Contagious: How Things Catch On

Jonah Berger Author

One of my all time faves! In a nutshell: People share what makes them look good! Jonah Berger, an assistant professor of marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, is intent on giving readers advice about how to create viral products.  “Contagious” is at its most engaging when Mr. Berger is looking at specific case studies. He writes that Steve Jobs debated whether the Apple logo on the cover of an open laptop should be right-side up for the user of the computer or right-side up to onlookers, and eventually decided that “observability” to the world was more important and “flipped the logo.” He notes that distinctiveness makes for products that advertise themselves — whether it’s clothing logos (like Nike’s swoosh, Lacoste’s crocodile or Ralph Lauren’s polo player); the distinctive tubular Pringles can; or Christian Louboutin’s nail-polish-bright, red-soled shoes. Also see USA Today interview with Jonah.