J. Walker Smith

Widely Quoted Authority on Consumer Trends and the Future of the Marketplace

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Atlanta, Georgia, United States

J. Walker Smith
Biography

J. Walker Smith is the Knowledge Lead with Kantar. Walker has been described by Fortune as “one of America’s leading analysts on consumer trends.” He is co-author of four well-regarded books (including a foundational book on generations and a 2001 top ten Wall Street Journal book on work/life), a blogger, a MediaPost columnist, host of Meet the Author for the Market Research Council, a former podcast co-host and a former public radio commentator. Walker’s insights and ideas appear frequently in podcasts, webinars and news. He has been recognized by his peers as an inductee into the Market Research Council Hall of Fame and as the recipient of the American Marketing Association’s Charles Coolidge Parlin Award for outstanding contributions to marketing. He is a three-time winner of the WPP Atticus Award for thought-leadership, a Kantar SPARK research award winner, and an inductee into the N.C. Journalism and Media Hall of Fame. Walker is a former director of Premiere Global Services (NYSE until 2015 sale to Sirius Capital) and a past president of the Foundation Board of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, from which he holds a doctorate in Mass
Communication.

J. Walker Smith
Featured Videos

Current: TED Talk

Time 17:46

J. Walker Smith
Featured Keynote Program

Speaking Topics

-- Consumer marketing trends
-- Generational marketing trends
-- The marketplace and social importance of Baby Boomers
-- The future of the social marketplace
-- Marketplace futures and macro forces

-- The Pivot to Passive: The Next Digital Frontier
-- Programmatic Consumption: The New Consumer Decision Journey
-- The Know-Demand Economy: The Shifting Costs and Benefits of Consumer Engagement
-- Vanishing Point: The Changing Shape of the Context of Consumption
-- Big Tent Branding: Community and Connection in a World of Hyper-Personalization and Polarization

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