I’ve spent the last few months mainlining Rory Sutherland. Who am I kidding → he’s responsible for my interest in behavioural science in comms ever since I saw him talk at Cannes Lions about a decade ago. I don’t know how many hours of podcasts and YouTube clips I’ve consumed, but my brain is buzzing, and I have a strange urge to buy a ridiculously loud shirt and start dressing like a slightly hungover president of a reputable English cricket club. After a career spanning agencies like Wunderman, McCann, and Havas → and seven years teaching creative strategy at Berghs in Stockholm → I decided to do something productive with that obsession.
This encyclopedia is the result. I went through 200 of Rory’s YouTube videos, pulled every reference he’s ever made → every book, person, theory, brand, experiment, film, and concept → and organised them into something actually useful. 1,588 references in total, each one linked directly to the moment in the video where he mentions it. It’s part research project, part love letter, part procrastination on a genuinely impressive scale. Dig in.
Rory Sutherland → Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK and one of the most influential thinkers in behavioural science and marketing → references an extraordinary range of books, thinkers, brands, concepts, and experiments across his talks. This encyclopedia indexes every reference he has made across 200 YouTube videos, compiled from video transcripts and subtitles. Each entry includes a description of why he cites it and a direct link to the moment it appears in the video.
1,588 references across 8 categories · 2,450 timestamped video links · compiled from 200 YouTube videos · April 2026
Rory Sutherland’s rolling list of lists…
- 📚 Books → 158 entries
- 🎬 Movies & Films → 32 entries
- 📺 TV Shows → 30 entries
- 📄 Articles & Papers → 63 entries
- 🧠 Theories, Concepts & Models → 325 entries
- 👤 People & Thinkers → 458 entries
- 🏢 Brands & Companies → 337 entries
- 🔬 Experiments & Studies → 185 entries
What’s stopping you? Find a rabbit hole that feels right.