J Walker Smith
Member since April 2004Contact J Walker- Knowledge Lead Kantar
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-walker-smith-7170518/
- Twitter: @jwalkersmith
- New York
- 10007 USA
J. Walker Smith is the Knowledge Lead for the global consulting and strategy practices of Kantar. Walker has been described by Fortune as “one of America’s leading analysts on consumer trends.” He is co-author of four highly regarded books, a conference keynote speaker, a blogger, a columnist and a former public radio commentator. He is a 2021 inductee into the Market Research Council Hall of Fame and the 2020 recipient of the American Marketing Association’s Charles Coolidge Parlin Award for outstanding contributions to the field of market research. He is a 2012 inductee into the North Carolina Journalism and Media Hall of Fame. In 2014 and 2015, he won the WPP Atticus Award for Strategy and in 2013 for Consumer Insights. Walker holds a doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Articles by J Walker All articles by J Walker
- Trust Comes From An Alignment Of Interests in
Planning & Buying Insider on
04/22/2025
Trust is everything. And nothing. Even brands and institutions that are deeply mistrusted can still succeed. Which is precisely the way of the world these days. Everything is mistrusted, yet everything still works, at least well enough.
- Marketing Is Not An Exact Science in
Planning & Buying Insider on
03/26/2025
For the most part, though, marketing can get by perfectly well with imprecision. All that matters is knowing whether one choice is better than another. It doesn't matter how much better or how much worse. It's yes or no, on or off, launch or shelve, the current or the new. A big enough chance of success or not. Above the threshold of action or below.
- Marketing Is About Wants, Not Needs in
Planning & Buying Insider on
03/12/2025
I can hear you gasping, but bear with me. Unless consumers want something, it doesn't matter whether they need it or not. They won't buy it. Wants, not needs, motivate purchasing.
- Clutter Is People's First Impression Of Marketing in
Planning & Buying Insider on
02/26/2025
Consumers have no gripe with marketing, especially not with ads. Consumers like ads. What they dislike is clutter.
- Inclusivity Is Business 101 in
Planning & Buying Insider on
02/12/2025
Brands and politics are a bad match. Politicians win with one more vote, so divide-and-conquer is a good strategy. Brands only win by selling to everybody.
- Business Is Inherently Aspirational in
Planning & Buying Insider on
01/29/2025
Or as Harvard marketing guru Ted Levitt famously put it, people don't want quarter-inch drill bits -- they want quarter-inch holes. People buy solutions not products. People buy benefits not features. People have problems and they buy brands to solve these problems.
- People Are Pissed Off in
Planning & Buying Insider on
12/11/2024
- Is AI The End Of Marketing? in
Planning & Buying Insider on
11/27/2024
- Time To Choose in
Planning & Buying Insider on
10/30/2024
- An Uneasy World in
Planning & Buying Insider on
10/16/2024
The world today is characterized by an undercurrent of negativity that is stronger than ever. Volatility is the new normal. This is the climate in which brands must operate.
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