28min chapter

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

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

notes

CHAPTER

The History and Impact of Marketing

The chapter delves into how marketing has shaped the success and adoption of significant inventions throughout history, highlighting the crucial role it played in promoting innovations like electricity, the internet, and mobile phones. It explores the influence of marketing on consumer perceptions and acceptance of products like smallpox vaccination, emphasizing the role of timing and luck in product success. Additionally, the chapter discusses the importance of marketing strategies, timing, and user imagery in the failures of products like the Japanese Toilet, Google Glass, and the Wine Box, underscoring the psychological barriers and challenges faced in product adoption.

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Transcript

Episode notes

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.

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/what-most-people-miss-about-marketing

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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