The Tipping Point: Book Review

I want to start this book review with Gladwell’s words, “Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push - in just the right place - it can be tipped.” (Gladwell, 2000) According to Gladwell, a little effort can result in a big change. I enjoyed reading this book because Gladwell focuses on showing us how to achieve the results we want.

The main idea behind the whole book is the tipping point. In Russia, we have one idiom – the last water drop overflows the whole cup. It SMXLL​means that the last water drop has minimum effort, but it has the greatest effect. This is a tipping point. Gladwell himself describes the tipping point as ''one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once.'' (Gladwell, 2000)

I think the author did a great job in illustrating how our ideas, products, or messages can be easily spread like viruses. All viruses have one common feature – they can spread easily and very fast across the whole population until it reaches the tipping point and explodes into an epidemic.

From the book, I have learned that there are scientific principles behind tipping points. They are the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. (Gladwell, 2000)

My favorite principle is the Stickiness Factor. It is about memorable and catchy ideas. This principle reminded me of another book called Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Both books explain why we remember some ideas, slogans, or products. It is especially important in my major – advertising. For example, Nike’s “Just Do it” slogan has a great stickiness factor as well as McDonald’s “I’m loving it.” Gladwell did a great job explaining how to understand, use, and even measure the stickiness factor. The author gives example about Sesame Street. By measuring kids attention to the show, and when kids get distracted, psychologists were able to find out when to tell stories in the show. They found out that kids are paying more attention to the show when the muppets were used to interact with the audience. Now, we cannot imagine Sesame Street without Mr. Hooper and Big Bird.

Another example from the book that surprised me is the 80/20 principle. Gladwell says that this principle came from economists. They think that 80 percent of the whole work is mostly done by just 20 percent of the participants. We can apply this rule to almost anything in our lives. Gladwell gives an example that 20 percent of beer drinkers drink 80 percent of all beer, or 20 percent of criminals commit 80 percent of crimes. (Gladwell, 2000) I personally think that this rule can be sometimes incorrect; however, I get the idea behind it. I think that this rule can be applied to many situations. Even though the principle might show a good overall picture, it cannot be trusted 100 percent.

In overall, I enjoyed reading this book. Gladwell shows a lot of examples that make reading more interesting. The book has principles that would help people to market core ideas and create tipping points. I would personally use the principles in my life. After reading it, you will know how to create an epidemic. You would also learn how to make sure that your idea is sticky and that you are using right context.

You can find The Tipping Point here.

#bookreview #marketing