Contagious Why Things Catch On

Will It
Blend?
), bars (Please Don’t Tell), and breakfast cereals (Cheerios). “Naturally” exciting products,
like discount shopping (Rue La La) and high-end restaurants (Barclay Prime’s hundred-dollar
cheesesteak) and less traditionally buzz-worthy goods like corn (Ken Craig’s “Clean Ears
Everytime”) and online search (Google’s “Parisian Love”). Products (iPod’s white headphones) and
services (Hotmail) but also nonprofits (Movember and Livestrong bands), health behaviors (“Man
Drinks Fat”), and whole industries (Vietnamese nail salons). Even soap (Dove’s “Evolution”). Social
influence helps all sorts of products and ideas catch on.
Second, we saw that rather than being caused by a handful of special “influential” people, social
epidemics are driven by the products and ideas themselves.
Sure, every great story has a hero. Tippi Hedren helped Vietnamese women learn about manicures,
and George Wright had the creative idea that started 
Will It Blend?
But while these individuals
provided the initial spark, they’re only one small part of the story. Describing why a small handful of
cool or connected people (so-called influentials) are not as important to social epidemics as we
might think, sociologist Duncan Watts makes a nice comparison to forest fires. Some forest fires are
bigger than others, but no one would claim that the size of the fire depends on the exceptional nature
of the initial spark. Big forest fires aren’t caused by big sparks. Lots of individual trees have to catch
fire and carry the flames.
Contagious products and ideas are like forest fires. They can’t happen without hundreds, if not
thousands, of regular Joes and Janes passing the product or message along.
So why 
did
thousands of people transmit these products and ideas?
And that’s where we get to the third point: certain characteristics make products and ideas more
likely to be talked about and shared. You might have thought it was just random why some things
catch on, that certain products and ideas just got lucky. But it’s not just luck. And it’s not a mystery.
The same key principles drive all sorts of social epidemics. Whether it’s about getting people to save
paper, see a documentary, try a service, or vote for a candidate, there is a recipe for success. The
same six principles, or STEPPS, drive things to catch on.

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Social Currency 
We share things that make us look good 
Triggers 
Top of mind, tip of tongue 
Emotion 
When we care, we share 
Public 
Built to show, built to grow 
Practical Value 
News you can use 
Stories 
Information travels under the guise of idle chatter 
So if we’re trying to make a product or idea contagious, think about how to build in these key
STEPPS.
Some of this can happen in the design of the product or idea itself. The hundred-dollar cheesesteak
was engineered to have Social Currency. Rebecca Black’s song was frequently triggered because of
its title. Susan Boyle’s performance evoked lots of Emotion. Movember raised millions for men’s
cancer by taking a once private behavior and using moustaches to make it Public. Ken Craig’s “Clean
Ears Everytime” video is two minutes of pure Practical Value.
But these STEPPS can also be built into messaging around a product or idea. Blendtec’s blenders
had always been powerful, but by showing that power in a remarkable way, the 
Will It Blend?
videos
generated Social Currency and got people buzzing. Kit Kat didn’t change its product, but by linking it
to a popular beverage (coffee), the company increased the number of Triggers to make people think
(and talk) about the candy bar. People share Vanguard’s