Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath Summary

Made to Stick explores why certain ideas thrive while others fade, offering a framework to create memorable messages. The Heath brothers identify six principles—Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions, and Stories (SUCCESs)—that help ideas "stick." Using examples like urban legends and successful campaigns, the book teaches how to combat the "curse of knowledge" and craft impactful communication.

This book is essential for marketers, educators, entrepreneurs, and leaders seeking to improve how they convey ideas. It’s particularly valuable for anyone struggling to translate complex concepts into relatable messages, from corporate trainers designing workshops to nonprofit advocates driving social change.

Yes—ranked a bestseller and praised for practicality, it blends academic research with real-world examples. Readers gain actionable strategies, like using the SUCCESs framework to refine pitches, training materials, or public health messages. Its insights remain relevant for digital communication in 2025.

The SUCCESs model outlines six traits of sticky ideas:

• Simplicity: Strip ideas to their core.
• Unexpectedness: Surprise to capture attention.
• Concreteness: Use vivid details, not abstractions.
• Credibility: Support claims with data or analogies.
• Emotions: Make people care.
• Stories: Share narratives that inspire action.

The "curse of knowledge" refers to experts’ inability to explain concepts simply, assuming others share their expertise. For example, the "tapper and listener" study shows how tapping a song’s rhythm (easy for the tapper) often baffles listeners unaware of the tune.

Marketers can use SUCCESs principles to craft campaigns that resonate. For instance, Blendtec’s "Will It Blend?" series (Unexpectedness) went viral by showing blenders pulverizing iPhones, proving Concrete demonstrations beat generic claims.

• Subway’s Jared Campaign: A relatable story (Emotions) transformed a weight-loss journey into a brand icon.
• Kidney theft urban legend: Combines Unexpectedness and Concreteness to spread fear.

While Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point examines why ideas go viral, Made to Stick focuses on how to design them. Both emphasize storytelling, but the Heaths provide a step-by-step toolkit versus Gladwell’s sociological analysis.

Some argue the SUCCESs framework oversimplifies communication, neglecting cultural or contextual nuances. Others note that "sticky" ideas can spread misinformation as easily as beneficial messages—though the book emphasizes ethical use.

In an era of information overload, its principles help cut through digital noise. For example, using Stories in TikTok campaigns or Simplicity in AI-driven chatbots ensures messages resonate amid shortening attention spans.

• “The most basic way to make people care is to form an association between something they don’t care about and something they do.”
• “Stories act as a simulation... a flight simulator for the brain.”

These emphasize linking ideas to existing beliefs and using narratives as teaching tools.

Leaders learn to replace jargon with Concrete metaphors (e.g., “Run operations like a Formula 1 pit crew”) and use Stories to align teams. A CEO might share a customer’s struggle to humanize a new policy.