The Tipping Point ~Malcolm Gladwell

How To Start a Revolution

Dalyce Armstrong, Barinder Atwal, Derek Campbell,

Brad Vandenberg & Christian Watson

Why Are You Here?

• What is a ‘Tipping Point’?• Why you NEED to care• The Pieces:

– The Stickiness Factor– The Law of a Few

• Connectors• Mavens• Salespeople

– The Magic Number 150

• The Ultimate Conclusion

A Tipping Point Is…

• One Dramatic Moment of Critical Mass

• The “Boiling Point”

• Where Unexpected becomes Expected

• Characteristic of Modern Change

Tipping Points…

• ‘Tip’ due to a few select carriers

• Ideas and Messages spread like viruses

• Rapid geometric progression to infinity

• A function of those who transmit them

• Small Changes Large Effects

Why Should You Care?

Change is an Epidemic…

Why Not Start Your Own?

The Stickiness Factor

• We live in the Age of Information– Many networks that connect us to the

world– We shut ourselves off to noisy

channels– Society is becoming numb

• Messages just don’t stick like they used to

It Needs to Stick

• The goal is to get ideas to pass the barrier and make the message distinct

• Messages have certain characteristics that make them remain active in the recipients mind– It needs to make an impact and stick

Message Construct

– The message must have right timing and have the right context

– Recipient needs to become a participant, not just an audience

– You must know what drives the recipient and tailor it to them

– Stickiness Sample

Package it Right

• The content and packaging of a message needs to be right– Message must be replaced and tweaked

several times before tiny changes cause the message to become sticky

• Must entice, not repel, to look deeper– We tend to act on things that are personnel

• The Present – You must use strategic foresight– New ways of communicating must be found

Have the Right Target

• There is a narrow line between an epidemic that tips and one that does not– Know who the best recipient is to

spread the message

The Law of the Few

• Epidemics– Simple Start

– Nature of Messenger• Word of mouth• Rumours

• Mavens

• Connectors

Mavens

• Information Specialists

• Problem Solvers

• Databanks

• Persuasion

• Knowledge

• Collaborate with connectors

• “Computer Hubs”

Connectors

• People Specialists– Special gift of bonding– Know many people– Social Connections

• Acquaintances – Occupy different worlds– “Weak tie”

• Trendsetters

• Salespeople

Social Glue

• Spreads the message

• Internet– A majority of the world is connected– Email

• Spreads the message quickly• Builds Relationships

– http://www.myspace.com – http://www.youtube.com

Spreading the Message

• Verbal Clues– Persuasion

• Non-verbal Clues– “Interactional Synchrony”– Motor Mimicry

• Emotions• Emotionally Contagious

Example: Yawning

• Malcolm Gladwell

• Yawning– Powerful Act– Stimulus– Causes other people to yawn– Ever-widening, yawning circle

Marketing Diagram

The Magic Number 150

• The Maximum Amount of Friends

– Brain is hardwired to pay attention to about 150 people

– The larger the neo-cortex, the larger the group you associate with

The Magic Number 150

• The ones you would feel most comfortable with– You would come uninvited for a drink

• Any increase in the 150 creates a burden

The Magic Number 150

• Robin Dunbar found that the average hunter gatherer society contains 148.4 people.

• Same holds true for Hutterites– When a colony becomes larger then

150 people, they separate into 2 colonies.

The Magic Number 150

• Peer pressure is much more persuasive then a vague concept of a boss.

Gore Associates

• Responsible for Gore-tex and various technology cables.

• Plants are no larger then 150

• Only 150 parking spaces constructed

Conclusion

• The ‘Tipping Point’

–The Stickiness Factor

–The Law Of The Few

• Connectors

• Mavens

• Salespeople

–The Magic Number 150

Any Questions??