Ogilvy Consulting’s behavioural science festival Nudgestock returns

Annual behavioural science festival Nudgestock is set to return for its eleventh edition in July 2023. The live event is hosted by Ogilvy Consulting, and takes place in London’s Old Truman Brewery.

“The theme for Nudgestock this year is ‘messy’,” said Rory Sutherland, vice chairman of Ogilvy in the UK. “Our heads are messy. Our organisations are messy. Our world is messy. But where there's mess, there's opportunity to change consumer behaviour. Pretending things are neat when they aren't – that's when things start to go badly wrong.”

The event derives its name from Nudge Theory. The concept comes from behavioural economics, decision making, behavioural policy, social psychology, consumer behaviour, and related behavioural sciences that proposes adaptive designs as ways to influence the behaviour of groups or individuals.

Sutherland will host the industry festival, which will feature 15 global behavioural science authorities on the main stage – including data journalist Mona Chalabi, Professor of Neurology and Sleep Medicine Guy Leschziner, and author Mary Ann Sieghart. The experts will discuss consumer traits which they believe will define the most successful brands and organisations in the 21st Century.

With customer loyalty continuing to dwindle, and marketers coming under more pressure than ever before to demonstrate the effectiveness of their campaigns, behavioural science is becoming increasingly important in the sector. To help with this, Nudgestock will enable C-suite marketeers, practitioners and brand innovators to learn to think like a behavioural scientist, as counter-intuitive ideas and real-world case studies are discussed, debated, and celebrated by the field’s leading thinkers.

According to Tara Austin, a consulting partner in behavioural science at Ogilvy Consulting, this will help turn the ‘mess’ of ever-faster digital communication, connection and complexity into maps and models for success.

Austin explained, "From AI doom-mongering to R rates, gender wars to real wars – the world is a mess. The ever-increasing. So how do we get a handle on all this mess? Our Nudgestock speakers have the expertise to see the mess for what it really is, a goldmine of opportunity. Hear from internationally renowned business leaders that will not only urge you to embrace the mess but show you how. Instead of feeling dumb to the ubiquitous artificial intelligence, let leaders in strategic defence brief you on how to avoid being unduly fed by the new influence machines."

Under the umbrella of research and marketing giant WPP, Ogilvy Consulting is the global strategy and innovation arm part of creative network Ogilvy. The UK team ranks as one of the country’s leading marketing consulting firms.

The consultancy is hosting Nudgestock in collaboration with marketing and advertising tech festival MAD//Fest. Tickets are currently on sale via the Nudgestock website.