Rory Sutherland joins Adam Smith Institute as senior fellow
Advertising executive Rory Sutherland has joined free-market think tank the Adam Smith Institute as a senior fellow, strengthening the organisation’s efforts to promote behavioural economics and free-market policy as the UK grapples with sluggish growth.
Sutherland, vice chairman of advertising giant Ogilvy and one of Britain’s best-known marketing figures, will advise the Institute on how it communicates research and policy proposals, drawing on his work in behavioural science.
The appointment formalises a longstanding relationship between Sutherland and the Adam Smith Institute (ASI), where he has regularly spoken at events and championed the role of behavioural economics in policy.
“The best solutions to society’s problems come from human ingenuity, not bureaucracy,” Sutherland said. “I’m delighted to join the Adam Smith Institute to help apply behavioural science to public policy and show why economic freedom works.”
Sutherland is widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading voices on behavioural economics, having founded Ogilvy’s behavioural science practice in 2012 after more than two decades at the advertising group. He is also the author of bestselling book Alchemy and a regular columnist for The Spectator.
The appointment comes as behavioural science continues to play a growing role in both public policy and business strategy, with governments and companies increasingly using insights from psychology to influence consumer and public behaviour.
Free-market push
The Adam Smith Institute said Sutherland would help strengthen the way it communicates research at a time when debates over regulation, economic growth and the role of the state have returned to the forefront of British politics.
James Lawson, chairman of the Adam Smith Institute, described Sutherland as “an undisputed master of communication”. “He has done exceptional work showing how free markets benefit all of us, explaining how capitalism drives, rather than suppresses, human creativity,” Lawson said.
Maxwell Marlow, the Institute’s director of public affairs, added that Britain needed “fresh thinking” as it sought to tackle weak economic growth: “We’re delighted to welcome Rory to our roster of some of Britain’s most talented policy experts.”
Sutherland has become one of the ad industry’s most recognisable public figures, combining his work at Ogilvy with books, podcasts and public speaking on behavioural economics, marketing and transport policy.
In recent months he has also been an outspoken commentator on AI, warning that advertising-funded AI risks repeating many of the incentives that reshaped internet search.
His appointment comes as think tanks increasingly recruit high-profile figures from the private sector, capable of broadening their public reach and influence.