Month: May 2014

As a business owner or manager, sometimes you need to communicate information of a temporary nature to your customers: something breaks down, you’re running late, etc. hence the homemade sign. Although most of the time these signs are boring, I’ve noticed a few examples were people took the time to inject a little bit a personality and humor into a mundane message. Although this is a little thing, I think it makes a difference in how you are perceived by your customers. To some, it may come across as unprofessional but I think it gives a business personality, which makes it approachable.

I came across this sign at Wheeler Farms in Salt Lake City, Utah:

I saw this on a vending machine:

This sign comes from a Quality Inn, which I found online (Cheezburger):

and this sign from a Tattoo shop (Cheezburger):

Next time you need to make a sign, think about what you can do to make it not boring.

Wharton Business School marketing professor, Jonah Berger, recently put out this book on what makes certain ideas catch on. The book follows in the same vein as Chip and Dan Heath’s “Made To Stick” and Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” but with a greater emphasis in marketing. In fact, he even mentions both books as inspiration for his. He lays out 6 principles that make for contagious ideas and gives several illustrations in each area: Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, Stories (which makes the acronym STEPPS).

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It had some interesting point and examples. However, I didn’t feel the principles differed all the greatly from Made to Stick or the Tipping Point. Had I not recently read Made To Stick, I would have likely found the book more enlightening but instead it served to reinforced those same messages without adding a whole lot. But if you have not read Made To Stick, I would go ahead and dive in.

Check out this quick summary from the author:

Check out this cool video for Caterpillar. They used their machines to play a giant game of Jenga. I like it because it’s a fun and spreadable idea but also because it demonstrates their machine’s precision.