Rory Sutherland (born 12 November 1965) 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'' and has written several books, including ''Alchemy: The Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense''.

Biography

Sutherland was born in Llanbadoc, near Usk,

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

, Wales. He attended Monmouth School, a private Haberdasher's school in Monmouthshire, and studied classics at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

, starting in 1984. 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. 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. 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.

Published works

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','' followed by ''Transport For Humans: Are we nearly there yet?'' published in November 2021 and co-authored with Department for Transport behavioural scientist, Pete Dyson.

Personal life

Sutherland is married to Sophie Sutherland, who is a vicar at Bromley Parish Church. They have twin daughters.TED biography of Rory Sutherland
ted.com; accessed 6 October 2015.

References

External links

''Wiki Man'' columns
in '' The Spectator''.
Sutherland discussing his book
on

EconTalk ''EconTalk'' is a weekly economics podcast hosted by Russ Roberts. Roberts, formerly an economics professor at George Mason University, is a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. On the podcast, Roberts typically interviews ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, Rory British advertising executives Marketing theorists Branding theorists Usk People from Usk Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge The Spectator people 1965 births Living people