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Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life Hardcover – May 7, 2019
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HOW DOES MAGIC HAPPEN?The Ogilvy advertising legend—“one of the leading minds in the world of branding” (NPR)—explores the art and science of conjuring irresistible products and ideas.
"Sutherland, the legendary Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, uses his decades of experience to dissect human spending behavior in an insanely entertaining way. Alchemy combines scientific research with hilarious stories and case studies of campaigns for AmEx, Microsoft and the like. This is a must-read." —Entrepreneur ("Best Books of the Year")
Why is Red Bull so popular, though everyone—everyone!—hates the taste? Humans are, in a word, irrational, basing decisions as much on subtle external signals (that little blue can) as on objective qualities (flavor, price, quality). The surrounding world, meanwhile, is irreducibly complex and random. This means future success can’t be projected on any accounting spreadsheet. To strike gold, you must master the dark art and curious science of conjuring irresistible ideas: alchemy.
Based on thirty years of field work inside the largest experiment in human behavior ever conceived—the forever-unfolding pageant of consumer capitalism—Alchemy, the revolutionary book byOgilvy advertising legend Rory Sutherland, whose TED talks have been viewed nearly seven million times, decodes human behavior, blending leading-edge scientific research, absurdly entertaining storytelling, deep psychological insight, and practical case studies from his storied career working on campaigns for AmEx, Microsoft, and others.
Heralded as “one of the leading minds in the world of branding” by NPR and "the don of modern advertising" by The Times, Sutherland is a unique thought leader, as comfortable exchanging ideas with Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler (both interviewed in these pages) as he is crafting the next product launch. His unconventional and relentlessly curious approach has led him to discover that the most compelling secrets to human decision-making can be found in surprising places:
What can honey bees teach us about creating a sustainable business?
How could budget airlines show us how to market a healthcare system?
Why is it better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong?
What might soccer penalty kicks teach us about the dangers of risk-aversion?
Better “branding,” Sutherland reveals, can also be employed not just to sell products, but to promote a variety of social aims, like getting people to pay taxes, improving public health outcomes, or encouraging more women to pursue careers in tech.
Equally startling and profound, Sutherland’s journey through the strange world of decision making is filled with astonishing lessons for all aspects of life and business.
- Print length384 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMariner Books
- Publication dateMay 7, 2019
- Dimensions6 x 1.21 x 9 inches
- ISBN-10006238841X
- ISBN-13978-0062388414
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"Sutherland, the legendary Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, uses his decades of experience to dissect human spending behavior in an insanely entertaining way. Alchemy combines scientific research with hilarious stories and case studies of campaigns for AmEx, Microsoft and the like. This is a must-read." — Entrepreneur, "Best Books of the Year for Entrepreneurs"
“This is a breakthrough book. Alchemy is wonderfully applicable to about everything in life. Furthermore, it is funny as hell.” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan
“Alchemy, as Rory Sutherland’s title promised, turns words into gold. Veins of wisdom emerge regularly and brilliantly from these pages. Don’t miss this book.” — Robert B. Cialdini, author of the million-copy bestseller Influence
"So many of us are trained to focus on data and the logical, and Alchemy makes a great argument for the irrational. I think everyone could use a reminder that asking dumb questions, reframing old ideas, and, in turn, trying to create a bit of magic, can lead to unexpected solutions for some of our most difficult problems. Alchemy was a reminder of that and then some." — Inc., "Great Books for Anyone Who Wants to Get Ahead in Life"
"The most recent, and the funniest book on the subject is by Ogilvy Vice Chair Rory Sutherland. Alchemy is both a book on human behavior and a rallying cry to stand up against the spreadsheet mafia dominating most government and corporate policies today. ... Alchemy is full of examples of how human behavior runs contrary to the laws of economics from Sutherland’s work at Ogilvy." — Forbes, "Best Books on Consumer Behavior to Help You in Business and in Life"
“Buy this book. I loved it. It’s full of great insights.” — MATT RIDLEY, bestselling author of The Rational Optimist and Genome
“BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT: wonderfully heretical, naughty, funny, and wise. Alchemy has furnished me with enough good stories and sage aphorisms to keep my lecturers to tired students going for another ten years.” — JULES GODDARD, London Business School
“The don of modern advertising.” — The Times (London)
“Rory Sutherland’s Alchemy is a deeply original book.” — ROBERT TRIVERS
"Sutherland is revelatory — and entertaining — in his anatomy of apparently paradoxical consumer choice in action. " — The Times (London)
“Sutherland brings together complex theory with stories and plentiful humour to both captivate and entertain. It’s an important work for our era of apparent irrationality.” — The Spectator (UK)
From the Back Cover
How does magic happen?
Why is Red Bull so popular, though everyone—everyone!—hates the taste? Humans are, in a word, irrational, basing decisions as much on subtle external signals (that little blue can) as on objective qualities (flavor, price, quality). The surrounding world, meanwhile, is irreducibly complex and random. This means future success can’t be projected on any accounting spreadsheet. To strike gold, you must master the dark art and curious science of conjuring irresistible ideas: alchemy.
Based on thirty years of fieldwork inside the largest experiment in human behavior ever conceived—the forever-unfolding pageant of consumer capitalism—Alchemy, the revolutionary book by Ogilvy advertising legend Rory Sutherland, whose TED Talks have been viewed nearly seven million times, decodes human behavior, blending leading-edge scientific research, absurdly entertaining storytelling, deep psychological insight, and practical case studies from his storied career working on campaigns for AmEx, Microsoft, and others.
Heralded as “one of the leading minds in the world of branding” by NPR, Sutherland is a unique thought leader, as comfortable exchanging ideas with Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler (both interviewed in these pages) as he is crafting the next product launch. His unconventional and relentlessly curious approach has led him to discover that the most compelling secrets to human decision making can be found in surprising places:
· What can honeybees teach us about creating a sustainable business?
· How could budget airlines show us how to market a health-care system?
· Why is it better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong?
· What might soccer penalty kicks teach us about the dangers of risk aversion?
Better “branding,” Sutherland reveals, can also be employed not just to sell products but to promote a variety of social aims, like getting people to pay taxes, improving public health outcomes, or encouraging more women to pursue careers in tech.
Equally startling and profound, Sutherland’s journey through the strange world of decision making is filled with astonishing lessons for all aspects of life and business.About the Author
Rory Sutherland is vice chairman of Ogilvy. His TED Talks have been viewed more than 6.5 million times. He lives in London.
Product details
- Publisher : Mariner Books; Illustrated edition (May 7, 2019)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 006238841X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062388414
- Item Weight : 1.2 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.21 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #494,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #206 in Market Research Business (Books)
- #386 in Marketing & Consumer Behavior
- #1,245 in Decision-Making & Problem Solving
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Rory Sutherland is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, where he has worked since 1988. This attractively vague job title has allowed him to form a behavioural science practice within the agency whose job is to uncover the hidden business and social possibilities which emerge when you apply creative minds to the latest thinking in psychology and behavioural science.
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Nothing in human life is exactly as it seems and Rory Sutherland faces that fact with something between relish and verve. Even if you avoid crass economic thinking you must see that most human interactions involve marketing of some kind, because ultimately, marketing comes down to communication.
The book is wide-ranging and practical. More importantly, it should get you thinking more and more about all this. The book is no cookbook, but it is inspiring in encouraging us to think differently and move past superficial analysis. There are more than a few books like this one from a surface view, but I can't recommend this book enough if you are willing to really consider the implications of what Sutherland is saying.
I bought the Kindle and the Audible version because the book will be reread and its entertainment value makes it a joy to listen to in the car. Rory Sutherland should never have to pay for a meal in his life. There a too many people who would not pass up the opportunity to provide him with that free lunch, breakfast or dinner in exchange for a few hours (or days) of conversation. They'd be amply rewarded for the experience. He can call me up anytime and I'd make an evening of it with a few friends.
* Anyone who makes any kinds of product — software products, physical products, experiences, processes, workplaces, cultures, etc
* Any entrepreneur seeking to create valuable businesses
* Anyone who wants to understand what is True in the world
* Any Charlie Munger fans
* Any Slate Star Codex fans
* If people would describe you as highly rational, highly logical, etc, you’ll like this book
* Anyone seeking ways to find undervalued ideas will like this book
* Anyone who wants to maximize people’s subjective well-being
The benefits you’ll get from this book
* You’ll be able to see the world, and in particular people, more accurately
* You’ll be able to make more valuable, more loved products (software product, advertising as a product, process as a product, etc) and experiences
* It makes the valuable task of independent thinking slightly easier
Conclusion
* This book is a critical reminder that the world isn’t what it seems to be.
* It feels like a lesson, or a reminder, about what’s true in the world. A reminder that many of the beliefs you’ve been holding in your brain aren’t accurate, and therefore are leading you to misperceive the world. And it’s much easier to create value and valuable things if you accurately perceive the world!
* I’ve read somewhere between 500 and 1000 non-fiction books, and Alchemy is in my top 10 all-time.
After you read it
* If you like this book, other books that you’ll like include: “Elephant in the Brain” by Simler/Hanson and any books by Geoffrey Miller on signaling and the hidden reasons we do things, “The Righteous Mind” by Haidt on understanding the truth behind people’s stated beliefs and reasoning, “Talking to Humans” on understanding the things we really want rather than the things we say we want, “The Secret of Our Success” on the ways things that seem irrational can be highly valuable.
P.S. It’s great as an audiobook. I have the Kindle and the Audible versions and prefer the Audible version. The author reads it himself, and he has a very relaxed and conversational style reading of it. I normally like audiobooks, and this style was even easier and more enjoyable to listen to than most audiobooks, so I hope other audiobook producers copy his style!
Unfortunately this presents a major challenge in semantics and rhetoric.
The title of the book threw me off, but after reading it you can essentially apply the same thinking outlined in the book to any feelings you might have about its title. The author stressed that why does it matter why you might get people to do the right things, and what their motives are, when in fact it's more important how you get them to do the right thing regardless of how altruistic their internal motives really are. So the type of "alchemy" the author (who is clearly very intelligent) is referring to is not the alchemy of 500 years ago, where pseudo scientists tried to turn anything into gold; but rather the alchemy of doing things in business that might not seem logical on the surface but gets consumers (your customers!) to behave the way a business wants them to. My only concern is that the author dives too deep head first into his adherence of [his] alchemy. And obviously this presents a major issue because if any business starts to embrace alchemy, while at the same time throwing away the rational principles of logic, then everything will be wacked out and wicked.
The author [acutely] uses evolutionary psychology to make many points and observations. And I will use it to make mine: We have become more logical in business and in life because it is advantageous to do so. The logic will guide us to understanding that if majority of people avoid X (e.g. jumping off the George Washington bridge to go for a swim) because of Y (almost certain death), then it is probably a good idea to avoid X as well because it's most likely to be your outcome. This is of course unconscious, but unbelievably helpful. Now it might be obvious why people extrapolate this concept on bigger more subtle things such as consumer behavior. For example, if a company's analysis for a product had shown that 80% of people purchased the red dress over the blue dress at store, the logical conclusion would be that customer's like red dresses more. It makes sense to have such a conclusion, and any species of human that would tell you that the blue dress is much more popular will probably go extinct! What the author is trying to teach though, is that the red dress is not more popular because of the color, but perhaps because of the fact it is more noticeable because red shines much more bright than blue. To account for human psychology is not a simple equation. The main value of the book is this: at a time where people are becoming more logical - and for the better (that's why they are becoming more logical to begin with) - they might become overly logical and miss large opportunities they are not manifest. And because of the bureaucracy of big organizations, outside of the box thinking is for the most part looked down upon and can even get you fired. This presents an invaluable opportunity for smaller and less bureaucratic businesses.
To put it all together: embracing the idea of alchemy (i.e. unconventional business methods and ideas) can not only prove to be important but necessary. Hopefully though, the reader doesn't come out reading this book and thinking that both rational logic and alchemy are mutually exclusive. Rather, I would stress that they should both play a pivotal part of the same side of the coin. It can be detrimental to present, or seem to present as the author does, these two things as being opposites. In reality they should probably be conflated as some of the ideas of alchemy - understanding an action through the lenses of evolutionary psychology - can in fact be argued as the logical path to take.
Top reviews from other countries
This book reminds us why they are important, and how by ignoring them we severely limit our impact.