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Articles by J. Walker Smith
A Loss Of Agency
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The Craving To Quiet Cravings
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 53 minutes ago We want to stop. To quiet the noise in our heads. To resist the urge and fight the impulse. To walk away without regret and longing. We are in a cultural moment when quieting cravings is the emerging through-line of life. This is a profound pivot from the past. Craving and indulgence has been our commercial and cultural touchstone for decades. Stoking cravings is at the heart of marketing.
Time Matters Most
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A Narrative Of Possibility
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 56 minutes ago Bear with me as I wax philosophical. It’s a circuitous path but it will loop us to AI. So here goes. In his sweeping, turn-of-the-century account of Western culture and ideas since the Enlightenment, From Dawn to Decadence, historian Jacques Barzun used the term decadence to characterize the modern world. He defined it as a “falling off” or the incapacity to do anything more with culture and ideas than recycle the past.
AI Natives Are Different
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 44 minutes ago The buzzword in marketing right now is AI. Well, acronym, that is. But either way, AI is all the rage. Every firm of every sort is working hard to incorporate AI into every process, every output and every pitch. It’s AI or bust. It’s not clear if it’s tulips or not, but interest in AI is unprecedented and shows no signs of abating anytime soon. There is no 21st Century business trend that looks like it.
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by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 32 minutes ago Perhaps the most interesting thing about AI is that it is new yet nothing new. AI is certainly new to marketing, and bringing all sorts of new challenges with it, although it may not be as big as headlines would have us believe. Last year, the CMO Survey of the American Marketing Association, conducted in partnership with Duke and Deloitte, found a mere 17.2% of marketers reporting the use of AI to optimize or automate marketing.
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by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 28 minutes ago Pollster David Shor of Blue Rose Research was back in the news recently with data showing that AI, while the fastest growing concern, is way down on the list of things people think are important, ranking 29th out of 39. Top of the list, with nearly universal concern, is the cost of living. Affordability trumps AI as the biggest issue of the moment.
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by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 9 minutes ago AI has put an end to emotions in marketing, we are told. Just look at what LLMs rely on in making brand recommendations. It’s all about facts. Not about emotions. An analysis by Digital Bloom found that comparative listicles are far and away the most-cited content format by LLMs. How-to guides and FAQs were frequently cited as well.
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by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 33 minutes ago When it comes to AI and jobs, Boston University law professor James Bessen defined the terms of the debate in a 2015 paper published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Bessen declared that technologies don’t kill jobs and cited the experience of ATMs and bank tellers as proof that technologies change jobs or evolve jobs, not eliminate them.
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by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 14 minutes ago Bain publishes a good analysis every year of so-called insurgent brands in the U.S. FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) market. For the past few years, these small brands have captured a disproportionate share of annual growth. This year’s analysis reports that in 2025 insurgent brands accounted for 36% of aggregate growth across all FMCG categories, which seems pretty impressive given that they comprise an aggregate share of less than 2%.
AI Is A Brand Hack
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 52 minutes ago Consumers are using AI as a brand hack. Which says as much about consumers as AI. None of which is good for brands absent significant innovation. In the past, there has been an inherent -- and exhaustively studied -- asymmetry of information, access and accountability in every sort of exchange, especially the consumer marketplace.
Don't Be Dumb
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 6 minutes ago AI is dumbing down marketing like never before. Not dumb in a pejorative sense. Rather, in a practical sense, as in skewed evidence. Marketers may not care about it, but marketers certainly know about it. It’s central to the way AI works and it’s no secret.
The Economy All-In-One: New Home Starts
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 33 minutes ago I am occasionally asked what metric I think is best for keeping track of consumers. There’s no hesitation with my answer. It’s new home starts. Let me explain why. First, what is it? The metric of new home starts is exactly what it sounds like—it’s the number of privately-owned homes that began construction in a given period of time. (I prefer monthly.) In broad strokes, there are two types—single-unit and multi-unit.
What's So Big About AI?
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, Yesterday To better understand how people are using generative AI, and to set the record straight for all the pundits weighing in on AI’s pros and cons, last fall, OpenAI released a study of 1.5 million ChatGPT conversations that took place between May 2024 and June 2025. (Privacy protections were rigorously applied.) The research team identified seven content clusters. Only the top three clocked in with percentages in double-digits.
In AI We Trust, Or Not
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 82 minutes ago The data say few people trust AI. At least not in the U.S. But do we trust these data? The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer finds just 32% of American respondents trust AI. In a December 2025 U.S. YouGov survey, 41% said they distrust AI. U.S. results from the 2025 Pew Global Attitudes survey found half are more concerned than excited about AI, and taking account of the full range of sentiment, the U.S. has the lowest regard for AI worldwide.
Marketing Is The Conscience Of Business
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 4 hours ago From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of this in year, I have shared a series of lessons learned. This column wraps up this series. I hope it has been helpful. Next year, I will be returning to a biweekly column about ongoing marketing issues, especially those tied to a key bit of information or data.
Marketing Turns Ideas Into Business
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 8 hours ago From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Marketing turns ideas into business. Ideas are the heart and soul of marketing.
Change Is Overrated
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 3 minutes ago From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Change is overrated. Marketers love fads and fashions. Change is the watchword of marketing.
Price Is The Most Important 'P'
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 3 hours ago From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Price is the most important P. When E.
Statistical Significance Is A Perilous Safeguard In Marketing
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, over 1 hour ago From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Statistical significance is a perilous safeguard in marketing.
Targeting Not Segmentation
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 7 hours ago From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: It’s all about targeting not segmentation. * * * Segmentation has become controversial again.
Consumer Opinions Are Mushy
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 41 minutes ago From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Consumer opinions are mushy. The core idea of marketing is consumer-centricity, the foundation of which is knowledge about consumers.
Convenience Rules
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 2 hours ago From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Convenience rules. Convenience trumps everything. No matter how innovative or cheap a brand may be, if it’s not easy to use it will fail.
Trend-Followers, Not Trend-Setters
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 4 hours ago From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Marketers are trend-followers, not trend-setters. Marketers like to celebrate creativity and innovation.
Central To The Value Proposition
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 3 hours ago From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly -- yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Nothing matters unless it is central to a brand’s value proposition. Lots of things come and go in marketing.
Demographics Matter Most
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, May 21, 2025 From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Demographics matter most.
Reference Points Line Up Everything
From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly — yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Reference points line up everything. It is impossible to assess our situations in the world in the absolute.
Trust Comes From An Alignment Of Interests
From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Trust comes from an alignment of interests. Trust is everything. And nothing. Even brands and institutions that are widely and deeply mistrusted can still succeed.
Marketing Is Not An Exact Science
From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Marketing is not an exact science. Marketing is not an exact science. Never has been; never will be. Nor does it need to be. Consider an example: Direct marketing lists.
Marketing Is About Wants, Not Needs
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Clutter Is People's First Impression Of Marketing
From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Clutter is people’s first impression of marketing.
Clutter Is People's Impression Of Marketing
From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: Clutter is people’s first impression of marketing.
Inclusivity Is Business 101
From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly -- yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. Brands get bigger by selling to more people. The only way to add more people is to have an appeal that is inclusive of everybody. Inclusivity is the fundamental requirement of brand growth.
Business Is Inherently Aspirational
From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of my biweekly column this year, I want to share some snippets for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful.
People Are Pissed Off
An angry undercurrent of frustration with brands haunts the marketplace. This, perhaps, has never been more evident than in the recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, shot in the back in midtown Manhattan as he was walking to an investor conference. A 262-word manifesto found in the possession of the suspect now in custody appears to confirm early speculation that frustration with health insurance coverage was, at least in part, behind the shooting.
Is AI The End Of Marketing?
Answering this question in the affirmative puts you in fraught company. Many have proclaimed the end of marketing before. In a book on the cusp of the new century, maverick Coke CMO Sergio Zyman announced the end of marketing as we know it. The primary focus on creativity would give way to a primary focus on sales, he said. But since then, we’ve rediscovered the primary place of creativity in driving sales.
Time To Choose
Every presidential election cycle of this century has felt like the most important one yet, to the point that saying so has become a cliché. This time around, though, there are differences that matter more than usual, particularly for brands. Immediately after Election Day, I will be assessing the implications for brands and the character of the marketplace ahead. But even before we know the outcome, seven things stand out. This may be the most common observation about this election.
An Uneasy World
Citing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, soaring government deficits, tight labor markets and strikes in several industries, J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon wrote a year ago that “[t]his may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades.” Last week, he doubled down, reiterating that “conditions are treacherous and getting worse,” with “significant human suffering” and “far-reaching effects…on the course of history.” Gulp. Unfortunately, the facts bear him out.
Bad Means Better
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Young Women Are The Bellwethers
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Nothing For Nothing
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How To Feed Company Culture
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 6 minutes ago “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” wrote Peter Drucker. Exactly. Everybody has heard this quote. And whenever somebody mentions it, heads nod, many vigorously. But do we really believe it? How hard do we work to put this insight into practice? Do we even know what culture means?
Boring In Sight
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, Yesterday The day after the assassination attempt on former president and current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Vermont Democratic senator Bernie Sanders said to Kristen Welker on NBC’s "Meet the Press," “Politics should be kind of boring, you know?” Which is to say, all about boring wonky stuff, not “radical rhetoric.” Certainly not violence. Politics should be boring. Sound familiar? Boring is my current take on the marketplace.
Sometimes, Let Go
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 67 minutes ago Remember New Coke? Most people remember it as a cautionary tale that goes something like this. In 1985, Coke changed the taste of its classic namesake brand with a new formula -- informally dubbed New Coke -- that was instantly rejected by consumers. Thoroughly chastened, Coke did an about-face, took it off the shelves and brought back the original. Even so, Coke was hurt. Moral of the story? Pay attention to consumers.
The Paradox Of The Next Big Thing
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, Yesterday The best thing about marketing is also the biggest challenge facing marketers: the next big thing. There is a constant search in marketing for the next big thing. In everything. Consumer trends. Digital developments. Research methods. Predictive analytics. Micro niches. Growth markets. Creative approaches. Technology applications. New media. And now, AI. Marketing is hard. Good ideas are hard to come by, and competitors catch up fast.
The Middle Lane
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 60 minutes ago The strong showing by conservative political parties in recent E.U. parliamentary elections is yet another sign of an ongoing shift in people’s sentiment and sympathies. That matters for the intersection of brands and politics. Several U.S. pundits have asserted that a conservative turn is underway in the dominant cultural ethic.
Mushiness
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 18 minutes ago The old joke about survey research is that the best thing about it is also the worst: people answer the questions. It’s good because we get answers that help us understand people’s preferences and behaviors. It’s bad because, all too often, we also get answers that reflect nothing but the fact that people had to tick one box instead of another. Nothing new.
All Values, No Action, No Problem
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Bearing Down On Difference
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 52 minutes ago The biggest challenge brands face is standing out from the crowd. Kantar’s BrandZ tracking of brands across all categories worldwide finds that year-in and year-out roughly eight-in-ten brands fall short on consumer perceptions of difference. Even more brands fall short on difference that is meaningful and relevant. Difference is rare because difference is hard. The theory of good brand-building is straightforward; in practice, not so much.
Me vs. ChatGPT
by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 37 minutes ago Just for fun, I decided to compare myself to ChatGPT (v. 3.5). So, I posed this fairly generic question: In 200 words, tell me the single biggest opportunity for FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) brands over the next five years. I wrote my 200 words, then I put this question to ChatGPT. Here are the two answers, mine first. I’ll give you my two cents worth on the differences, but you be the judge. Here we go. J.
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