Rory Sutherland talks brands, Brexit & bacteria in Pt 2 of Politics for Drummies podcast

“The first thing I do is I’d form citizens assemblies, to have a constant sounding board from representative parts of the UK population,” he says. “I think that one of the reasons you see the election of extreme candidates is partly that the political class is weird. Weird to such an extent that people like Ed Balls and Michael Portillo, who are generally widely disliked while they are in politics, become really quite sane, attractive and interesting people as soon as they leave politics.”

Sutherland also speaks out about why he’s sympathetic about how a minority of people were convinced to take the UK out of the European Union in 2016: “In terms of slogans, Vote Leave’s ‘Take Back Control’ was a genius piece of sloganeering. I voted to remain, but I’m very sympathetic to people who voted to leave. To understand why people voted to leave, you have to understand that only a minority of people wanted to leave the European Union in 2016. But that decision was colored by the fact that if you thought the European Union was potentially dangerous, this was going to be the only chance you’d ever get in your lifetime, or in anybody else’s lifetime, to get out.”

On the power of branding, Sutherland also discusses the importance of brands having a two-way love affair with their consumers, saying: “I had a very interesting friend who’s the managing director of Starbucks in the UK and he said the best thing he’d ever learned in years of working with branding people was it’s not just about whether people like brands, it’s whether they think that brands like them.”

On the subject of food, he added: “I’ve been reading a lot about how the human gut is actually the body’s second brain and how you can actually affect your thinking by what you’re eating. The neuroendocrinology of politics will be absolutely fascinating. The question of whether politicians could change people’s political opinions by changing their gut bacteria. I know you can change elements of personality by a fecal transplant, which is also kind of alarming.”

Politics for Drummies is a podcast that aims to demystify the thinking around the marketing of politics and political campaigns and comes during a year that is set to see over 40 elections taking place globally.

Lib Dem candidate for London Mayor Rob Blackie was the first Politics for Drummies guest. Watch him here.

Coming up next on Politics for Drummies is Naomi Smith, CEO of campaigning group Best for Britain.