How to create “Strange Attractor” content that stops the scroll (and maybe reality itself)

WARNING: This article may cause sudden creative breakthroughs, existential marketing crises, and an insatiable urge to delete 90% of your content strategy. Proceed with caution.

Welcome to the attention economy Thunderdome…

Picture this. You’re doomscrolling at 1 AM, mindlessly flicking through your feed. Some corporate guy in a navy suit is telling you that “brand authenticity is key”. A coach you don’t remember following is explaining the “3 Secrets to Scaling”. Someone is offering you a free PDF that will change your business forever.

You blink. You yawn. You scroll. Then suddenly, something hits you like a rogue IKEA shelf falling from the heavens.

“I spent 2,000€ on a productivity course and now I’m afraid of my own calendar.”

“I tried marketing my business using only medieval fish puns. The results shocked me.”

“What if LinkedIn posts were written like ancient Viking sagas?”

Your tired little goblin brain snaps to attention. Wait. What?!

That, that sharp inhale, that pause before scrolling away, that sudden and inexplicable curiosity, is the Strange Attractor Effect in action. The moment your brain short-circuits, the moment a post feels like an electric jolt in the middle of the same-old, same-old – that’s when you know a brand gets it.

Why most content is the digital equivalent of wallpaper paste

Breaking news: Your audience did not wake up today thinking, “I can’t wait to read another polite LInkedIn post about ‘authenticity in branding'”. And yet, here we are. An endless scroll of corporate mush, indistinguishable SEO-optimized oatmeal that fills space but feeds no one.

• “How to Build an Effective Brand in 2025”
• “5 Steps to Improve Your Content Marketing Strategy”
• “The importance of Storytelling for Business”

All technically fine. All completely invisible in a feed packed with the same ideas, endlessly recycled.

So why do brands do this?
Because playing it safe feels… safe.
Because being normal feels… responsible.
Because “What if people think I’m weird?” is a terrifying thought.

But here’s the thing: weird is the point.

The Strange Attractor is what breaks the pattern, shakes the algorithm, and snaps people out of their content-induced coma. It’s the art of mixing something recognizable (familiar concept) with something unexpected (WTF twist).

Where the Strange Attractor comes from (and why it works so damn well)

This isn’t just some made-up marketing term. The Strange Attractor comes straight from Hollywood screenwriting legend Terry Rossio, the guy behind Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean, and a bunch of other blockbuster movies that had no right to work but somehow did.

Here’s how Rossio describes it:

A Strange Attractor is when you take something familiar and introduce a unique, unexpected twist – creating a concept that feels fresh yet instantly recognizable.

And it’s everywhere in film:

• Shrek. A classic fairy tale (familiar) + an ogre hero who hates fairy tales (unexpected)
• Pirates of the Caribbean. Swashbuckling adventure (familiar) + a supernatural pirate curse + Johnny Depp doing… whatever that was (unexpected).

Why does this work? Because our brains love patterns, but they love broken patterns even more.

This is why the best marketing doesn’t just create something entirely new. It takes something recognizable and twists it just enough to make people stop and think.

Strange Attractors in marketing (or, what it looks like in the wild)

The best marketing isn’t just unexpected for the sake of shock value. It’s unexpected in a way that enhances the message.

Old Spice’s WTF rebrand

“Look at your man, now back at me.”

Old Spice was a fading dad-brand before it detonated the entire concept of men’s grooming ads. Instead of clean-shaven guys in tuxedos, they gave us a screaming, hyper-masculine fever dream of absurdity.

Strange Attractor formula:
Familiar: Men’s grooming ads
Unexpected: Completely unhinged, surreal, high-energy chaos

Liquid Death’s Metal approach to… water?

“Murder your thirst.”

Selling bottled water? Boring. Selling canned water that looks like a death-metal brand? Scroll-stopping.

Strange Attractor formula:
Familiar: Hydration & sustainability
Unexpected: Branding like a rebellious, hardcore energy drink

A Swedish fish brand that marketed itself like a horror movie

A Swedish canned fish brand (surströmming) once made a horror-style ad about how their product smelled so bad, it could ward off evil spirits.

Strange Attractor formula:
Familiar: Food advertising
Unexpected: Turning the product’s biggest flaw into the campaign’s core selling point.

The 3 biggest mistakes people make with Strange Attractors

1. Being weird for weird’s sake

Bad: “I wrote this sales page entirely in goat emojis!”
Better: “What if marketing copy was written by a Shakespearean ghost? A/B test results were… concerning.”

Weird only works when it reinforces the message. Otherwise, it’s just noise.

2. Forgetting the familiar part

Bad: “Welcome to my new business strategy framework, the Jigsaw Banana Theory.”
Better: “I ran my business using only medieval fish puns. The results shocked me.”

The best Strange Attractors twist something people already understand, not something completely random.

3. Trying to appeal to everyone

Bad: “Here’s a mildly amusing take on content marketing.”
Better: “I tested the world’s most cursed content strategy. Here’s what happened.”

Forget playing it safe. Strange Attractors work because they alienate the right people while magnetizing your perfect audience.

How to create Strange Attractor content that hijacks attention (without trying too hard)

Most brands fail at this because they either play it too safe or try too hard and come off as forced. Here’s how to get it right.

Step 1: Find the default setting in your industry

Look at your niche. What does everyone else sound like?

• Marketing experts = generic LinkedIn advice and brand-building buzzwords
• Finance coaches = dry, serious, numbers-heavy content
• Wellness brands = soft, gentle pastel aesthetics and mindful affirmations

Step one is identifying the norm. Step two is breaking it.

Step 2: Add the unexpected twist

Here’s where the magic happens. You take the default and twist it just enough to feel fresh. From common to Strange Attractor remix:

• From “How to Improve Your Content Strategy” to “Why writing worse content might be the best marketing move you ever make”
• From “The Future of AI in Business” to “What if AI was just a really smart toddler with a calculator?”
• From “Building Your Personal Brand” to “Your LinkedIn bio, but make it a Viking Saga”

The idea isn’t to be weird for the sake of weird. The idea is to make people actually look.

Step 3: Format it for maximum impact

It’s not just what you say; it’s how you present it. Hook matters.

• Instead of “How to Stand Out in Marketing”, try “I wrote the worst sales page ever. It made me 50,000€”.
• Instead of “The Problem With Lead Magnets”, try “I made a freebie so bad it went viral. Here’s what happened.”

Your job isn’t to be normal. Your job is to make people too curious to ignore you.

The courage to be different

The Strange Attractor is about being interesting, not shocking. It’s about taking something recognizable and twisting it into something unignorable.

So, next time you create a post, ask yourself, “If his was the first piece of content someone ever saw from me, would they remember it tomorrow?” If the answer is no, get rid of it and start again.

Now, show me the best Strange Attractor idea you’ve seen. The weirder, the better. Drop it below (I want to see the madness!).