Breaking new ground might not be the best route to success, Derek Thompson tells Kate Magee.
Trying to create a successful new product or campaign? Instead of focusing on making something original, just tweak what is already popular.
At least that’s the thesis of Derek Thompson’s new book Hit Makers – as the name suggests, an in-depth analysis of what makes something a hit.
Thompson, a senior editor at The Atlantic, has come up with two key principles of success: that familiarity beats originality; and, perhaps depressingly for creatives, that the method of distribution can be more important than the content.
“People’s aspirations for novelty are bigger than their appetites,” he explains. “We want to tell ourselves that we love brilliant new products because of their originality. People claim to love The Beatles because they were ‘so original’. But people spend 90 per cent of their listening time with music they’ve already heard. The vast majority of bestselling movies are reboots, adaptations and sequels. People don’t like things that are so new – they like things that are sneakily familiar.”
To create a hit, Thompson advises researching how an audience interacts with similar products, in order to “piggyback” on the myths and ideologies that already exist. For example, within storytelling (books, movies or a marketing campaign), people want heroism: “One of the most important qualities of an excellent story is the ability to create heroes.”
The trick is to not make something that is too obviously derivative. To get the right balance, Thompson proposes people follow father of industrial design Raymond Loewy’s MAYA principle – “most advanced yet acceptable”.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 14, 2017-Ausgabe von Campaign Middle East.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 14, 2017-Ausgabe von Campaign Middle East.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
THE INSTIGATOR
How Miranda July starts again.
BLAME GAME
“Baby Reindeer” and Under the Bridge.”
AMERICAN CHRONICLES - THE RIGHT TO HUG
Children are fighting to visit their parents in county jails.
PERSONAL HISTORY - TABULA RASA
THE WORDLE PHILOSOPHY
A REPORTER AT LARGE - CONVICTION
Lucy Letby, the most notorious nurse in Britain, was found guilty of killing seven babies. Did she do it?
LOADED
We used to think the rich had a social function. What are they good for now?
OUT OF THE DARKNESS
Zemlinsky, Schulhoff; and other neglected Jewish composers of Central Europe.
BOOKS - FORGET IT
A neuropsychologist says that we're thinking about memory all wrong.
A CRITIC AT LARGE - OFF THE LEASH
The wacky and wonderful world of the Westminster Dog Show.
NEIGHBORLY
My name is Margaret Jo Stinson, and I’d like to share my own perspective on this sort of thing.
Consolation
Five years before my mother died, we had a violent argument—a thing that had never happened before.
THE BEST APPS OF 2024
One of the most frequent questions I’m asked by friends and family is “Which app should I download?” With millions of options out there, choosing which apps to use is a task that stumps many people. Will a free version overload you with ads? Is the paid version worth it?
MY PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEY
TIPS, APPS & GEAR FROM A LIFELONG LOVE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
SMART OUTDOOR LIVING
CREATING A HAVEN FOR YOUR FAVORITE POLLINATORS & PEOPLE
OPINION: I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE WITH APPLE VISION PRO, AND IT SUCKS.
Color me a virtual-reality optimist. Alongside writing for iPhone Life, I’m a video game developer, 3D artist, and sci-fi author. I own a Meta Quest 3 and use it all the time to play games and view 3D models as I work.
WHY I DITCHED MY APPLE WATCH FOR THE OURA RING
Every morning for the past three months, I wake up wearing a shiny gold ring on my right pointer finger. If you look closely, you can see beams of red or green light leaking out the sides as it scans my heart rate, respiratory rate, and body temperature. I roll out of bed, grab my phone, and open the Oura app.
FROM ZERO TO GYM BRO
GET FIT AT HOME WITH THE SPEEDIANCE GYM MONSTER
PHOTO SHARING FACE-OFF: ICLOUD VS. GOOGLE PHOTOS
If there’s one thing that keeps me hooked on Google Photos, it’s sharing.
TIKTOK TO START LABELING AI-GENERATED CONTENT AS TECHNOLOGY BECOMES MORE UNIVERSAL
TikTok will begin labeling content created using artificial intelligence when it’s uploaded from outside its own platform.
WE KNOW LATE-NIGHT SCREENS ARE BAD FOR SLEEP. HOW DO YOU STOP DOOMSCROLLING IN BED?
Like many of us, Jessica Peoples has heard the warnings about excessive screen time at night. Still, she estimates spending 30 to 60 minutes on her phone before going to sleep, mostly scrolling through social media.
New-Gen iPads 2024 AIR AND PRO LINES BRING IDEAS TO LIFE LIKE NEVER BEFORE
At this year's Let Loose Event, Apple unveiled all-new iPad Airs, iPad Pros, and new accessories like the Apple Pencil Pro. These devices offer game-changing graphics and outrageous performance and showcase the powerful M4 chip for the first time.
ONE TECH TIP: HOW TO SPOT AI-GENERATED DEEPFAKE IMAGES
AI fakery is quickly becoming one of the biggest problems confronting us online.
US SEEKS INFORMATION FROM TESLA ON HOW IT DEVELOPED AND VERIFIED WHETHER AUTOPILOT RECALL WORKED
Federal highway safety investigators want Tesla to tell them how and why it developed the fix in a recall of more than 2 million vehicles equipped with the company’s Autopilot partially automated driving system.
FTX WILL RETURN MONEY TO MOST CUSTOMERS LESS THAN 2 YEARS AFTER CATASTROPHIC CRYPTO COLLAPSE
FTX says that nearly all of its customers will receive the money back that they are owed, two years after the cryptocurrency exchange imploded, and some will get more than that.
NINTENDO TO ANNOUNCE SWITCH SUCCESSOR IN THIS FISCAL YEAR AS PROFITS RISE
Japanese video-game maker Nintendo said this week that it will make an announcement about a successor to its Switch home console sometime before March 2025.
JUDGE GRILLS APPLE EXEC ABOUT WHETHER COMPANY IS DEFYING ORDER TO ENABLE MORE IPHONE PAYMENT OPTIONS
A federal judge on Wednesday questioned whether Apple has set up a gauntlet of exasperating hurdles to discourage the use of alternative payment options in iPhone apps, despite a court order seeking to create more ways for consumers to pay for digital services.
DISNEY'S STREAMING BUSINESS TURNS A PROFIT IN FIRST FINANCIAL REPORT SINCE CHALLENGE TO IGER
India, Disney+Hotstar, it expects its combined streaming businesses to be profitable in the fourth quarter and to be a meaningful future growth driver for the company, with further improvements in profitability in fiscal 2025.
TIKTOK SUES US TO BLOCK LAW THAT COULD BAN THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM
TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance are suing the U.S. over a law that would ban the popular video-sharing app unless it's sold to another company, arguing that it vaguely paints it as a threat to national security to get around the First Amendment.
FRENCH CYBERWARRIORS READY TO TEST THEIR DEFENSE AGAINST HACKERS AND MALWARE DURING THE OLYMPICS
Just like the Olympic athletes, the cyberwarriors that will be crucial for the success of the Paris Games are deep into training for the big event.
RYAN GOSLING AND EMILY BLUNT ARE GREAT FUN, IN 'THE FALL GUY'
One of the worst movie sins is when a comedy fails to at least match the natural charisma of its stars. Not all actors are capable of being effortlessly witty without a tightly crafted script and some excellent direction and editing.