Rory Sutherland

2 podcast appearances

Every podcast appearance by Rory Sutherland

Top clips

Riding Unicorns · Rory Sutherland

Direct marketers invented A/B testing 40 years before doctors used it

Marketing legend Rory Sutherland reveals how direct marketers pioneered randomized control trials and A/B testing decades before the medical field adopted these methods. He explains how this historical connection sparked his fascination with counterintuitive human behavior and decision-making patterns.

1:56 - 2:2428s

ab-testing direct-marketing behavioral-psychology

Riding Unicorns · Rory Sutherland

market insight

Why this energy company succeeded by understanding psychology, not just engineering

Rory Sutherland explains how Octopus Energy's success comes from understanding that solving the climate crisis requires changing human behavior, not just engineering excellence. He argues this psychological insight is what separates successful companies from those that fail despite having good products.

38:33 - 38:5523s

behavioral-psychology climate-tech customer-acquisition

Riding Unicorns · Rory Sutherland

contrarian take

Steve Jobs was less charismatic, we'd still use BlackBerry keyboards

Rory Sutherland argues that Steve Jobs' charisma was crucial to the iPhone's success over objectively superior BlackBerry keyboards. He suggests that in a parallel universe where Jobs was 30% less charismatic, we'd still be using phones with physical keyboards, which he claims are actually better than touchscreens.

39:07 - 39:3426s

product-design steve-jobs blackberry

Riding Unicorns · Rory Sutherland

market insight

We don't actually know why we do things - but that's where the money is

Rory Sutherland explains how humans construct stories to rationalize their decisions after the fact, rather than understanding their true motivations. He argues there's huge commercial value in better understanding this psychological reality, even if we can't fully decode human behavior.

6:57 - 7:3942s

consumer-psychology decision-making behavioral-economics

Riding Unicorns · Rory Sutherland

contrarian take

Sometimes you have to tell clients their product is psychologically unsellable

Marketing expert Rory Sutherland explains how his team acts as 'psychological detectives' when clients bring them problems. He reveals that sometimes the harsh truth is that what a client is trying to sell simply cannot work from a psychological perspective, no matter how good the marketing.

3:40 - 3:5717s

psychological-marketing client-consulting product-viability

Episodes

Riding Unicorns

Marketing Icon: Rory Sutherland (audio only)

Rory SutherlandNov 20, 202452 min

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, explores how behavioral science and psychology drive business success, sharing counterintuitive insights about human decision-making and marketing strategy. He discusses how psychological understanding can create competitive advantages and why even brilliant ideas fail without proper behavioral insights.

Invest Like the Best

Rory Sutherland – Moonshots and Marketing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.191]

Rory SutherlandSep 15, 202052 min