The 10 Ps of the marketing mix

Where once in marketing we had the marketing mix consisting of 4 P's - product, place, price and promotion, coined by Borden (1964) - we now have the 7 P's, with an additional people, process, and physical environment (Baines & Fill, 2014, 2019) which I have explored here. However, I recently read an article (Sherwood, 2022) which listed the 'new' Ps as "promise, personality and purpose". My curiosity was piqued immediately!

These additional P's are defined as:

• Promise: "In 1931, Procter & Gamble used the results of a survey to advertise Camay soap. The survey asked 50 eligible bachelors what they looked for in a girl they would marry. Forty-eight agreed that they wanted “a girl whose charm is natural”. Just in case anyone missed the point, the writer of the survey also consulted 73 dermatologists. All of them said that they would not hesitate to recommend Camay for the most delicate complexion. A tangible product (soap) had been freighted with an implied and intangible promise (marital prospects). For a small investment in Camay (10 cents for a bar) you could buy a very big dream indeed" (Sherwood, 2022).

• Personality. In "affluent postwar US [...], quality had so improved across the board that products could no longer be differentiated on that basis alone. Now the brand manager’s chief task was to give his product an identity that would set it apart from its rivals, and stand out on the increasingly crowded supermarket shelves. One method was to make the product as eye-catching as possible. Another was to add “personality”. Products were no longer just products; they could be friends. Tide used both methods. The washing powder’s orange and yellow “bullet” design – still in use today – made it instantly recognisable. And the adverts showing houseproud housewives hugging a packet as if it were a long-lost friend – “Tide’s got what women want!” – made the all-important emotional connection" (Sherwood, 2022).

• Purpose. "In response to criticism from campaigners, brands have begun to present themselves as activists. We see them burnishing their societal credentials and inspiring others to do the same. Nike released an advert, Dream Crazy, featuring Colin Kaepernick, the NFL quarterback who first knelt for the pre-game national anthem in protest at racial injustice. The slogan reads: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything. Just do it.” Dulux proclaims that it is not selling paint but “tins of optimism”, and donates half-a-million litres of paint to teams of employee-volunteers to give a facelift to rundown urban neighbourhoods. Consumers buy Harry’s razors rather than Gillette’s because Harry’s gives 1% of revenue to men’s mental health charities. We increasingly buy brands for the lifestyle they encapsulate and the values they represent. To put it simply, the trajectory of brands over the past century or so has been to sell you more and more feelings" (Sherwood, 2022).

I do like Sherwood's three 'new' Ps (2022), but I don't think we should retire the 'real' ones (Baines & Fill, 2014, 2019). But does this mean that we now have 10 Ps?

Sam

References:

Baines, P. & Fill, C. (2014). Marketing (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Baines, P., Fill, C., Rosengren, S., & Antonetti, P. (2019). Marketing (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Borden, N.H. (1964). The concept of the marketing mix. Journal of Advertising Research, 24(4), 2–7.

Sherwood, A. (10 May 2022). Spot the difference: the invincible business of counterfeit goods. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2022/may/10/spot-the-difference-the-invincible-business-of-counterfeit-goods