summary ofHit MakersBook by Derek Thompson

first KEY POINT

Success is less about the product and more about how it is marketed

Think back to the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of the past 12 months or the most popular songs. How did they become so successful? Was it down to hard work, or do marketing executives use psychological loopholes we’re blissfully unaware of?Everyone wants to be responsible for the biggest selling product or hit song, movie, or TV show; that’s what success means. It’s easy to assume that a lot of it comes down to luck and that your song or product is better than anything else. So why do some questionable novelty songs make it so big if that’s the case? The artists rarely have big follow-up hits, so what was it about that particular song that resonated so much with the general public?The truth is that it’s less about the actual song and far more about how it is marketed and presented on a broader scale. Advertisers are manipulating us in ways that we aren’t even aware of!You might assume that big hits come out of nowhere and take us all by storm. Yet, specific rules determine whether or not it will be a hit and how much of one. It’s about how the soon-to-be-hit connects psychologically with its audience and how it spreads on social media and influences the economic state.What does this mean? People can create hits by using tactics; they engineer them to be smash hits even if the work is far from high quality.

Manipulation through marketing goes a long way toward explaining why some products become huge, off-the-scale hits, and others fail to make even a dent in the market. Yet, it’s not a predictable science either. People’s tastes change from time to time.Have you ever wondered why you get stuck on a song you wouldn’t usually like? This summary will give you exciting insights into how the art of manipulation can easily push you into purchasing products. Perhaps you can use that knowledge to stop yourself from buying the next novelty tune that deep down you know is terrible!