Use everyone’s natural OCD-like behaviors for traffic 🌀

A quick guide to leveraging the "oddly satisfying" trend: 7 ethical ways to use lightly hypnotizing images & videos in marketing

Welcome to Marketing Ideas! 👋 I’m Tom Orbach (Head of Growth @ Wiz, Forbes 30 Under 30, MBA). I share 1 powerful marketing idea every week. Join 10,000+ smart, creative marketing leaders by subscribing here:

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Based on my experience, there are 3 types of graphics that, when shown, immediately make people stop scrolling:

1. Oddly satisfying visuals

2. Nostalgia

3. Private chats (i.e. iMessage / Whatsapp screenshots)

Today, we're diving into the first category.

🤯 What’s Oddly Satisfying Content?

Almost everyone has a touch of OCD in them, and this trend strikes a chord. Oddly satisfying content features visually soothing subjects like soap cutting, honey-dripping, slime-playing, pool-cleaning, pressure-washing, window-cleaning, wood floor-staining, and more.

It’s basically everything that “fits perfectly”.

While the term has been around since 2013, it's only recently been harnessed for marketing, as exemplified by Coinbase's viral Super Bowl commercial:

People loved it because it resembled the old DVD animation where there was anticipation for it to hit a corner perfectly – and it did.

The psychology behind oddly satisfying content lies in our love for symmetry, patterns, and repetition, or even the tingling sensation known as ASMR. It's like a "brain massage" or a form of psychological self-care.

And we can use it in marketing with 7 easy-to-apply methods.

But first…

🤖 AI Joins the Conversation

A few days ago, the internet started exploding with BEAUTIFUL oddly satisfying artworks with natural-like patterns. This anamorphic art was created with AI and something called ControlNet (tutorials here, here, and here).

This is simply mesmerizing, so I can't resist sharing a few more examples:

Companies can even recreate their logo ‘naturally’ using this concept:

h/t Eddie Goldenberg

📈 Practical “Oddly Satisfying” Marketing Tactics

1. Animate your logo / product in a hypnotic way

• Effort: High

• Create an oddly satisfying video with a 3D model of your logo or product (e.g. McDonald’s). Alternatively, showcase your product's appeal by forcing it into a generic oddly satisfying scene (the idea is to make viewers associate your product with satisfaction) — watch this 30-sec example:

2. Update the loading screen

• Effort: Low

• A simple loading screen can become oddly satisfying, like Logitech's G Hub example below. It's a subtle touch that can make a big impact.

3. Allow users to align stuff

• Effort: Medium

• Oh, this one is magical. For web and desktop apps, let users arrange components with precision (Custom Dashboards, I'm looking at you). It's like stopping a stopwatch at exactly 10.00 seconds — a satisfying win for users that gives a sense of accomplishment. I dare you not to align the elements on this website.

4. Emphasize important texts

• Effort: Low

• When you have a short message to convey, explore creative ways to make it oddly satisfying visually, just like this example with iPhone notes.

5. Wow at tradeshows and conferences

• Effort: High

• Create visually captivating displays that leave a lasting impression, as Rolls Royce did here:

6. Make your website playful

• Effort: Medium

• Add interactive elements to your website that engage and entertain visitors. Playfulness can be oddly satisfying and also addictive, like the cursor experience here, here, and here.

7. Find a random connection for a social media post

• Effort: Super Easy

• Think about it: Even something as random as soap-cutting can tie into any company's message. Why not try posting a catchy, oddly satisfying image or video on your social media and see how you can link it to your brand? It should work even if the connection is a bit of a stretch. And hey, those AI spirals? Slap on a branded caption and see the engagement roll in. Worth a try.

“Don’t cut away your MRR - use our product to stop churn and boost monetization”

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👀 Look around

The "oddly satisfying" trend is more than just a passing internet craze: It's a reflection of our innate human preferences. Oddly satisfying content is all around us, from everyday desk toys to the gradients of nature.

Keep an eye out, and you might just find your next viral campaign.

See you next Friday ✌️

Tom