What most people miss about marketing | Rory Sutherland (Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, author)

Discover Rory Sutherland's insights on why good products fail, the power of fame, and "thinking psycho-logically" in marketing.

https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/what-most-people-miss-about-marketing

Rory Sutherland is widely regarded as one of the most influential (and most entertaining) thinkers in marketing and behavioral science. He’s the vice chairman of Ogilvy UK, the author of Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life, and the founder of Nudgestock, the world’s biggest festival of behavioral science and creativity. He champions thinking from first principles and using human psychology—what he calls “thinking psycho-logically”—over mere logic. In our conversation, we cover: • Why good products don’t always succeed, and bad ones don’t necessarily fail • Why less functionality can sometimes be more valuable • The importance of fame in building successful brands • The importance of timing in product success • The concept of “most advanced, yet acceptable” • Why metrics-driven workplaces can be demotivating • Lots of real-world case studies • Much more Note: We encountered some technical difficulties that led to less than ideal video quality for this episode, but the lessons from this conversation made it impossible for me to not publish it anyway. Thanks for your understanding and for bearing with the less-than-ideal video quality. — Brought to you by: • Pendo—The only all-in-one product experience platform for any type of application: https://www.pendo.io/lenny • Cycle—Your feedback hub, on autopilot: https://www.cycle.app/lenny?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=lenny • Coda—The all-in-one collaborative workspace: https://coda.io/lenny Find the transcript and references at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/what-most-people-miss-about-marketing Where to find Rory Sutherland: • X: https://x.com/rorysutherland • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorysutherland • Book: Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life: https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Curious-Science-Creating-Business/dp/006238841X Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Rory’s background (02:37) The success and failure of products (04:08) Why the urge to appear serious can be a disaster in marketing (08:05) The role of distinctiveness in product design (12:29) The MAYA principle (15:50) How thinking irrationally can be advantageous (17:40) The fault of multiple-choice tests (21:31) Companies that have successfully implemented out-of-the-box thinking (30:31) “Psycho-logical” thinking (31:45) The hare and the dog metaphor (38:51) Marketing’s crucial role in product adoption (49:21) The quirks of Google Glass (55:44) Survivorship bias (56:09) Balancing rational ideas with irrational ideas (01:06:19) The rise and fall of tech innovations (01:09:54) Consistency, distinctiveness, and clarity (01:21:12) Considering psychological, technological, and economic factors in parallel (01:23:35) Where to find Rory Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YErOtGMgTNg

Some takeaways:

When a product succeeds, we often forget the crucial role marketing played in its adoption. Rory even claimed that “Steve Jobs was not a technologist; he was a pitchman.” Many innovative products, from electricity to the internet, faced significant initial skepticism until marketing won consumers over.

Create space for unorthodox ideas. Remember: the opposite of a good idea can be another good idea. For example, both high-touch and no-touch hotel check-ins can be excellent experiences. We often act on the assumption that the world is linear, but it is often more complex than that. One helpful habit is to share logical ideas first and then create space for silly and crazy ones.

In certain contexts, behaving irrationally can be advantageous because it makes your actions less predictable and thus harder for others to exploit. This unpredictability can be a form of protection or strategic advantage.

When innovating, aim for “most advanced, yet acceptable” (MAYA). People generally prefer evolution over complete reinvention. However, maintaining some idiosyncrasies, or “the right amount of weird,” can create distinctiveness and interest. For example, Jaguar has a unique and memorable light switch and Veuve Clicquot has a defining yellow label.

Chase fame—it makes everything easier. Fame can be the difference between needing to do outreach versus leads coming to you, chasing people to take calls versus people always agreeing to chat, needing to pitch hires versus hires pitching you.