Novelty: the neuroscience that makes brands memorable
How weird should your brand be? It's an odd question, but it's one worth sitting with. Most brand advice defaults to "stand out" without telling you how far to take it, and that gap in execution is where a lot of unhelpful creative decisions get made.
👉 Rather watch a video about it? You can here.
Your brain is wired for novelty
There's a reason you immediately notice when someone moves your stapler to the other side of your desk. Your brain is hardwired to pay attention to things that are new, surprising, or unexpected. That's novelty at work, and for brands, it matters because novelty doesn't just get you noticed; it makes you memorable.
Things that break a pattern are the things that stick.
So you might wonder: why not just crank novelty up as high as it goes? The answer is that too much of it, especially when it feels forced or disconnected from anything real, triggers consumer suspicion.
Think of it like a supplement. Helpful in the right amount, counterproductive when you overdo it.
The novelty spectrum
The Novelty Sweet Spot is a tool I developed to guide creative decisions that reinforce differentiation. It’s based on the reality that there’s a spectrum of novelty for any creative decision.
The novelty spectrum
On the far left, you have choices so expected they're practically invisible—a blue logo for a bank. An ampersand in the name of a millennial-targeted coffee shop. These feel comfortable, which is exactly why committees love them, and exactly why they are practically invisible.
On the far right, you have choices that are different for the wrong reasons, typically ego-driven moves that raise alarm more than interest.
Right in the middle is where memorable lives. Think: Taco Bell choosing purple over the restaurant industry norm of red. The zones across the full spectrum, invisible, noticeable, memorable, provocative, alarming, give you a map for thinking about where your brand sits and where it should be.
Fine-tuning your sweet spot
The middle of the spectrum isn't automatically right for everyone. Where your sweet spot lands depends on two things: your industry and your audience.
If your industry runs on trust, healthcare, financial services, anything where someone is putting real stakes in your hands, you need to lean more comfortable. You still need to differentiate, but people need to feel safe. If you're in entertainment or a category where energy and edge are expected, you might actually earn points for being more provocative.
Audience matters just as much as industry. Liquid Death is a great example. As a water brand, it looks alarming on the surface. But for someone who typically drinks beer and is just having a night without alcohol, the branding lands differently. It feels edgy but not threatening, because it fits their expectations from an adjacent category.
How to find where you actually stand
To get a quick sense of where your brand creative fits on the spectrum, you can pull together your competitors' logos, color palettes, and some of their key messaging and put them all in one place. Look for what they have in common, because whatever's shared across the group isn't novel, and it won't be noticed. Then drop your brand into that mix and see what stands out.
One more step: try to look at all of it through the eyes of your specific audience. That perspective shift is where the real insights happen. What reads as fresh to you might feel off-putting to them, or the reverse. Getting that overlay right is what separates creative choices that feel clever from ones that actually move the needle.
Staying weird is good. Staying weird in the right direction, for the right audience, in the right context, that's the work.
Sources and further reading
PubMed – Novelty-induced memory boosts in humans: The when and how
Wikipedia – Von Restorff effect
By Aaron Tovi
05/21/26
