Rory Sutherland

Rory Sutherland Keynote Speaker, Advertising Executive, Behavioural Science Pioneer and Original Thinker

• Vice Chairman of Ogilvy and founder of its pioneering behavioural science practice
• One of the advertising industry’s most influential thinkers on behaviour, decision-making and innovation
• Author of the bestselling Alchemy, exploring why irrational ideas often produce the best results
• Speaker on behavioural economics, marketing, creativity, brand, innovation and consumer psychology
• Writer of The Wiki Man column for The Spectator and creator of the behavioural science festival Nudgestock
• Unexpected TikTok phenomenon whose marketing insights have reached millions of younger audiences online

Biography

Rory Sutherland is one of the most distinctive and entertaining thinkers in modern business. Part advertising executive, part behavioural science evangelist, part eccentric philosopher of human behaviour, Rory has spent decades explaining why people rarely do what economists, marketers or even they themselves think they will do.

As Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, Rory has built a reputation for challenging conventional thinking about business, leadership and consumer behaviour. His career at Ogilvy began in 1988 when, as he puts it, the agency decided to “take a punt on the weirdo.” He briefly worked in account planning before being fired, only to rejoin almost immediately as a junior copywriter. From there he rose through the ranks to become one of the most influential figures in marketing today.

Rory leads Ogilvy’s behavioural science practice, applying psychology and behavioural economics to uncover what he calls “unseen opportunities” — the small contextual changes that can dramatically alter human behaviour. Long before behavioural science became fashionable in business circles, Rory was part of a generation of unconventional thinkers alongside collaborators including Mark Earls and the researchers who shaped modern consumer psychology who argued that people do not make decisions logically, consistently or even particularly rationally. That gention of thinkers undertsood that people respond to emotion, perception, social cues, friction, symbolism and countless invisible influences that organisations so often overlook.

That ability to rethink problems from totally unexpected angles is what makes Rory such a compelling keynote speaker.

Speaking

As a speaker, Rory Sutherland is funny, provocative, intellectually restless and almost impossible to categorise. His talks rarely follow the predictable structure of conventional business presentations because his central argument is often that conventional thinking itself is the problem.

Drawing on decades inside advertising, consumer psychology and behavioural science, Rory explores why irrational ideas frequently outperform rational ones, why creativity matters more during uncertainty, and why businesses often overlook simple solutions because they appear too strange, too small or too psychologically subtle to be taken seriously.

His talks cover behavioural economics, brand, innovation, marketing, decision-making, consumer psychology, organisational behaviour and the hidden forces shaping modern life. Whether discussing transport systems, pricing psychology, digital culture or the absurdities of corporate decision-making, Rory has a rare ability to make audiences see familiar problems differently.

What makes him particularly effective on stage is the way he combines deep expertise with humour and unpredictability. One moment he is referencing evolutionary psychology or Austrian economics; the next he is explaining why restaurant wine lists, airport design or toothpaste packaging reveal more about human behaviour than most boardroom strategy sessions ever will.

Audiences leave not simply entertained, but thinking differently.

Books, Writing & Media

Rory is the author of Alchemy: The Magic of Original Thinking in a World of Mind-Numbing Conformity, which argues that the most valuable ideas in business and life are often psychologically effective rather than logically perfect. Nassim Nicholas Taleb described it as “a breakthrough book” that is “funny as hell.”

Alongside Alchemy, Rory co-wrote Transport for Humans: Are We Nearly There Yet? with Pete Dyson, a behavioural scientist and former Principal Behavioural Scientist at the UK Department for Transport. The book applies the same counterintuitive logic to how people actually move through the world — arguing that transport systems fail not because of engineering limitations but because they treat people as cargo rather than human beings with habits, preferences and apparently irrational reasons for choosing one route over another.

Rory also writes The Wiki Man, his long-running column for The Spectator, a weekly exercise in applying behavioural science and lateral thinking to whatever subject happens to be annoying him most at the time of writing. His TED Talks have been viewed more than seven million times and they remain some of the most widely shared presentations on behavioural science and creativity online.

In recent years, Rory has also become a most unlikely social media star. Clips of his talks and interviews began circulating widely on TikTok, where his observations on marketing, psychology and everyday behaviour unexpectedly found a huge younger audience. The Guardian described him as “one of the most unlikely TikTok sensations of the day.”

Industry Influence & Recognition

Alongside his work at Ogilvy, Rory was President of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, becoming the first creative professional to hold the role. He has also chaired judging panels at Cannes Lions and helped build Nudgestock into one of the world’s most influential festivals dedicated to behavioural science, creativity and innovation.

Rory remains at the centre of the event, bringing together leading thinkers from business, psychology, technology and marketing to challenge conventional assumptions about how people behave and how organisations create change. Nudgestock 2026 is due to take place in September and will explore the theme of trust in an AI-driven world, asking what happens when seeing is no longer believing and why trust may become the most valuable asset businesses have left.

At the heart of Rory’s work is a simple idea: human behaviour is far stranger, more emotional and less rational than most businesses are willing to admit. That insight has quietly reshaped how a generation of marketers, strategists and leaders think about creativity, decision-making and innovation. Which, according to Rory, is precisely where the opportunity lies.

Specialist Speakers is very pleased to have worked with Rory over the years and we continue online our discussion of our top ten London Underground stations! You can contact Rory Sutherland via a Specialist Speakers agent on +44 [0]1455 633289 for speaking and presentation in both in-person and virtual settings. Rory Sutherland’s speaking fee is variable, usually between £7.5k and £20k and are subject to individual quotation with the exception of pro bono work.

We do love working with Rory!