Rory Sutherland on why marketing is the answer to economic growth | Uncensored CMO YouTube Video Summary
John Evans chats with Rory Sutherland on the Uncensored CMO podcast, discussing the economy and whether we are looking in the wrong place. They discuss if rates of economic growth in the United States come down to their veneration of salesmanship and marketing. Sutherland argues that tech has distorted the industry where marketing is no longer about inventiveness but more about being a number cruncher.
Detailed Summary:
Rory Sutherland on why marketing is the answer to economic growth
This week, John Evans is chatting to Rory Sutherland from Ogilvy Consulting, on the Uncensored CMO podcast to discuss the economy and are they looking in the wrong place, and is it right to be so data-driven when there is a danger to being so led by it.
The economy, are we looking in the wrong place?
The economy seems to be driven by cuts at the moment. AI is making everything more efficient supposedly, however, perhaps they are looking in the wrong place when it comes to growth, are governments ignoring another big aspect to economic growth? Sutherland believes that the economic growth of the United States is due in part to veneration of salesmanship and marketing.
Marketing vs Sales
History remembers inventors. However, they were also marketers. It seems we are putting marketing downstream of decision making and viewing it like icing on a cake, rather than a fundamental aspect of economic growth. There are many reasons people decide to do things so its important not to discount the soft side of marketing. A lot of the time its as much about persuasion of others to make a change.
The issue with overreliance on data
Data comes from the past, there is no data from the future to inform decisions. We’ve created a paranoid environment to prevent being caught doing the wrong thing. However, most of what we perceive as predictions is, in actual fact, to use the limited bandwidth from our ears and eyes to avoid error, said Sutherland.
Conclusion
Its better to improve luck by maximixing surface area. This way a business gets to be in the place to maximise opportunities. There’s a problem with new tech - the negatives are apparent whereas the positives are not, a good solution would be to not be over-attributing value to data.