+55% / +68%
CaseBrand & Creativity
Loewe's Maggie Smith casting beat its ambassador average by 55% on earned media
When Loewe added the then 80-something Maggie Smith to a brand ambassador lineup of expected names, the surprising choice outperformed the brand's ambassador average by 55% on earned media and 68% on engagement - surprise working in luxury and in social, not just in TV ads.
Source
The Startling Power of Surprise - eatbigfish x Uncensored CMO webinar (Cannes 2026 session) (2026)
Adam Morgan (eatbigfish), Jon Evans (Uncensored CMO)
00:19:28-00:20:56; Wearisma analysis for eatbigfish
Go to the originalMore from this source
StatSurprise amplifies emotion by up to 400% and imprints the moment on memoryPrincipleThe brain is a prediction engine: surprise is the error that gets encodedStatThe most surprising ads reach fame five times as often as the dullestPrinciple'Something out of the ordinary' tops both attention and emotion in YouTube ad featuresPrincipleOn TikTok, out-of-the-ordinary content carries the largest brand memory liftPrincipleThe Short Oh! and the Long Ohhh!: two types of surprise with different jobsCaseTubi's fake channel-switch Super Bowl ad drove 70,000 app opens in minutesQuote"You don't have the budget to be boring."PrincipleExceeding expectations is the most positive surprise; a service let-down is the most negativeStatThe most successful new products and ads blend about 80% happiness with 20% surpriseCaseAldi maps each limiting belief to a planned surprise that punctures itQuote"In creating surprise well, the most important thing is actually discipline and rigour in your thinking. People are expecting champagne and crazy ideas. And it's not that. It's hard work, day in, day out."