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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.
Preface: Witchcraft, Green Peas, and Sigmund Freud
Introduction What Is "Fascination," Exactly?
Pt. I Fascinate or Fail
The Big O: Speaking of Fascination, Let's Start with Sex, Shall We? 3
Your Fascinating Face: Why You Were Born Knowing Exactly How to Persuade 19
Fascination and the Media: Trends Driving the Need for a New Form of Persuasion 31
The Gold Hallmarks of a Fascinating Message: How Do You Evaluate Whether Something Is Fascinating? 39
How Fascinating Are You? Applying Fascination to Your Personality and Brand 49
Pt. II The Seven Fascination Triggers
Lust: Why We're Seduced by the Anticipation of Pleasure 89
Mystique: Why We're Intrigued by Unanswered Questions 85
Alarm: Why We Take Action at the Threat of Negative Consequences 101
Prestige: Why We Fixate on Symbols of Rank and Respect 117
Power: Why We Focus on the People and ThingsThat Control Us 133
Vice: Why We're Tempted by "Forbidden Fruit" 149
Trust: Why We're Loyal to Reliable Options 167
Pt. III The Fascination Plan of Attack
Stage 1 Evaluation - How Fascinating Are Your Company and Message? 193
Stage 2 Development - Create and Heighten Fascination 207
Stage 3 Execution - Bringing Your Fascination to Life 223
Appendix The Kelton Fascination Study 231
Author's Note 243
Fascination at a Glance 245
Sources 251
Acknowledgments 256
Index 257
It starts with eye contact and then leads into engagement. From there, the triggers take over and move that person to want to know you, your business or your brand even more. That's what Sally Hogshead talks about in this book. Most books talk about engagement but Fascinate talks about the levels of fascinate and how to actually harness them to increase your success. From understanding how successful companies have built empires on understanding the importance of the human face to why people drink the most revolting liquids because of their nostalgia. It's all about how we engage with other people and Sally not only shows you why it is important but how you can harness the triggers outlined in the book to not only engage but Fascinate your way to success!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Becoming fascinating is the best way for your product to stand out from the crowd. You can create a brand identity so interesting and distinctive that consumers will be irresistibly attracted to it, as they are to Apple, Tiffany, Coca-Cola and Google. Brand consultant Sally Hogshead shines a marketing spotlight on the potential power of fascination, details its seven triggers and explains how to use them to increase your product's attractiveness. A clear, strong writer, Hogshead provides a compelling report on how fascination shoots a desire like an arrow directly to the primitive limbic brain, bypassing rational processing and evaluating. getAbstract believes marketing professionals will learn a lot from Hogshead's insightful report. Their challenge will be applying her branding magic to make their companies and products truly fascinating to consumers. Of course, Apple's Steve Jobs and Amazon's Jeff Bezos do it, but they are authentic marketing geniuses. Indeed, that is what makes them so fascinating.
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Overview
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 ...