Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man
October 19 2009, 2:50 pm | | 8 Comments
Advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself. Brilliantly funny UK adman Rory Sutherland, vice chairman of Ogilvy Group, makes the daring assertion that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider “real” value — and his conclusion has interesting consequences for how we look at life.
8 Comments
very funny. very insightful.
There is no tangible value in gold, it is complete perception brought around by scarcity. At least diamond has a useful quality in strength.
It’s fair to say that we mould perception to our wills, making something exclusive or common or simply cheap to attract certain consumers, it’s a totally different challenge to apply the same perception approach to modern life outside profiteering.
However, I did like the Atttaturk (sp?) story of making prostitutes wear burkhas.
The sad truth about our industry is that there are very few if any people with that panache to sell what we do for a living. We have all become boring grey men trying to out management consultant the management consultants. Fuck PowerPoint. Fuck research and all that other left-brain drivel. Get out there with great insights about people and the confidence and showmanship to flog it.
I remember Rory as a graduate at O&M in London when he used to sit by my desk stealing roll ups. Thoroughly decent chap. Highly amusing too. Read his blog when you get chance.
”There is no tangible value in gold, it is complete perception brought around by scarcity. At least diamond has a useful quality in strength.”
wrong, gold never rusts, is easily manipulated with a low melting temp, is a good conduct of electricity and has a lot of industrial uses.
Top stuff. Thanks for posting something positive.
If you wanna be like that 4.34, there’s no real value in either. They’re not food, clothing or shelter.
12:12… unfortunately, we’ve progressed from a basic needs society.
Not to sound like an absolute utter twat but have a read of Gurdjieff. Once a human beings basic needs are met (food, clothing, shelter, love, etc) then they can move on to bigger concerns.
If today’s life was all about food and shelter, I’d move to Arnhem Land.