Rory Sutherland: I Wish I Had Known About Behavioural Science Years Ago

03 Mar, 2023

Marketers can learn a lot from behavioural science. Amongst other things, it can help us to ask better questions, believes Rory Sutherland.

“I wish I had known about behavioral science 10 years before I discovered it”, says Rory Sutherland, as he spoke to MAD//Insight ahead of April’s MAD//Masters course. 

Sutherland thinks he initially came across behavioural science by accident when working in direct marketing and it was then he realised, “economics was not a reliable predictive model for understand how consumers behave.” Sutherland believes that behavioural science, at the very least, can help us ask better questions, even though it might not provide answers. 

“I wish I'd absorbed the ideas of Byron Sharp and Binet & Field and understood the fact that most changes in behaviour happens on an ‘S curve’... Therefore, it may pay to advertise good products well before they are profitable,” he added. 

“The idea that advertising should unnecessarily wash its own face in any given year is a terrible mistake. Once you understand that the growth and penetration of new ideas is anything but linear, you'll behave very differently.”

Created and hosted by Sutherland, MAD//Masters is an online course for marketers who want to use creativity, behavioural science and innovation to address the challenges created by mass disruption.

Featuring on-demand lectures, live seminars, and an in-person meet-up and masterclass from Rory at MAD//Fest London (4-6 July), the CPD-accredited course has been purposely designed for brand and agency marketers, b2b specialists, commercial leaders and founders.

Enrol here for the spring MAD//Masters By Rory Sutherland course for just £995 + VAT and get a complimentary ticket to MAD//Fest London worth £650.