Rory Sutherland

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy and founder of its behavioural science practice, has spent over three decades proving that the smallest contextual changes can transform how people think and act, from tripling call centre sales with a few added sentences to reimagining workplace culture. A former President of the IPA, TED speaker, and bestselling author of *Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense*, Rory brings wit, psychological insight, and creative rigour to every stage. His sessions challenge audiences to question assumptions, embrace irrationality, and discover the unseen opportunities that data alone will never reveal, equipping leaders to make smarter, more human decisions.

Most businesses today struggle with a fundamental tension: the pressure to cut costs and automate can quietly erode the very experiences that keep customers loyal. Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, has built his career around spotting this problem and solving it in unexpected ways. He specialises in behavioural science applied to marketing and business strategy, helping organisations understand why people make seemingly irrational decisions and how tiny contextual changes can transform outcomes. His work focuses on finding what he calls 'unseen opportunities', the small, inexpensive tweaks that can triple sales or completely reshape customer behaviour, often by doing the opposite of what conventional efficiency logic suggests.

Rory co-founded Ogilvy's behavioural science practice, where he leads a team of psychology graduates who look beyond traditional marketing metrics to discover how context shapes decision-making. His career at Ogilvy spans more than three decades, starting as a graduate trainee in 1988 and rising through roles as copywriter and creative director before taking on his current position. He has served as President of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, chaired the Direct Jury at Cannes, and spoken at TED Global. Rory is the author of three books, including the bestselling *Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense* and, co-written with Pete Dyson, *Transport For Humans* on the behavioural science of transport. He founded Nudgestock, a global festival dedicated to behavioural science, and writes regular columns for *The Spectator*, *Market Leader*, and *Impact*. His recent commentary on marketing's biggest risks in 2026 has emphasised the danger of mistaking efficiency for progress, warning that automation without a human perspective leads to experiences that work in theory but collapse in practice.

Rory helps audiences see business challenges through a different lens, one that values creativity and human understanding alongside data and efficiency. He demonstrates why marketers must remain in the room when decisions are made, offering the perspective that flips problems around and asks how they feel to the person on the other side. Whether speaking on workplace transformation, the future of marketing, or why self-service checkouts frustrate customers doing large shops, Rory combines wit, insight, and decades of real-world experience to show organisations how to make better decisions. His audiences leave with practical tools for spotting opportunities others miss, understanding why people behave as they do, and recognising when being different matters more than being better. He challenges businesses to resist the pressure of short-term thinking and invest in the kind of creative, human-centred approaches that build lasting value.

His incredible career in advertising, marketing and branding makes him a brilliant speaker to cover these topics in a keynote. He is a highly acclaimed educator, he can impart his wisdom onto the corporate circuit, and teach businesses the value in customer perception.