I’m seeing a LOT of chat about clarity at the moment. Well I’m here to sprinkle a little bit of nuance on that banquet. What if I told you engineering a small, say 5%, ‘clarity gap’ into your messaging might end up being the most powerful, memorable (and revenue raising!) thing you could do.  

Enter the concept of the ‘a-ha moment’, a great leap of insight, that beautiful moment when something clicks into place. Seeing the arrow in the FedEx logo for the first time. Or for my fellow elder millennials, finally seeing the image hidden inside one of those Magic Eye posters from the 90s.

A smile in the mind. That moment feels really good. It feels satisfying. It makes us feel clever. We get the joke. We belong.

And here’s the science: it makes those moments sticky. They light up both our amygdala AND our hippocampus — meaning not only does it excite and engage us, but it embeds the experience into our memory. We store it away for a time when that insight might be useful to us again. 

In our rush to eliminate confusion, have we also eliminated audience participation? 

What if we designed for that moment? Not by being obscure or confusing, but by holding just a little something back, just enough restraint to entice the audience in deeper. Leaving just enough unsaid for the audience to complete the meaning themselves.

Here’s how it works, in three parts.

1. It earns time and attention

Those rare, fleeting, fickle birds of time and attention. 

Our 5% gap creates curiosity, and that buys you a few precious extra seconds where someone actually stops their doom-scrolling, or opens the envelope, or looks twice at the billboard.

That tiny moment of intrigue charms your audience into making a tiny commitment to hear your message – the difference between being ignored and being noticed. 

It’s not understanding, it’s just a moment where the brain says: hang on… what’s that?

2. It invites participation

This is where the shift happens. From passive viewer to active participant. More often than not we treat audiences as passive recipients — but what if we didn’t?

What if we asked them to travel just 5% of the way to meet us at the understanding of our idea and message? That small act of participation — allowing them to connect the dots or resolve the idea — creates meaning, ownership, and makes your message sticky in their minds. It’s the same reason people value IKEA furniture more once they’ve assembled it themselves. Participation creates attachment.

We talk a lot about storytelling. But rarely about the role of the person hearing the story. How can they interpret it, contribute to it and make meaning of it?

3. It gives a reward

That sweet, sweet dopamine hit. Admiration for the idea, but also admiration for yourself for understanding the idea. Admiration plus self-congratulation equals a dopamine cuddle puddle. It’s why people jump all over each other in conversation when the penny drops. The moment of resolution has energy and joy, and it needs to be shared.

Here’s the science bit: the same chemical your brain releases during eating, sex and a monetary windfall? Turns out it also fires up during an aha moment. That’s the good company your campaign is keeping. 

Why this matters more in the not-for-profit sector, not less

The reality is most organisations I see, especially not-for-profits, are being pushed in the opposite direction. The ever-increasing pressure for great fundraising results, risk-averse committees, the attention economy and AI content all make it feel like we need to shout louder, be clearer, more technical, more explicit, and remove all ambiguity.

But at some point, total clarity starts to flatten the experience. It removes the audience from the process entirely.

Perhaps if we reframed this approach as shutting out the donor, we’d be more open to inviting interpretation and intrigue. Remembering it’s in the inviting that memory, resonance and belonging is created. A skilful balance to be sure – but that’s why you work with professionals (like us! 😉).

A little warning: choose your moment

Sometimes you do just need to say the damn thing.

We’re talking about 5% here. Not 10%, not 20%. Just a little bit. Don’t fly too close to the sun with your cleverness. 

This isn’t about being clever for the sake of it. The idea still has to work without the insight. The CTA still has to be clear. If you have to over-explain it, or it only works with full context, let it go.

But that small, deliberate gap? It might be the most generous thing you can offer your audience.

Because when someone decodes your message they don’t just remember it. They feel like they’re part of it. And if belonging is among our deepest held human desires, then an aha moment isn’t just a creative device. It’s an invitation.

Trust your audience enough to leave a gap. Let them in.