Rory Sutherland to lead collaboration between Ogilvy and Pimp My Cause

Sutherland said: “The purpose of behavioural economics is simple. It is to enable people to make better choices by designing and framing choices in accordance with human nature. The value this can offer to social marketing programmes and charities is potentially limitless.

“It was always our intention that #ogilvychange should devote part of its time to charitable causes and to small businesses. There were two reasons for this. One is wholly altruistic - the use of behavioural economics is a relatively quick and inexpensive way to make a difference to such organisations where it matters most. And there is, of course, an ulterior motive, in that lessons learned from these activities can be deployed elsewhere in our commercial work.”

The process will create a new body of emerging knowledge that will be shared across the Pimp My Cause platform and across Ogilvy's audiences for the broader benefit of society.

Paul Skinner, founder of Pimp My Cause said: "Behavioural economics represents a great opportunity for small charities and social enterprises seeking to make a big difference. Its insights often cost nothing to apply and can make a disproportionate contribution to the kinds of changes that voluntary sector organisations are trying to achieve. This is also a great example of leadership from Ogilvy in showing that marketers are among the best placed professionals to creatively apply its principles and that agencies can make a real difference even away from their traditional high media spend environment."

It has been suggested that there are also plans to develop fresh ways to activate Ogilvy's growing broader behaviour change community inside and outside the group.