
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
- 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.
- Bad Means Better in
Planning & Buying Insider on
10/02/2024
Finding value in low consumer satisfaction is not how marketers think. But it is how economists think.
- Young Women Are The Bellwethers in
Planning & Buying Insider on
09/18/2024
It used to be that if you guessed a young woman was liberal, you'd be wrong seven out of ten times. Today, it's six of ten. Better, but still off-target.
- Nothing For Nothing in
Planning & Buying Insider on
08/21/2024
Here's a brain teaser. What are things that used to be free but now cost money? I've pulled together a list and -- spoiler alert -- for one reason or another I find all of these somewhat perplexing.
- How To Feed Company Culture in
Planning & Buying Insider on
08/07/2024
Everybody has heard the Peter Drucker quote, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast," but do we really believe it? How hard do we work to put this insight into practice? Do we even know what culture means?

About Edit
You haven't told us anything about yourself! Surely you've got something to say. Tell us a little something.