Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, discusses how psychological barriers and poor market timing cause functionally superior innovations to stall.
“These are all utterly brilliant things, but it took in the case of the Japanese toilet and the wine box and Google glass, Something about the timing or the marketing, not the product, something was wrong, and the consumer basically never bit. It never reached critical mass.”
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Insight
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AssertionPartly supported
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Opinion
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“Google Glass, I mean, it was kind of marketing cock up. They launched a bit too soon. Then they only gave the bloody glasses to developers. Now, with the best will of the world, developers probably aren't the world's like coolest people. Okay. They're not the …”
Rory SutherlandJul 21, 2024▶ 49:24What most people miss about marketing | Rory Sutherland (Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, author)
Insight
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“Actually there's a problem with all tech products because the first people to adopt innovative products tend to be slightly weird. Okay. And weird people do not confer the reassurance of kind of social norms in the way that adoption by conventional people does…”
Rory SutherlandJul 21, 2024▶ 59:56What most people miss about marketing | Rory Sutherland (Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, author)
Insight
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“Actually the reason most people adopt new technology is peacock's tail. It's showing off. The first cars weren't as good as horses and carts. They were done to show off. They were done for novelty seeking reasons or for reasons of status display. And that's wh…”
Rory SutherlandJul 21, 2024▶ 1:03:30What most people miss about marketing | Rory Sutherland (Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, author)
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