Fascinate

by Hogshead, Sally

• ISBN13: 9780061714702
• ISBN10: 0061714704
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-05-11
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

What triggers fascination, and how do companies, people, and ideas put those triggers to use? Why are you captivated by some people but not by others? Why do you recall some brands yet forget the rest? In a distracted, overcrowded world, how do certain leaders, friends, and family members convince you to change your behavior? Fascination: the most powerful way to influence decision making. It's more persuasive than marketing, advertising, or any other form of communication. And it all starts with seven universal triggers: lust, mystique, alarm, prestige, power, vice, and trust. Fascination plays a role in every type of decision making, from the brands you choose to the songs you remember, from the person you marry to the employees you hire. And by activating the right triggers, you can make anything become fascinating. To explore and explain fascination's irresistible influence, Sally Hogshead looks beyond marketing, delving into behavioral and social studies, historical precedents, neurobiology and evolutionary anthropology, as well as conducting in-depth interviews and a national study of a thousand consumers, to emerge with deeply rooted patterns for why, and how, we become captivated. Hogshead reveals why the Salem witch trials began with the same fixations as those in Sex and the City. How Olympic athletes are subject to obsessions similar to those of fetishists. How a 1636 frenzy over Dutch tulip bulbs perfectly mirrors the 2006 real estate bubble. And why a billion-dollar "Just Say No" program actually increased drug use among teens, by activating the same "forbidden fruit" syndrome as a Victoria's Secret catalog. Whether you realize it or not, you're already using the seven triggers. The question is, are you using the right triggers, in the right way, to get your desired result? This book will show you.

Table of Contents

Preface: Witchcraft, Green Peas, and Sigmund Freud	p. xi
Introduction: What Is "Fascination" Exactly?	p. xv
Fascinate Or Fail: Will You Fascinate? Or Will You Fail?
The Big O: Speaking of Fascination, Let's Start with Sex, Shall We?	p. 3
Cocktail lounges and the canoodling tango
The mental disorder known as infatuation
Orgasm
When fascination turns into obsession
The scale of intensity
Fetishes
Measuring elbows in a singles bar
Your MHCs
Tipping the stripper
Your Fascinating Face: Why You Were Born Knowing Exactly How to Persuade	p. 19
Amazon jungle to Amazon.com
A baby's first party trick
The boy who couldn't see his mother's face
Mona Lisa is 83 percent happy
Why do humans smile?
Girls fall for the funny guy
The perfect comedic face
Fascination and the Media: Trends Driving the Need for a New Form of Persuasion	p. 31
The amnesiac and the maze
Papyrus print ads
Trends driving distraction
Rise of the ADD world
Goldfish and nine seconds
Paying attention vs. earning attention
Shutting out messages
The Fascination Economy
The Gold Hallmarks of a Fascinating Message: How Do You Evaluate Whether Something Is Fascinating?	p. 39
Some ideas take off, but most fizzle
Esperanto death sentence
Gold Hallmarks of a fascinating message
Provoking reactions
Creating advocates
Cultural shorthand
Inciting conversation
Forcing competitors to realign
Social revolutions
Hype
Naming your baby with Google
A man named David Scott
How Fascinating Are You? Applying Fascination to Your Personality and Brand	p. 49
The Most Fascinating Person in the Room
The F Score
High-Scoring Personalities
More Fascinating Isn't Always Better
Fascination versus Likability or Respect
Famous High-Scorers
Ultra-Scoring Personalities
Low-Scoring Personalities
Not Fascinating Yet? Don't Panic, You're on the Road
The Seven Fascination Triggers
Meet Your New Arsenal: Lust, Mystique, Alarm, Prestige, Power, Vice, and Trust
Lust: Why We're Seduced by the Anticipation of Pleasure	p. 69
Marilyn Monroe's wet voice
Craving
"But I want it!"
Increasing desire for boring brands
Stop thinking, start feeling
Testosterone-drenched saliva
Body odor and vomit
Make the ordinary more emotional
Use all five senses
Godiva's Chocolixir
Tease and flirt
The monkey and the grape
Mystique: Why We're Intrigued by Unanswered Questions	p. 85
Jägermeister: The most popular drink nobody likes
Sparking curiosity
The lure of celebrity deaths
Withholding critical information
Championship poker, where a single glance can cost millions
Mythology
Pop Rocks, bull testicles, and the number 33
Stories, not facts
Coca-Cola's secret ingredient
What's behind the velvet rope?
The kitchen inside the kitchen
Buzzkills
Alarm: Why We Take Action at the Threat of Negative Consequences	p. 101
Luke Sullivan's epiphany
Roller coasters, roulette wheels
Defining consequences
Creating deadlines
Ginzu knives and exclamation points
Why we procrastinate
How to increase danger
The suicide that failed
Not the crisis most likely, but the one most feared
Blood on the shoes
Distress steers positive action
Tap Project
Prestige: Why We Fixate on Symbols of Rank and Respect	p. 117
Tulip hysteria
Emblems
Blue bake-off ribbons and pink Mary Kay Cadillacs
Setting new standards
Throwing down the vodka gauntlet
Harry Winston and the cursed Hope Diamond
Limiting availability
Zip codes
Earning it
A prestigious black piece of cloth
Power: Why We Focus on the People and Things That Control Us	p. 133
The gold medal that cost too much
Spectrum of power
Domination
Sushi dictators
Provoking inferiority complexes
The alpha stance
Celebrity-monkey paparazzi
Controlling the environment
The most fascinating organization in the world?
Reward and punishment
Potent, or impotent
Vice: Why We're Tempted by "Forbidden Fruit"	p. 149
Prohibition, Rockefeller, and Al Capone
Everyday guilty pleasures
Taboos
Bad girls
Controversy in Leaves of Grass and Where's Waldo?
Michael Phelps and the bong
When to lead others astray
Defined absolutes
The black box experiment
DARE and "Just Say Maybe"
How to overcome vice
Give a wink
How and why traditional companies should apply vice
Trust: Why We're Loyal to Reliable Options	p. 167
It's a Wonderful Life
Familiarity
The exposure effect
McNuggets, milk, and golden arches
Repeating and retelling
Hitler and the "Big Lie"
Authenticity
Villains, heroes, and your personal reputation
The Tiffany & Co. silver bracelet
Rebuilding or accelerating trust
How to "unfascinate" an unhealthy message
The Edible Schoolyard
Trust for beginners
The Fascination Plan of Attack
How to Make Your Own Messages More Fascinating
Ideas kept under lock and key
Three stages
Workshop program overview
Evaluation-How Fascinating Are Your Company and Message?	p. 193
Are you reaching the Gold Hallmarks of a fascinating message?
Identifying your primary trigger
Your brand's chemistry set
Who's getting it right (or not)
Superman and Spider-Man
Development-Create and Heighten Fascination	p. 207
Fascination badges
Bell curves
The fringe
Incorporating new triggers
What if?
Prestige and the T-shirt
Judging a book by its triggers
Execution-Bringing Your Fascination to Life	p. 223
Building internal support for your plan
Measure, research, reevaluate
Tracking your progress
Removing barriers to fascination
Still fascination-resistant? Read on
Appendix: The Kelton Fascination Study	p. 231
How much is fascination worth?
Help your audience feels fascinated, and fascinating
Fascination in the workplace
In decision making
In personal relationships
What we seek in life: Relationships, trust, and fascination
Author's Note	p. 243
Fascination at a Glance	p. 245
Sources	p. 251
Acknowledgments	p. 256
Index	p. 257
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