Memorandum

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To: Jerry Leo, VP of Program Planning Bravo

From: Christen Westbury, Programming Team

Date: April 10, 2013

Subject: Book Review, Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point is a captivating book by Malcolm Gladwell that breaks down a simple idea — the importance of the “little things.” Gladwell explains that in life there are epidemics that are spurred from tipping points. These epidemics are dramatic, not subtle; big, and never small. Gladwell delves into this idea by breaking it down into the three rules of the Tipping Point. These three rules work to provide a deeper explanation of how certain factors have the power to transform a small social occurrence into a huge epidemic. Each rule is supported by specific examples that aim to help illustrate Gladwell’s thesis to the reader. This novel has a number of key takeaways that will help Bravo grow and continue to be a lasting network in a cluttered cable industry.

Malcolm Gladwell’s three rules are essentially the elements that tip the scale in a significant way. These rules are The Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor, and The Power of Context. The first rule –The Law of the Few – says that certain people have physiological factors or personality traits that position them in a way to affect many people. The best illustration of this Law is the Syphilis epidemic in Baltimore and an influential person by the name of Lois Weisberg.  Gladwell first notes that the Syphilis epidemic was a result of the sexual acts of a few that spread to many. In the mid-1990s, housing projects were closed down in East and West Baltimore, thus resulting in a confined group of people moving to other areas. “This fueled a Diaspora. For years syphilis had been confined to a specific region of Baltimore, within highly confined sociosexual networks. The housing dislocation process served to move these people to other parts of Baltimore, and they took their syphilis and other behaviors with them” (Gladwell 17).  This example depicts how physiological factors affecting a small number of people, can be just enough to tip an occurrence into an epidemic.

On the opposite end of the spectrum lies Lois Weisberg. Weisberg is defined as a connector — a person who has her foot in many different worlds and for that reason has the power to bring these worlds together (Gladwell 51). Gladwell explains that these few people have an allure about them that makes people gravitate towards them. In addition, these connectors maintain many relationships, including the ones that many would deem insignificant. Weisberg is an example of how one person can connect to hundreds of people as a result of her havin the ability to create and maintain relationships. What is important for Bravo to takeaway in this first rule is that it is not necessarily the size of the initial audience but rather the “tipping” factor of the individuals who are watching. In terms of viewership, Bravo needs to have young, hip, and affluent “connectors” who have the power to cause a positive epidemic in terms of Bravo programming. Simply pulling in a large audience is not enough; Bravo needs to have connected eyeballs tuned in, in order to maintain their viewership and cause a serge in word-of-mouth advertising, provided free of cost by the viewers.

The second rule Gladwell uses to illustrate the tipping point is The Stickiness Factor. Gladwell applies this rule to Sesame Street and the power of its memorable content. He explains that Joan Cooney –the creator of Sesame Street– embarked on a journey to spark an educational epidemic amongst three to five-year-olds in disadvantaged homes. The show made “small but critical adjustments in how they presented ideas to preschoolers” thus resulting in them overcoming “television’s weakness as a teaching tool” (Gladwell 91). They tweaked a handful of little things, but arguably the most important change came at the beginning of the shows creation thanks to a very smart researcher named Ed Palmer.  Palmer created an invention called the Distracter, which studied when kids would tune in and tune out of a program. At this point in the shows development, fantasy and reality elements were separate, meaning muppets and humans were never in the same scene. Palmer’s Distracter however showed that kids tuned out when there were only adults on the screen. This insight led to the creation of two of the most influential muppets, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. This one insight was the Tipping Point that enhanced the content of the show, thus resulting in Sesame Street developing into a program that would last. The significance of this rule to Bravo is the importance of effectively studying your audience and adjusting your content in a way that is appealing to them. In the case of the Bravo show Silicon Valley, there was no stickiness factor that brought viewers in. Bravo programming is founded on extreme and memorable characters that stick, which is exactly what Silicon Valley lacked. In the book Hooked Up by Jack Myers, Myers discusses that influential millenials who grew up in the Internet age expect instant gratification across all their media platforms. With that said, Bravo must appeal to this group by presenting content that has an instant stickiness to keep this key demographic interested. Internet Age millenials are the influencers of tomorrow therefore Bravo must adjust accordingly and present content that will STICK.

The last rule in this idea called the Tipping Point is The Power of Context. Gladwell notes that an environment has the ability to tip a given situation in an unlikely way, like in the case of Bernhard Goetz. In 1984, Goetz shot four teens on a New York City subway train. Instead of being depicted as a heartless criminal, he was instead painted as a “Subway Vigilante” (Gladwell 135). Gladwell attributes Goetz’s superman image, constructed by the media, as a result of peak crime rates and deplorable conditions in the city. These four boys had a criminal history, and to the general public they simply were apart of the problematic environment. So rather than Goetz being the problem, he was a temporary solution in a crime ridden environment. The context of the situation – the environment – is what influenced the public into a way of thinking that would be uncommon if it were today. When looking at New York City then, in comparison to now, one can see that the streets are cleaner, crime is dropping, and people feel more of an obligation to be apart of improving conditions. With that said, “the tipping point in the epidemic” in the 80’s did not come from a certain kind of person but from a feature of the environment (Gladwell 142). The context of a situation has the power to dramatically affect a social occurrence, with that said Bravo needs to look at what is occurring today across the nation and in the world. For example, right now Gay rights are a hot topic and a constant discussion that many young-adults have taken a liberal stance on. This political and social issue is something that interest Bravo’s audience; therefore the network should capitalize on this and seek out programming that incorporates this issue. Bravo does not need to necessarily make an overt statement, but rather cast LGBT personalities and incorporate LGBT relationships into its programming, hence indirectly telling the consumer that Bravo is fighting with them.

Overall it is important for Bravo to truly hone in on the three rules of the Tipping Point. Bravo must effectively target the few who can spark an epidemic, create content that will stick, and understand the context of the world around them. Interlocking these three things in an innovative way might be the push Bravo needs to become a historic brand that is constantly breaking boundaries, and creating Tipping Points of their own.