Businesses, and especially marketers, should be aware of the dangers of devoting too much time and energy to fashion-driven buzzwords, according to Ogilvy Vice-chair and MAD//Masters Co-founder Rory Sutherland.

In a video released ahead of this August’s MAD//Masters By Rory Sutherland Summer School, Sutherland said: “In an environment of almost continuous disruption and an obsession with fashion, there’s a really valuable thing you can do - go back to the bedrock of marketing principles, which don't actually change very much. 

“I think marketers are at risk of being rather like dogs living on remote farms, who chase and bark at the latest shiny thing that passes by. We often forget that fundamental principles, particularly the principles of human psychology, and human behaviour, don't change very much.

“A good dose of Byron Sharp or Mark Ritson wisdom is never a bad thing. But I like to marry this with a creative nous and say ‘here's what we know, what do we do?’

“There's always a kind of un-career threatening, satisfactory rational answer, which is pretty good and will probably work and won't be a catastrophe, and won't get you fired. But we take that road at the expense of 10 or 20 much more exciting, much less logical, much more oblique, stranger, less intuitive solutions, which might be much, much better.”

The MAD//Masters By Rory Sutherland Summer School has been created for marketers, commercial leaders,  b2b specialists, founders and agency execs who want to discover how behavioural science and creative innovation can provide an edge. Featuring 12 CPD-accredited online lectures, a live virtual seminar, and an in-person meet-up, the course content is available on-demand throughout August.

Click here to secure your place for £695 + VAT and get a FREE MAD//Fest London ticket (worth £650) where you can attend a special MAD//Masters masterclass and meet Rory!