**FURRY FRIENDS**

“Language is abstract, but life is not abstract.” This sentence from “Made to Stick” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath sums up the idea behind their chapter about making an idea concrite, in order to make it stick. Immediately when I began reading this chapter I saw the overlapping ideas of an idea being simple and an idea being concrete, just like a proverb. Asoeps stories are like elongated proverbs. They are short stories that depict a core idea. The idea is simple and concrete. Really, it all comes down to science. As pointed out in the velcro theory of memory part of the chapter, we remember things differently. Also, in the concrete is memorable part of the chapter, it states that we remember things better if we have a visual. They are more concretely in our brains if we can visualize them.

After reading this chapter, it seems to me that the best way to make an idea concrete is to give it a visual. For example, saying “cool and refreshing H2O” is an abstraction of the visual of a condesation covered Dasani water bottle in a bucket of ice.

Another example of this idea is from the Coca Cola 2007 annual report. In the letter from the chairman and the President. It says, ” the tireless efforts of our people and the great commitment of our bottling partners have rekindled the energy and optimism that have become synonymous with Coca-Cola.” A more visual way of saying this - a more concrete way - would be to say, “the hard work of our low-level employees has given Coca-Cola the ability to have new products and the belief that we will continue to make millions of dollars.”

My friend once said to me, “I want to sit on that plum, squishy seat.” If she had said, “I want to sit on that purple chair” I would have been able to visualize it better. It would not only be a more compact - a more simple - way of saying it, it would be more concrete.

Bottome line: A concrete idea gives a visual.