Stories, according to Contagious, can act as a trojan horse of sorts by carrying a message or product. goes viral but has no substance attached to it, then it will accomplish nothing in spreading the word about the intended subject. Stories are important because they give virality substance if a viral video, image, etc. Similarly, marketers must have tact in creating content intended to go viral. Marketers must tactfully target certain emotions with their content in order to give a product or idea traction. High-arousal emotions, such as awe, excitement, amusement, and anger lead to sharing, while other emotions may be intense but not arousing. For example, marketers can aim to provoke our most volatile emotions in order to increase shareability of a slogan, product, idea, etc. Some points made by Berger seemed obvious at first but made me realize that we often forget how the natural processes of the human mind can be leveraged to aid our marketing strategies. Reading Contagious has chiefly taught me, through statistics and anecdotes, that there are few to no accidental successes when it comes to the widespread success of a business. Berger asserts that virality “isn’t born, it’s made” (18). When business owners and entrepreneurs capitalize on these key factors in association with their product, they can influence how many people know about their product as well as how often they talk about it. to catch on: social currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical value, and stories. He highlights six key “STEPPS” that cause products, slogans, businesses, etc. Contagious by Jonah Berger digs into the aspects of virality, word-of-mouth, and success that people do not typically know about or discuss.