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Rory Sutherland (advertising executive)

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Rory Sutherland
Born
Roderick Henry Sutherland

(1965-11-12) 12 November 1965 (age 59)
Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales
EducationChrist's College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)Advertising executive, copywriter, speaker, author

Rory Sutherland (born 12 November 1965)[1] is a British advertising executive. He is the vice chairman of the Ogilvy & Mather group of companies. He writes a fortnightly column in The Spectator[2] and has written several books, including Alchemy: The Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense.[3]

Biography

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Sutherland was born in Llanbadoc, near Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales.[1] He attended Monmouth School, a private Haberdasher's school in Monmouthshire, and studied classics at Christ's College, Cambridge, starting in 1984.[4]

Sutherland joined Ogilvy & Mather as a graduate trainee planner in 1988, having been inspired to join the advertising industry by British TV advertising of the 1980s.[5] He worked briefly in account management before switching to copywriting and became the creative director in 2001. From 2008 to 2012 he served as President of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA).

In 2012 Sutherland founded the behavioural science practice within the Ogilvy Group, whose goal is to develop marketing techniques inspired by the fields of psychology and economics, rather than shape customer desires through conventional advertising.[6][7]

In Sutherland's book Alchemy: The Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense, Sutherland argues that great marketing ideas are often built around a core that is profoundly irrational.[8]

Published works

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In 2011 Sutherland published his first book, The Wiki Man, and since publication he has regularly written a column that has the same title in The Spectator magazine. In May 2019 Sutherland published his second book called Alchemy: The Magic of Original Thinking in a World of Mind-Numbing Conformity,[9] followed by Transport For Humans: Are we nearly there yet?[10] published in November 2021 and co-authored with Department for Transport behavioural scientist, Pete Dyson.

Personal life

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Sutherland is married to Sophie Sutherland, who is a Priest at Bromley Parish Church. They have twin daughters.[11][12]

References

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  1. ^ a b "SUTHERLAND, Roderick Henry, (Rory)". Who's Who. Vol. 2024 (online ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ Rory Sutherland biography, Creativebrief.com; accessed 6 October 2015.
  3. ^ Gwinn, Simon (21 March 2019). "Rory Sutherland: it's not logical". Campaign.
  4. ^ "The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett: E165: The Marketing Secrets Apple & Tesla Always Use: Rory Sutherland on Apple Podcasts".
  5. ^ Caffyn, Grace (24 March 2017). "Ogilvy's Rory Sutherland on playing the long game in advertising". DigiDay.
  6. ^ Bunelle, Tim (28 May 2019). "The future of advertising is rooted in the behavioral sciences". Medium.
  7. ^ Timba, Smits. "Rory Sutherland Knows How to Save Marketing". Wired.
  8. ^ Keogh, Olive. "Bringing the magical back into business". The Irish Times.
  9. ^ Sutherland, Rory (2019). Alchemy : the surprising power of ideas that don't make sense. London. ISBN 978-0-7535-5137-0. OCLC 1091689287.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Dyson, Pete (2021). Transport for Humans Are We Nearly There Yet?. Rory Sutherland. La Vergne: London Publishing Partnership. ISBN 978-1-913019-37-2. OCLC 1285170131.
  11. ^ Billen, Andrew (1 May 2019). "Meet Rory Sutherland, the Don of modern advertising". The Times.
  12. ^ TED biography of Rory Sutherland, ted.com; accessed 6 October 2015.
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