These chapters examine two parts of Made to Stick’s acronym SUCCES: C (Credible) and E (Emotional). Credibility is obviously important for an idea to stick, and this chapter examines ways to make people believe ideas are credible. The obvious route is to go with an authority figure to convey the message, whether that figure is an expert in his field (e.g. Stephen Hawking on something physics-related) or just a general celebrity endorsing a product. Without access to these authority figures, other methods must be used to establish credibility:

1. Using anti-authority – use an example of someone who did not follow the advice you’re trying to offer, e.g. someone dying of a lung disease as part of an anti-smoking campaign
2. Using concrete details – more details, even irrelevant ones, will make the story seem more authentic
3. Using statistics – statistics are often seen as objective and can support a point well, but it’s important to not seek out statistics that support your point and ignore others that may exist which contradict it
4. Using the Sinatra Test – named for the Frank Sinatra song “New York, New York,” specifically for the lyric “if I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.” The idea is that credibility can be enforced by not necessarily using an expert in the arguer’s specific field but rather by addressing a related issue which will make credibility indisputable.
5. Using testable credentials – suggesting that consumers test your idea themselves, e.g. Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef” commercials claiming Wendy’s burgers had more beef-to-bun than other chains. Fast-food eaters could try this out for themselves.

Emotion is obviously a “sticky” thing when it comes to perpetuating ideas, but the idea isn’t to make people emotional in a sad way, like a tear-inducing movie. The idea is to make people care about the idea and about the issue; by presenting individuals affected as part of your argument rather than simply statistics or familiar faces spouting off information about the situation, a listener will have empathy for this other person/people and their situation. There’s also an element of appealing to an individual’s self-interest: using “you” when presenting an idea is more effective than a generic noun such as “people.” This leads someone to think not only about what their self-interest is regarding the person they are, but also the person they consider or desire themselves to be.