Unleashing the Ideavirus

Unleashing the Ideavirus
40
 www.ideavirus.com
While It May Appear Accidental, It’s Possible To Dramatically Increase The
Chances Your Ideavirus Will Catch On And Spread.
This is the really cool part. Once you understand the fundamental elements behind the
propagation of an ideavirus, you can unleash your own.
Just because ideaviruses have usually spread through unknown means or accidental events
doesn’t mean that there isn’t a science to building and managing them.
You can invest in designing your product to make it virusworthy. Then if you understand
the eight elements of the ideavirus formula, you increase your chances of spreading your
ideavirus with every step along the way.
This can change the way you approach all of your marketing. If launching an ideavirus is the
most powerful thing you can do for a product and service, and there are steps you can take to
increase the likelihood that this will occur, you’ve got to try!

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Unleashing the Ideavirus
41
 www.ideavirus.com
The Heart Of The Ideavirus: Sneezers
SNEEZERS
Some people are far more likely to spread an ideavirus than others. Malcolm
Gladwell (author of the brilliant book and ideavirus, 
The Tipping Point) 
calls this the Law of
the Few and breaks the key virus spreaders into three groups: Connectors, Mavens and
Salespeople. What’s critical in the analysis is understanding that some folks are dead ends,
while others will enable and amplify your ideavirus.
In his best example, Gladwell talks about the success of Paul Revere in warning us that the
British were coming. It turns out that a second man, William Dawes, went on a similar ride
the same night—but his was a total failure.
Why did Dawes fail where Revere succeeded? It’s because people knew Paul Revere. They
trusted him. He had credibility. And so when he said something, people were willing to
listen and believe. Revere was a sneezer. Dawes, a loner, tried hard but couldn’t get the idea
to become a virus.
Sneezers are at the core of any ideavirus. Sneezers are the ones who when they tell ten or
twenty or 100 people—people 
believe
them.

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