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The Value of Sticky Articles

In Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die: Made to Stick, Heath and Heath (2007) identify six key qualities of successful ideas that make them “sticky.” Within their framework, sticky ideas are simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and delivered in story form. Although their research is primarily focused on the effectiveness of myths, advertisements, and slogans, these qualities apply remarkably well to successful articles that might appear in Journal of Marketing Research (JMR). Why sticky articles? Juxtaposing “sticky” and “articles” sounds wrong, evoking a spilled chocolate shake or ketchup on an otherwise pristine paper. However, given that an article passes the substantial contribution hurdle, I propose that JMR publications need stickiness. A sticky publication is one whose message is recalled; whose method, theory, and substantive results are repeated; and whose story is elaborated on, resulting in an article that is cited both within and beyond marketing. In simple terms, a sticky publication is an influential one. In this editorial, I explore how to write sticky publications, shamelessly borrowing from the concepts and ideas in Heath and Heath’s (2007) book. As I characterize the appropriate strategies that build on their six criteria, I provide examples of stickiness from this issue of JMR. Although there are strong parallels in the ways stickiness improves both ideas and articles, there are differences. For example, stories may be useful for ideas, but they are critical for articles. In contrast, emotion is useful to ideas but less so for articles. Thus, I begin with the importance of stories and spend relatively little time on emotions.