From being described as the worst graduate trainee that Ogilvy & Mather had ever hired, Rory took a while to find his calling in life. From unlikely beginnings as a classics teacher to his current job as Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group, Rory’s rise through the ranks is as unconventional as his dress sense.
One of marketing’s most original thinkers and influential speakers, Rory is a leading light in the advertising industry and as outspoken as he is creative. A champion of behavioural economics and an early adopter of new technologies, his collection of his cravats is as legendary as his appetite for chicken jalfrezi.
This book attempts to give an insight into Rory’s unique character and personality, through a winding journey of blog posts, interviews, tweets and reference materials, to give a rich and engaging introduction to Rory’s mind.
“You see your TomTom will make mistakes, as human map-readers do. That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that, when you do end up lost or in a ditch, you swear at a small electronic box and not at your wife. The device is really a marital aid – an electronic scapegoat. Even at a time of plummeting property prices, £200 to avoid a divorce is probably a good call.”
“One of the things I’ve learnt from him is the most interesting shit that’s happening in any field is not in any field, it’s actually in the interplay between different fields.”
“I can’t concentrate on anything, I’ve got no capacity for prolonged concentration or undivided attention at all. My children are bonkers about this because when they ask for my undivided attention I say no, but offer them some divided attention and they get really pissed off about it. Writing is about the only thing that forces me to sit down and really, really focus.”
Available now from
It's Nice That
And on Kindle
Born in Usk, Monmouthshire in 1965, Rory read Classics at Christ’s College, Cambridge, before joining the then Ogilvy & Mather Direct as a Graduate Trainee in 1988. After 18 months spent as the world’s worst account handler (as a desperate remedial measure he was once booked onto a time management course, but got the date wrong) Rory became a copywriter in June 1990.
Later on, Rory 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 on the Ogilvy Group in the UK in recognition of his improved timekeeping.
Keep your eyes peeled at www.ogilvy.co.uk
Or follow on twitter:
@rorysutherland
@ogilvylondon
@THE_OGILVY_LABS
The Wiki Man
Words by Rory Sutherland
Published by
It’s Nice That and
The Ogilvy Group.
ISBN: 978-0-9564373-3-4
info@thewikiman.co.uk