, preserve, and promote the music of duo piano.

Here's what they came up with: The sound of an orchestra but the iintimacy of chamber music. Think of the attributes of success.

How do you overcome Curse of Knowledge?  If you can explain it to Aunt Winifred, you have done it.