GSD&M President and founder Roy Spence will embark on a coast-to-coast walk across the USA this fall with the goal to "feel America again."

The genesis of the trek is a belief that marketing cannot lose sight of consumers and perhaps boardroom discussions, and experts running "regression analyses" may have left him too far removed.

"So while so many experts are trying to isolate us, I will be on the road looking for what unites us as a family and community of America," he said.

It's high time, he said, to "get out of the planes, trains and automobiles, if just for a moment, and into the hands, hearts and soul of America and the world, itself."

"Will this make me a better marketer? I hope so," he said. "Will it make me a better person? I am betting everything on it."

Spence's journey looks to take six years, as he said he will walk 25 days a year and 20 miles a day.