Ad Industry Icon Rory Sutherland to Advise DAIVID

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of legendary ad agency Ogilvy UK, has joined creative effectiveness platform DAIVID in the capacity of Strategic Advisor.

Launched two and a half years ago by Ian Forrester, former Insight Head at video tracking platform Unruly, DAIVID uses facial coding, eye tracking and computer vision data to automate the testing of ads across a range of platforms, by predicting human attention levels and emotions. Its offer includes an AI-based tool which predicts how people will feel about an ad, without the need for audience panels.

Sutherland has been a leading figure in the ad industry for more than 35 years, and brings his experience to an active role on the Board helping DAIVID to grow around the world. He is a former president of the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) and Chair of the Judges for the Direct Jury at Cannes Lions. In 2012 he co-founded Ogilvy's behavioural science practice, which develops marketing techniques based on the fields of psychology and economics rather than shaping customer desires through conventional advertising; and he is the author of books including Alchemy: The Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense and a regular columnist for The Spectator and Management Today. He joined Ogilvy as a graduate trainee in 1988.

Sutherland says of his new role: 'I am both terrified and excited by the prospect of AI - in that bitter experience tells me that technology which could be used to inform and enhance creative work is often eagerly deployed by penny-pinchers to make it cheaper, faster and ultimately worse. As a counter to this, I believe DAIVID's approach to emotional measurement - not just of blockbuster commercials but of every brand contact - comes as a gift to creative people fighting against the trend for using technology to quantify and optimise the wrong things'.

Forrester adds: 'I am so excited to have someone of Rory's incredible experience and standing within the industry join us at DAIVID. Rory and DAIVID are a perfect fit: we are totally aligned on the core driver of advertising success: the evocation of intense emotions. Rory's knowledge, experience and passion will be crucial as we grow the company to become an essential part of the marketing toolkit'.

Sutherland joins Rob Sherlock, a former Chief Creative Officer at FCB and ex CEO and Global Chairman of ADK, and Carolyn Taylor, former CEO of culture consulting firm Walking the Talk, on the firm's advisory board.

Web site: www.daivid.co .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.