Millions are spent on marketing new products. Some miss the mark, some hit the bullseye.

Why do some things catch on while others fail? What makes online content viral? Why do some products get more word of mouth than others?

A marketing teacher will solve these puzzles at a branding workshop in Calcutta on Wednesday.

Jonah Berger, who teaches marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, will speak at CII Brand Conclave, partnered by The Telegraph. The topic: Why things catch on?

Berger has spent more than 15 years studying how social influence works and how it drives products and ideas to click.

He has conducted Wharton’s top-ranked online courses, published dozens of articles in top-tier academic journals and has been consulted by several Fortune 500 companies.

The bestselling author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On and Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior examines how people make decisions, how ideas diffuse and how social influence shapes behaviour.

“In today’s overcrowded world of media, as a brand, you have got to deal with clutter as opposed to complain about it. We all want to know how to sharpen our brand messaging and understand the science behind the behaviour that our brand elicits from its users,” Peeyush Gupta, chairman, CII, marketing subcommittee, and vice-president, Tata Steel, said.