Blog #9

In this blog post I’d like to focus on the portion of this reading from Made to Stick that is concerned with analogy. Heath & Heath use the example of a movie studio in Hollywood, emphasizing that they essentially make $100 million dollar bets on movie ideas hoping one of them will hit, listening to thousands upon thousands of movie ideas searching for the one that will make millions. The authors posit that the reason so much of Hollywood seems to be cut from ideas that have already become popular is because it’s true. A lot of movies are just variations on a theme. In this way, analogy is a creative act because while referencing something that already is in existence may seem to be totally effortless, it’s the interesting twist on an already-established storyline that really makes a good idea. That twist is hard to find, but when you do find it, your product or community can take off – people find something familiar within the construct of your idea so they can relate it to their own experiences, but you also provide something novel to excite them and motivate them to action. Analogies are important in coming up with viral ideas, because in order for something to take off it cannot be completely alien to consumers, but it needs to be edgy enough to be appealing.