Research Paper

Making An Idea Go Viral

Senior Project

Eddie Rosado

2017

An idea is any conception existing in the mind as a result of mental understanding, In other words an idea is basically a thought or suggestion in your mind. Ideas are empowering because they are the start to anything you aspire to do, every grand accomplishment and achievement derived from an idea. In my case, my magnificent idea, so to say, was the idea to start my own clothing company, Bluff Clothing.

It all started with an idea that came from a conversation I had in the past, that Idea grew and became so palpable in such a small amount of time that I had a full inventory of clothing coming in the mail within four months from that initial idea. During this period of time I was trying to start up a small business with no prior experience or laid out business plan. I did plenty of research regarding clothing design, manufacturing, marketing, small start up business and decided to jump into it head first. I set up my own instagram page where I promoted and marketed my products. From the very first prototype pictures I was posting, before the clothing was even made, the amount of people viewing my clothing ideas were steadily increasing. Soon after I had a website with an online store that you could preorder and purchase my clothing before it was launched.

I designed and purchased business cards indicating my website, Instagram page and contact information. I utilized local marketing tactics by placing the cards in people's windshields as I was walking down a busy avenue. I know it worked in some way because a few weeks later I had somebody walk up to me in school and say, “my mom has one of your business cards, she found it on her car and asked if I knew who Eddie Rosado was.” Once my clothing arrived I began selling it to my friends and family and shipped out a few orders online. Social marketing has proven to be very effective and I tried to make use of it as efficiently as I can by regularly posting my clothing to advertise my products.

As time progressed college applications, school, work, and trying to maintain my a social life of my own began to burden me. I did not have enough time to spend working on my business and it was taking its effect. Luckily I was presented the option of doing a senior project on my clothing business and this made all of the difference. With the designated time to inquire and manage my business I now had the opportunity to expand and run by business much more efficiently. With the research I have done in collaboration with the project a lot of information has acquired regarding small business marketing.

I began reading a book called “The Tipping Point,” which correlates pathogenic epidemics with social epidemics and the different types of people responsible for causing social epidemics. One of the ideas stated in the books is that social epidemics such as what we wear are similar to the way pathogenic epidemics are spread, both need a form of transmission to spread and that social epidemics all start from an idea.

The book revolves around the theory that if an idea goes viral it will set the tone for certain things like fashion trends, or a particular lifestyle. In, “The Tipping Point,” Gladwell states, “The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social skills.”

When a clothing brand becomes viral everyone wants those clothes. Sometimes an individual may not even like the exact design on a t-shirt but wears it anyways just because everyone else is wearing it. The particular clothing brands set the trend for fashion once it becomes viral. This brings me to my final question which is, how can I take take these theories stated by Gladwell and strategically incorporate them within my business to make Bluff Clothing go viral.

According to the Book, “The Tipping Point,” many factors come into consideration when talking about a particular product going viral. Word to mouth epidemics are another form of transmission when referring to ideas and products going viral. A word to mouth interaction could be a friend telling you about the new restaurant or clothing store that just opened up. Depending on the type of person and the influence they have on others you could be compelled to visit this new business due to the word to mouth transmission. Malcolm Gladwell has an entire chapter talking about the different types of people that contribute to the process that makes a product go viral.

There are three different types of people found in the world all vital to this fundamental process of making your product go viral. These people are Mavens, Connectors and Salesmen. According to Gladwell, “When people are overwhelmed with information and develop immunity to traditional forms of communication, they turn instead for advice and information to the people in their lives whom they respect, admire and trust. The cure for immunity is finding Mavens, Connectors and Salesmen.”

Mavens are information banks. They make change with their extensive array of knowledge on many different topics. They are the kind of people who you ask whenever you wanna know about anything. Gladwell refers to mavens as engineers, builders and process folks. A person that could get lost for months exploring one particular subject or idea. Commonly the person in the room who could go on for hours and hours on multitudes of different topics he is educated on was typically could be classified as a maven. Mavens are the root to any idea. Mavens possess the immense knowledge required to think of great ideas. With this extensive knowledge mavens are capable of expanding and exploring their ideas in order to make them significant. Without a maven there is no idea, and with no idea, essentially there is no product to become viral.

Connectors, are the types of people who know everyone. We all know a connector, maybe even a few of them. Connectors have a lot of acquaintances and a natural tendency to bring different types of people together regardless of their direct relationship. According to Gladwell, “Acquaintances, in sort, represent a source of social power, and the more acquaintances you have the more powerful you are.” Connectors are essential when it comes to a product becoming viral. Connectors galvanize people, they are social hubs. They are responsible for spreading ideas through people and usually through a word to mouth transmission. With this particular skill ideas can be transmitted to people and start a social epidemic.

Lastly comes to the third type of person primarily responsible for the tipping points in social epidemics or making a product viral, Salesmen. Salesmen are responsible for change through their skill of persuasion. They are able to connect with people in a certain way that compels them to buy their product. The Salesman also tends to be the storyteller, the one who is always telling tales. Gladwell refers to salesmen as the type of person who, “can borrow your watch and then sell it back to you. Salesmen possess the specific skill that allows them to efficiently sell anything to a wide range of consumers. Salesmen are the ones who sell your Ideas and products, they are the last but one of the most important factors that accumulate to starting a social epidemic and making an Idea and product go viral.

Through the knowledge I have obtained on this subject regarding social epidemics and the different key roles in making a product go viral I connected some of these attributes with myself. I can now recognize these particular traits about myself and use them to further develop and expand my clothing company. With this knowledge regarding viral ideas I now know what type of people to look out for and try to collaborate with to successfully start the process of making my clothing company, Bluff, go viral.

Now that I have owned my own business for about a year and have become familiar with the experience of running a business I have learned something very important about myself. I now know that I do not want to pursue a career regarding business. Little about the experience of running my own business appealed to me. In life it is important to find out not what you want to do but what you do not want to do for the rest of your life. I now know matriculating into a business related field as I was going to do is not suitable for me. I had always wanted to pursue medicine but had previously scared away by the requirements and sheer difficulty. Doing this senior project as well as going through my senior year has taught me that I am much smarter than I had ever perceived. I know have the adequate confidence in my intelligence that I am comfortable studying what I had always wanted to do but had been scared of. I changed my major from business to medicine and this was mainly attributed to running a business through my senior project. In conclusion It was a very empowering experience that opened many doors of opportunity and knowledge.

Sources

Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. London: Abacus, 2015. Print.

Staff, NPR/TED. "What Makes An Idea Go Viral?" NPR. NPR, 04 Mar. 2016. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.

Godin, Seth. "Seth's Blog." What makes ideas go viral?. NPR, 27 Sept. 2005. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.

Trigg, Mike. "5 Secrets to Making Your Startup Go Viral." Entrepreneur. N.p., 15 Dec. 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.

Gilkey, Charlie. “Maven, Connector, Or Salesman, What's your archetype, Productive Flourishing, Web, April,4, 2012, Accessed: April 14’th, 2017