The story of the Fascinate System

In any distracted or competitive situation, you must compete for attention. Every time you write an email, or leave a voicemail, or make a speech, you compete with a thousand distractions. If you don’t make it easy for people to understand what you’re offering, they’re off to the next thing.

Now, the pressure is on YOU to fascinate your listener. You’re already familiar with this pressure. Ever tried to start a conversation, or fill out a LinkedIn profile, or introduce yourself at a networking event… and struggled to find the perfect words to describe who you are?

Sally Hogshead’s Fascinate Test gives you the exact words and phrases you need to describe yourself, and what makes you different. It’s based on over a decade of research.

Have you ever wondered how Fascinate came to be? Or how Sally developed the Fascinate Test? Look no further. Below you’ll find the story of our company (and how we got to this point).

How To Fascinate throughout the years:

1993 – 2005: Sally Hogshead’s career took off with a meteoric rise to international fame as an advertising creative director.

2005: Sally’s first book, Radical Careering, was released. The book gives 100 “truths” about personal branding.

2006: Sally discovered that “fascination” is the most intense form of focus, and drives decision-making. Sally began researching the forms of communication that “trigger” a response in the human brain.  This research included neurology, biology, economics, history, and anthropology. By combining this research with her extensive background in branding, Sally discovered the seven “Triggers” of fascination. Sally prepared to publish her next book, FASCINATE: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation. The book identifies the types of brand communication that companies use to fascinate customers.

2009: While waiting for FASCINATE to be printed and released, Sally and her team experimented with the idea of a personality assessment based on the same brand system for individuals.

2010: FASCINATE launched, and the personality assessment (the “F-Score Test”) debuted as a free social media engagement tool around the book’s launch.

2011: After studying the results of the first 50,000 people who took that initial assessment, Sally realized that a personality could more accurately be described with not just one type of communication, but the top two. Thus, the “Archetypes” were born. Sally’s team created customized reports around each of the Archetypes, and began to segment participants with more specialized data.

2012: After significant investments in the algorithm and analytics behind the system, HowToFascinate.com was launched as an eCommerce site, and quickly hit 200,000 participants. Companies began purchasing the Fascination Advantage® System to identify how each employee is most likely to add value. By continuing to apply deeper marketing studies and research, Sally’s company began selling group assessments to corporations with “heat maps,” custom analytics, and follow-up training. Incorporating this learning into her speaking engagements, Sally is inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame.

2013: HarperCollins partnered with Sally on her new book, How the World Sees You, based on the Fascination Advantage system, extensive market studies, and proprietary research inside some of the world’s top-performing organizations. Sally’s company released their training curriculum for entrepreneurs, as well as a range of online study courses, one-on-one coaching for professionals, private mastermind events, and a range of national programs for brands and small businesses led by with certified speakers.

2014: HarperCollins published How the World Sees You. The Fascination Test is re-launched to sync with the book. Sally releases an extensive online training course and in-person series of live events conducted by certified trainers. The focus becomes helping people learn their “Anthem” — the tagline to their personality.

We hope you enjoyed this snapshot into the history of our company. Do you have any stories about when you started your business? Or maybe an event sent you down a completely different path than you thought you would go. Let us know in the comments!

To the most fascinating you,

Team Fascinate

Don’t miss a single fascinating tip!

Sign up to receive updates on our latest blog posts, offers, and more.

Blog post email and popup form

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

About the author

Sally Hogshead

Sally skyrocketed to the top of the advertising world in her early 20s, fascinating millions of consumers for clients such as MINI Cooper and Coca-Cola. Since then, she’s published two New York Times bestsellers on the science of fascination, and is one of only 172 living members in the Speaker Hall of Fame. Over a million professionals have taken the Fascination Advantage® personality test to discover how others perceive their communication.

Recent Posts
Are you motivated by enthusiasm and praise?  Or are you motivated by the threat of negative consequences? In other words… carrot, or stick?   (Me, I’m a carrot person.) People respond in very individual ways to...

The greatest gift you can give is to show someone else their highest value. Up to now, we’ve been looking at you, and your own highest distinct value. Now, let’s look at the people around...

The Fascination Archetypes in The Holiday - A collage featuring character traits and scenes from the movie, including Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black.
An international house swap over the holidays, unlikely romances, a heartwarming friendship with a wise neighbor, and so much more! It’s The Holiday—the coziest, most feel-good Christmas movie that somehow makes personal growth look as...

Colorful gift boxes arranged on a white wooden background with text that reads 'The 2024 Fascinating Holiday Gift Guide.'
Holiday shopping can be stressful.  Finding the perfect gift for someone who seems to have it all?  Even harder. But what if you could shop based on their personality—giving a gift that celebrates their distinct...

We all know the story: Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, who guide him through a journey of transformation. But what if these Ghosts came to...

Related Posts

You’ve probably seen that bright green album cover everywhere by now. Maybe you’ve heard your kids blasting the tracks, or you’ve had the song “360” on repeat the entire summer because, let’s be real, it’s...

Crafting messages that captivate and engage doesn’t have to be complicated. When you understand your primary Fascination Advantage, you can tailor your communication to reflect your natural abilities. Each Advantage offers a unique approach to...

Why do some teams get extraordinary results, while others struggle just to finish mundane tasks? Why do certain teams glide to victory, while others can’t even cross the finish line?  What’s the difference? Here you...

Send this to a friend