Rory Sutherland: completely legal marketing hacks that always work

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

July 27, 2026

Duration

1h 15m

Channel

My First Million

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

*$1M Attention Guide: 15+ ways to get eyeballs on what you're building* https://clickhubspot.com/s6r0 Episode 845: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to marketing legend Rory Sutherland ( https://x.com/rorysutherland ). — Show Notes: (0:00) Intro (1:44) Horsepower (12:15) Reverse benchmarking (17:38) Pay attention to what irritates you (21:47) Ogilvy secrets (27:28) Marketing hacks used by Apple, UBER, McDonald's (36:35) direct response marketing 101 (1:08:50) Recommended reading — Links:

• Alchemy - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F1HOAWA
• Illusion of Choice - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857199749
• Nassim Taleb books - https://www.amazon.com/stores/Nassim-Nicholas-Taleb/author/B000APVZ7W
• Ogilvy on Advertising - https://www.amazon.com/dp/039472903X
• Writing That Works - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060956437
• When More Is Not Better - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1647820065
• Scientific Advertising - https://a.co/d/0ixEJA1B
• The Choice Factory - https://a.co/d/0ixa769O

— Check Out Sam's Stuff:

• Hampton (joinhampton.com): My community for founders. Average member does $25m/year. Many of the guests are members. Get after it...apply: http://joinhampton.com/mfm — Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com
• Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents.
• Mercury - Shaan uses Mercury across all of his companies. you can too: http://mercury.com/

Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., Members FDIC

• I run all my newsletters on Beehiiv and you should too + we're giving away $10k to our favorite newsletter, check it out: beehiiv.com/mfm-challenge My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano /

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Rory Sutherland

  guest

  Vice Chairman at Ogilvy and author of "Alchemy," known for applying behavioral science to marketing and advertising.

• Sam Parr

  host

  Co-host of My First Million and entrepreneur (founder of The Hustle), interviewing guests on business and marketing.

• Shaan Puri

  host

  Co-host of My First Million and entrepreneur/investor focused on startups, product, and marketing strategy.

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of My First Million, featuring Rory Sutherland and Sam Parr, Rory Sutherland: completely legal marketing hacks that always work explores Rory Sutherland on psychology-driven marketing tweaks that shift behavior fast Rory Sutherland argues that businesses can profit either by making better products or by making products feel more desirable, because psychology is more malleable than physics.

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