Book Review: Alchemy, By Rory Sutherland

There are some fields (e.g. physics) where objective facts carry the day. But in fields involving human behaviour, perception is more important than reality. In  Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life, marketing executive Rory Sutherland makes a case for why we pay too much attention to logic and not enough to perception when it comes to marketing.

He illustrates the dilemma perfectly with a case study for how an upstart could compete with Coke (KO). Logic would say offer a product with a lower price, a bigger size, and better taste. But a small, expensive can containing a horrible-tasting fluid known as Red-Bull once took the world by storm.

The book is full of examples where logic just isn't up to the task of solving business problems. And still I finished the book yearning for more!

I highly recommend the book to anyone remotely interested in this topic.