Hacking the Unconscious

by Rory Sutherland

Rory Sutherland explores the stories and psychology behind the most influential marketing campaigns in history, and smashes apart received wisdom with a look at iconoclastic ideas.

Advertising guru Rory Sutherland is a world-leading proponent of behavioural economics. In Hacking the Unconscious, he looks at how this emerging science is used by marketers to influence us and challenges us to reassess which ideas we hold dear.

In part one, Marketing, Rory asks why certain ad campaigns, such as Nike's 'Just Do It' and the MND Ice Bucket Challenge, cast such a spell over us. Looking at 10 all-time great campaigns - including Coke's iconic 'Hilltop' ad, Dove's 'Campaign for Real Beauty' and De Beers' 'A Diamond Is Forever' - he discusses their success with the creative minds that conceived them.

Along the way, he ponders the allure of altruism, asks whether ads can be art, considers what 'Big Data' means for the future of marketing and shows how a powerful health campaign transformed attitudes, and saved lives.

Part two, Thought Cages, sees Rory confounding conventional wisdom with his intriguing, subversive and controversial concepts. Is education always a good thing? Would we be better off selecting our MPs by lottery? Plus, he looks at the dilemma the NHS faces - to be successful, or to be loved; speculates if we're really as rational as we think; exposes the fallacy of market research; shows how businesses play on our susceptibility to commitment; and wonders whether online retail will ever replicate the magic of the traditional shopping experience.

As he explores how 'psycho-logic', behavioural quirks and mind hacks could drive change, he formulates a magical series of radical ideas that may provide new solutions to society's problems.

Contributors include novelist Fay Weldon; onetime CEO of Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix; New York Times best-selling author Bryan Caplan; MP Jess Philips and Nassim Nicholas Taleb, statistician and author of The Black Swan.

Presented by Rory Sutherland

Produced by Steven Rajam and Michael Surcombe

Hacking the Unconscious

Shelina Janmohamed, Steve Henry, Roger Greenaway, Nicola Raihani, Sara Pascoe, Geoffrey Miller, Daryl Fielding, J Courtney Sullivan, Fay Weldon, Scott Bedbury, Liz Dolan, Byron Sharp, Alexander Nix, Nick Hall, Lord Norman Fowler, Sammy Harari, Sir Nick Partridge, Jacqueline Gold, Jennifer Jacquet, Matt Brosnan

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 1-12 May 2017

Thought Cages

Natalie Perera, Bryan Caplan, Nicholas Gruen, Jess Philips, Diana Fleischman, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Helena Cronin, Dave Trott, Ben Page, Nichola Raihani, Robin Hanson, Oliver Payne, Natalie Nahai, Leigh Caldwell, Jonathan Haidt, Owain Service, Sue Benson, Dan Ariely, Katherine Lewis, David Dalziel

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 19-30 November 2018

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Business

Audiobook

Published April 8, 2021

About the author

Rory Sutherland is the vice-chairman of Ogilvy UK and the co-founder of its Behavioural Science Practice. He is the author of Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas that Don’t Make Sense, writes The Spectator’s Wiki Man column, presents several series for Radio 4, serves on the advisory board of the Evolution Institute and is former president of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. His TED talks have been viewed more than 7 million times.

Reviews

[Boni Aditya · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a sad excuse for a book. This is merely collection of some very well run advertising campaigns and nothing more. There is very little insight from this book.

I am not sure how the author alchemy could also Author Hacking the Unconscious.

I shouldn't have even picked up this book.

[Ayesha Ratnayake · Rating 2 out of 5]

A somewhat awkwardly compiled collection of marketing and advertising case studies highlighting the 'magic' of media manipulation. The opposite of heartwarming.

[Matthew Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recommend reading Alchemy instead of this one.

I love Rory Sutherland, but this isn’t really an audiobook, just a collection of radio shows. Chapter six even includes about 5 minutes of the show which aired before this one - bizarre.

In terms of content, Sutherland skates swiftly through a series of interesting marketing case studies (including some he talks about in more detail in Alchemy).

[Rach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook of podcast compilation rather than a book. Even a good section of another program snuck in at one point.

[Pablo Ortiz-Monasterio Ruffo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love his logic