Assignment for 9/10/12

  

Stories always have played a distinct role in people’s lives. Whether it is in movies, books, or by word of mouth, stories can always impact people’s emotions; positively or negatively. In chapter six of Heath and Heath’s Made to Stick, stories are presented in ways that lead people to make distinct decisions; whether right or wrong. According to Heath and Heath, stories not only lead people to make decisions, they “provide simulation, knowledge about how to act, and inspiration, motivation to act” (206). What Heath and Heath really emphasized about both of these things is that they both lead to action; stories lead people to act.

I can believe that stories ultimately lead people to act in some type of way. For instance, if a friend was telling me a story about someone who was saying bad things about me, I would initially listen to that story and react in some type of way. I would be receiving the knowledge to act, which would be the fact that someone was talking about me, and then would be motivated to act because of the knowledge I just received. I believe Simulation and motivation can be used when it comes to marketing.  The story about Jared and Subway is a great example of simulation and motivation and how it can be used within the marketing world.

When Heath and Heath refer to stories as simulations, they are essentially presenting the idea that simulating stories mentally, is the next best thing to actually doing something physically. I agree with this to an extent. In order for a story to be as good as actually doing something, it must be told in a way that allows people to mentally simulate the story in a way that is just as good as being there physically. According to Heath and Heath, stories, “put knowledge into a framework that is more lifelike, more true to our day-to-day existence” ( 214).  If Subway told the story about Jared in a way that didn’t resonate to other people, wasn’t relatable, and didn’t evoke some type of emotion, they would not have successfully marketed the story in a way that drew in more clients.