Rory Sutherland is Vice Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather UK and is an expert on consumer behaviour, trends and the influence of the internet. He supports the need for companies to alter the perspective of clients, bringing about novel perspectives on diverse products. 

 

Sutherland's well-respected career coincides with his academic background. His studies at Christ's College in Cambridge were followed by a year spent teaching at a school in Aylesbury. He later joined the Ogilvy team in 1988 where he began to immerse himself in the marketing and advertising industries. 

 

Sutherland's involvement with Ogilvy was bright from the beginning, initially taking on the title of junior copywriter. His entry-level projects focused upon the Microsoft brand, leading him to be one of the first in his field to promote the merger of marketing with Internet Technology. His expert knowledge and forward-thinking approaches have continuously inspired his contemporaries, delivered by way of his 'The Wiki Man' column at The Spectator and via his blog with Campaign Brand Republic.

 

He has worked on Amex, BT, Compaq, Microsoft, IBM, BUPA, easyJet, Unilever, winning a few awards along the way. He was appointed Creative Director of OgilvyOne in 1997 and ECD in 1998. In 2005 he was appointed Vice Chairman Ogilvy Group in the UK.

 

By an amazing stroke of luck (his brother is an academic) Rory first used the Internet in 1987. Hence he had the advantage in 1994 of knowing what it was and what it might do a few years ahead of many colleagues. Most people would have combined this knowledge of marketing and technology to make a fortune; not Rory. Instead he became the first Briton to have his credit card details stolen online, thereby losing £22.45.

 

In his spare time, Rory collects self-aggrandising job titles. He was President of the Direct Jury at Cannes in 2007, and was elected President of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in 2009 for two years. He is also the Technology Correspondent of the Spectator, the world’s oldest English language magazine.