One of my PhD students is working on her thesis titled “Marketing Strategies for Tourism Industry;’’ the University practices progress review on research every year. One of the panellists asked her to explain what her contribution to the research is, and what are the 4 Ps of tourism?  My student has done a wonderful job; she tried explaining the 4 Ps, however, the panellist was not in a mood to listen to her explanation. How do we explain 4 Ps of tourism? Can we call tourism a tangible or an intangible product? The most accepted definition is provided by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), “tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to end staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes”.

The natural curiosity of human to know different places, its culture, and desire of travel is inborn. People keep travelling for number of reasons. The travelling activities will never stop; therefore tourism activities will increase in the future more and more, especially with the development of transportations system and the information technology.

Nevertheless, tourism is a very multifaceted industry which involves numerous stakeholders right from government of a nation, hospitality stake holders, and the nature (environmental factors) themselves – each contributing to either its growth or downfall.

Lets understand the 4 Ps of tourism:

Product: First and foremost, tourism as a product differs from other products due to its large canvas. It covers a range of elements such as accommodation, food and beverages, transportation, scenic/heritage/historical/geographical/spiritual attractions, recreation and of course the customer’s own outlook. Not everything is tangible in it; it is a mix of tangible and intangible experiences. And a customer is going to like a “product”, which is a “destination” for a tourist. If the elements listed above are up to the tourist’s satisfaction, the product is purchasable.

In a marketing mix a product is any offering which satisfies customer’s requirement. Since tourism business is all about experience of TOURIST – this needs a different handling all together. It has to satisfy the tourist’s innate experiences.

Each tourist has his/her enigma; there are lot of tacit expectations of tourists. I personally think tourism as a product is complex in nature. It’s packaging matters.

Price: Price in case of tourism is the amount of money that customer pays for the package offer. Whether the package is highly priced, properly priced or is low priced is decided by the experience of the tourist. The pricing should be based on basis of offering made; the accommodation standard, food standard, transportation standard, recreation and the aspirations to be met with. Some destinations are expensively priced while some are modestly priced.

Tourism products are rarely identical. This is because locations differ and also because of the people and the components that make up the experience provided to a traveler.  It can be incredibly diverse and pricing strategies can evolve as a tourism destination develops.  The pricing varies according to the package: uniqueness of the destination, what value added services are provided inclusive of the experience, which segment is being served (middle income/ high income/ low income) the operating costs (fixed and variable) and break even of the service provider.

For most tourism businesses setting prices will be market based. It is driven by what do competitors with similar products and services charge within a given market. Let me clarify here, preferably being price competitive is not price driven, its product driven. It also depends on the seasonality element. In sense, tourism business is seasonal in nature.

Place: In case of tourism industry, distribution is a tricky aspect. In terms of definition, distribution is concerned with making the product available to the customer. It includes various activities undertaken to make the product accessible and available to target customers. Tourism being a service product, and here the customers need to be transported to various destinations (point of sale), its channels are tourist operators, agents, wholesalers, Tourist Company’s website, blogs etc. For the distribution channels in tourism understanding the distribution systems, recommended rates of commission, and the roles of various booking agents’ matters.

Retailers provide customers with an accessible place; either online or as a shop front by booking travel products.  They sell products to customers. Wholesalers are businesses that will sell product through established retail distribution channels both at shop front and online on behalf of the service provider.  They also sell individual product elements and link them to form packages. The role of the intermediary has been an important element at all stages experienced by the tourism sector. Technology has played a pivotal role in growth of travel industry.

Promotion:  Refers to informing the customers about existence of a product. The promotional activity consists of educating, persuading, reminding the customers about the product. A variety of media vehicles are available and being used by the tourism industry.

Tourism promotion uses a good promotional mix such as personal selling, advertisements in print media and electronic media, television etc. People prefer less-travelled destinations; these products require accommodations, transportations and infrastructural facilities of an international standard. Distinctive advertising strategies help to promote nation as a brand, which develops over so many choices in our world. Painting a tourism product in a positive light always helps in attracting potential consumers, and consequently the product consumed is the very essence of the advertising world.

The tourism business is highly hyper competitive in nature. The tourism destinations are faced with a rapidly changing surrounding, nature and increasing demands from travelers. It requires adaptable and workable marketing strategies. The world is well connected today – thanks to Internet. Nationally, tourism ministries of governments are tremendously responsible for its maintenance and development both. And, tourists are complex in nature; they go for overall holistic experience. In order to support the development of a destination that provides a seamless experience are the ones that click.

To sum it up – sky is the limit for growth of tourism sector. The 4 Ps can be developed in manifold and can be mixed and merged beyond imagination.

From past decade the sports industry continues to see an inflow of money from new sources because of shifting power dynamics in far-flung villages, towns and cities. Also, because of widespread use of emerging technologies and a greater focus on broader societal issues. In India, sports industry is becoming robust which explores newer trends and new opportunities and challenges for sports organizations, leagues, owners, teams, players, and fans. The Narendra Modi government is giving additional push to sports.

Globally the sports industry is massive which includes fitness, health, yoga and pure entertainment. Sports industry is getting more visibility because of digital media. It has a massive audience which is much diversified in terms of age, gender, geography, and society. The sports industry is a hyper-dynamic sector which is constantly changing and all of this is reflected in the marketing strategies used by this sector. 

Marketing strategies involve the four Ps; the product can be a good or service, price includes what the consumer pays, place includes the locations where a product is marketed and distributed, and promotion includes advertising. The concept of the four Ps is age-old; it has been around since the 1950s. In mid-eighties, the four Ps were extended by another three Ps of marketing mix which includes the people, the processes and the physical evidences. These three components are also of great essence in marketing.

The term Marketing Mix was coined by Neil Borden who first started using the phrase in 1949. He said that the marketing manager blends the ingredients for an attractive offer of marketing mix. It was Jerome McCarthy, who in 1960 to suggest the four Ps of marketing. According to McCarthy the marketers fundamentally have the four variables which they use while crafting a marketing strategy and while preparing a marketing plan.

This article will discuss the four Ps of sports marketing. Sports market is growing globally from $354.96 billion in 2021 to $501.43 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate of 41.3% CAGR (compounded annual growth rate). Overall employment of all marketing, advertising and promotions managers, including sports marketers, is projected to grow 6 per cent from 2019 to 2029, faster than the average for all occupations. Sports marketers will be needed to plan, direct, and coordinate advertising and promotional campaigns.

The marketing mix is very important to sports organizations. Each sports organization is going to utilize a different combination of these four P’s. Each one will have a different product, a different price, a different place, and different promotions to attract any given target segment irrelevant of whether the organization is domestic or international in nature. An organization can calibrate quality of product, extension of product, regulation, powering or increasing price. A well prepared marketing mix enhances the success of the product with benefits such as creating synergy which helps to create the right pitch for promotion. It enhances brand loyalty. It eases the decision making of brand managers to position the product rightly in customer’s mind.

To explain the four P’s of Sports Industry I will be giving example of Nike brand. 

Product

The product is the heart of the marketing mix. All marketing activities begin with it. The product is not a physical entity alone; it captures the whole tangible and intangible aspects such as functional use, appearance, design, features, brand name, logo, quality packaging, ingredients etc.

Here, it is essential to understand the term product mix concerning marketing. The product mix is the whole range of products a company offers to its customers. For instance Nike majorly produces sports-related items and equipment. Nike focuses on producing a wide range of products and makes sure to maintain the mark of quality. The company designs different products for each kind of sport which makes its products comfortable for athletes including sports apparel. Nike has a wide range of sports equipment and accessories like bags, backpacks, balls, headbands and caps, and many more. The company has also teamed up with Apple for Nike+ products to track runner’s performance through running watches.

Nike produces different shoes for different purposes like running, golf, football, cricket, skateboards, tennis, cycling, and other sports too. They also sell casual footwear for non-athletes in vibrant colours which attract the youths. They manufacture different styles of sneakers according to men, women, and kids. Most importantly Nike’s focus is to constantly keep innovating design and develop products to improve athletic performance. Its overriding desire is to design products with true performance while using mix of innovation and technology. Nike makes sure that its consumers benefit and perform better.

Price

It’s the cost consumers pay for a product. It is the only P which generates revenue. Marketers must fix the price which suits the product’s real and supposed value. Marketers must consider supply costs, seasonal discounts, and competitors’ prices. In some cases, business executives may raise the price to give the product the appearance of being a luxury. Pricing decisions must be thoughtful process, as it is a double-edged sword. If a product is highly priced, it may project high quality and make the product’s positioning in limited and standard stores. So, the marketer must know the art of exercising this dangerous sword of pricing.

Nike uses value-based pricing and premium-based pricing strategy for their products. Nike does comparative study of its competitor’s product pricing while the company considers the current market price while setting the prices of products. Before setting up the prices, they measure what overall customers are willing to pay for a product. This value-based price strategy helps Nike to increase its profit over the time.

Premium-based pricing means pricing of premium products; Nike sets premium prices for its high-quality products. From time to time Nike has offered discounts on its products like “Easter sales” “Diwali Sale” on its online website and its stores, which helps them to attract new customers and retain the existing ones. They are also given the option to sign in and be the first ones to get any new arrivals.

The pricing decisions are based on policies and strategies. Also, the pricing decisions are based on allowances, discounts, rebates, credit policy etc. The pricing strategy of an organization must align with the organization’s mission, vision, goals etc.

Place/Distribution

Place in marketing mix refers to the market geographically located all over in a nation and in larger sense the globe. Marketing strategy depends on the market location. Where a company sells its products is important because the location must have the target customers.  

Distribution decisions include elements such as channels of distribution, cost of warehousing, product handling, transportation, inventory control, order processing, reporting and billing.

Nike has 1000 plus shops all over the world and its offices are located in 45 countries outside the US. Most of the Nike products are sold in retail shops as many customers prefer to physically select the products by trying on sportswear. Retail stores are easily available in every city in multiple nations.

The company has its outlet named Niketown. These are the big hyper stores occupying 4or more floors with premium experience due to a variety of services. Niketown stores are fancy stores where new and emerging products are sold. Nike has recently reopened its flagship Niketown store on Oxford Circus Street in London following an extensive redevelopment. Helvar lighting (intelligent lighting) control has been used across the reportedly largest Nike store in the world just to deliver a creative and inspiring shopping environment. The Niketowns have a customization booth to offer services to individual customers as per their choice. It consists of professional zone where you can take advice for which product suits bone structure and body size of a customer. The customer’s shopping experience is made exclusive.

Nike products are also sold through their Online Nike store. They also sell through other online stores like Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra. Nike spends handsomely on strengthening their distribution channels.

Promotion

In marketing, promotion refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue, most of the time persuasive in nature. The other word for promotion is advertising. Advertising aims to serve two objectives. One is informing the potential customers about the product and second it creates a desire in them to buy the product. The promotion mix thus includes the various means that an organization uses to communicate with the target audience. An effective promotion ensures good sales and a marketer must strive to create a conducive environment.

The promotional mix includes advertising, personal selling, public relations, direct marketing, social media, print media, outdoor media etc. 

Nike’s main source of promotion is sponsoring sports events. The company does advertisements involving high-profile celebrities and athletes of different countries.  Some celebrities that promote Nike’s products are Serena Williams, Christiano Ronaldo, Mo Farah, Kunal Rajput, Rafael Nadal, and LeBron James. It also Sponsors the sports teams like cricket, NFL, FIFA World Cup, Tour de France Cycling, Rugby World Cup, and NBA. Nike’s new ad brilliantly showcases the unstoppable spirit of women in India. The video features top Indian sportswomen along with Bollywood beauty Deepika Padukone.

Nike does direct marketing by personal communication with organizations such as universities, schools, colleges, and local sports teams. They also give time to time discounts and great offers to their loyal customers and to woo new ones they use promotional tactics. They give financial support to the NGOs to make public relations strong and able to promote their products through it. Nike’s target audience is fitness-centric, elite class, and sports enthusiastic people especially youngsters. Nike also promotes its products through social media by connecting with millions of people and interacting with them through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign launched in 1988 motivated millions of people to do their job efficiently. Till date, this slogan is a trademark of Nike. The company’s Latest campaign hashtag #YouCantStopUs tells us that every sports field is equal which has gone viral on social media. Nike does such inspiring campaigns of different themes from time to time and gains trust of their customers.

Sports event sponsorship

Lot of sports companies sponsor sports events to add value to the brand. In almost all sports events there is intense competition among companies and brands. Often there is little to choose from in terms of quality, content or price. In order to make a brand stand out from the crowd a sponsor choses sport to create a unique position in the mind of the consumer. At the highest levels, sport involves gold medals, world records and global awareness. Through sponsorship sports companies gain a big mileage. Companies use sports sponsorship for a variety of reasons, and to attract sponsorship it is important to understand which objective a company is seeking.

Sports companies seek to get media coverage. Sporting events create opportunities for exciting newspaper photographs and television images showing sponsor logos on shirts or banners. Such exposure creates brand awareness making its logo stand out from competitors. The sponsor gets more benefit through activities that are enjoyable and memorable and provides opportunity to build customer mindshare. The sponsorship provides an opportunity to communicate with the customer in the setting where he is enjoying a quality time, leisure time and experience.

Big brands such as Pepsi, Puma, Adidas, Nike, Red Bull, Coca Cola, and Reebok are famous for sponsoring events. They have contributed a lot of money and effort to sponsor campaigns for teams around the world.

The man behind the four Ps of marketing suggested that they be changed. Philip Kotler in an exclusive interview with Brand Equity of Economic Times talked about shift from the four Ps to four Cs.  He expressed the customer imperative, the value challenge, and the increasing value of mega distribution. The skills and talents of the marketing manager recline in making the offer to customers in the most attractive manner.  The Marketing Manager is no less than an artist; he has to proportionately add, subtract, replace, and centralize the elements of the mix – The Product, The Price, The Place and The Promotion. The marketing mix is a value-delivering tool of the marketing function.

One of the glaring challenges that most brands across the world face today face is of lowering brand loyalty from the consumers.  The brands are ‘commoditized’ no sooner they enter markets.  At the consumer level, on one hand we are seeing an increasingly more global entity – one who is tuned in almost real time to trends and aspirations across various countries and societies. Increased access to electronic and traditional media, the Internet, and more frequently (and more adventurous) travel outside the home frontiers are some of the factors that have led to the globalization of the average consumer. At the business level the most challenging development is consolidation across all kinds of industries – be it travel, education, health, transportation, telecommunication, banking, consumer durables, or retail. The consolidation is not limited within the traditional geographical boundaries but is increasingly becoming cross-national and cross-continent; as a result, local and national brands are struggling literally to retain their identities in the consumer’s mind share. Many brands are living a very short shelf life.

The market is determined by supply and demand.Creating and maintaining relationship with customers is become an inseparable part of business. The concept of CRM is viewed differently in different sectors of business. Customer relationship or customer care is not just being polite to them – it is looking at the entire customer experience – or walking in the shoes of the customers. This journey starts before you even meet your customer, the trick is to forget all that you know or think you know about the market. Start thinking why your customers would want to buy your product? How it would solve their problems? How the substitute product would satisfy their needs? How you product reaches them in time? With companies offering technology-based solutions for everything, customer care has become more important than ever before. Sales literature and indeed entire campaigns are based on describing the technology, usage, power of the product, marketing channel details, price points etc.

The most crucial challenge for businesses is to create new customers and maintain the old customers therefore, is to create the differentiation plank. And the differentiation should be uniquely different. Traditionally, successful branding has always served the purpose of creating and maintaining such differentiation to the benefit. However complexities in the market make the task formidable. A product needs the ability to dish up the local, regional, national and then the global market. It needs to act in response to each niche segment. Therefore, according to Kotler, the very important to be redefine the concept of marketing mix.

The four Ps remain as useful for organizing framework for marketing planning.  He feels there is nothing wrong by adding some more Ps for emphasizing the crux of marketing such as Packaging, People, Personnel, Politics, Public opinion and passion etc. He further talks about a transition from the four Ps to four Cs, which are more customer–based.  The four Ps are seller-based and 4 Cs are consumer-based. Kotler defines Product as Customer Value, Price as Customer Cost, Place as Customer Convenience and Promotion as Customer Communication. These C’s reflect a more customer-oriented marketing philosophy. They provide useful reminders to the marketer that without the customer the exercise is futile. The entire business processing should revolve around the customer’s convenience. The 4 Cs are customer centric. Whereas, the 4 Ps are more or less product-centric. The product concept rotates around marketer’s obsession for his product. Philip Kotler’s suggestion to shift from 4 Ps to 4 Cs is to show concern to the consumers, generating value satisfaction, creative selling and integrated action for serving the customer.

Peter Drucker had expressed once that that the aim of marketing should be to make selling superfluous; marketing means understanding of the customer’s mind and brand building should be tuned to the viewpoint of customer satisfaction. The basis of marketing is a value-creating and value-delivering process.

The brand building should be intrinsically linked to the very fundamental structure of the market. Many factors go into making a purchase decision, and some carry more weight than others. Consumers are frequently thought to buy products based primarily on emotional cue. However, the Internet gives more information than required by the consumer. Thanks to the spread of Internet. A good example I would like to give here is of P&G’s Crest toothpaste which hasnine variations suiting different segments of markets in the world. People don’t easily change their brand of toothpaste; the flavor, color, freshness in mouth, the fizz, the sensation on gums the whole thing matters. For P&G one of the primary driving forces behind the development of so many blends of Crest toothpaste is to cater to the oral health needs of the increase of the baby boomer generation, who are quite health conscious and obsessed with their oral hygiene.

Retailers like Tesco, Wal-Mart, Auchan and Carrefour are all itching up to venture out in India for the 1.27 billion population of this country. Now can you imagine what would be the scenario in the next five years? Assembling, packaging, pricing and logistics in short   juggling with marketing mix are going to be hell of a task. These huge retail sharks have changed the style of doing business. And now it is unstoppable….

There is lot of benefit in it. As Warren J.Keegan – an international strategic marketing advisor puts it “a company that fails to go global is in danger of losing its domestic business to competitors with lower costs, greater experience, and better products and in nutshell, more value for the customer.” Driven by the omnipresent economic liberalizations, national economies are becoming more and more interdependent and integrated and the world economy is becoming more and more globalised.

In India, domestic players like Nirma had to fight competition from MNCs like Uniliver, P&G, and Henkel etc to retain its market share. Similarly, Ghadi detergent or Wagh Bakri Chai also had to fight the power of MNCs to retain their market shares in the domestic market. Firms in their own country have to face technological, financial, managerial, organizational, and marketing competition. No matter whether market is domestic or foreign in globalization marketers have to sustain competition, which is the unparalleled feature of business. Hence the shift in marketing mix will be from 4Ps – 4 Cs to 4 Ts.

Product becomes Trade:  Globalization offers extensive opportunities for truly worldwide development. One of the major initiatives towards world trade and economic cooperation is the recent signing of the Uruguay Round (UR) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is seen as the most comprehensive and ambitious of all rounds of talks among GATT-member countries. Economic “globalization” is a historical process, the result of human innovation and technological progress. It refers to the increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly through trade and financial flows. The term sometimes also refers to the movement of people (labor) and knowledge (technology) across international borders. There are also broader cultural, political and environmental dimensions of globalization. Global markets offer greater opportunity for people to tap into more and larger markets around the world. It means that they can have access to more capital flows, technology, cheaper imports, and larger export markets. Why firms go international – there are two factors, which lead them to do so.  One is pull factor, which is proactive. In this situation the companies opt for international markets for their attractiveness, widening the scope, relative profitability and growth prospects.  The other factor is push factor, which refers to compulsion of domestic market, like saturation of the market, thrust of competition etc.  Most of the push factors are for reactive reasons.  Multinationals like Whirlpool, Samsung, LG and Electrolux are making their prominent presence in India and China. Two key points, which are driving them to these two Asian Countries, is the cost-effective manufacturing and R&D facilities. The Indian manufacturers besides Tatas, Ambanis, Godrej, L&T or Birlas a host of small and medium sized companies had to bring about highly commendable improvements in their business operations, living up to the dictum ‘survival of the fittest.’ These are the positive effects of globalization.

The Indian economy has grown rapidly over the past decade, with real GDP growth averaging some 5.5% annually, despite external shocks. Recognizing the important linkages between trade and economic growth, the Government has simplified the tariff, eliminated quantitative restrictions on imports, and reduced export restrictions. It plans to further simplify and reduce the tariff. To help counteract the anti-export bias, inherent in import and other constraints, export promotion measures have gained in importance. The Government has recently announced a further increase in these measures and pledged to reduce export restrictions. The policy has also suggested the creation and strengthening of enclaves such as export processing and special economic zones, which would “immunize” exporters from the constraints affecting the rest of the economy, such as infrastructure and administrative problems. The Government estimates that annual export growth of almost 12%. Hope the policy makers are listening. International trade has become the key word of the present era. It has grown phenomenally. So Product becomes Trade.

Price becomes Tariff:In today’s business the exchange of goods and services across international boundaries or territories is become normal. In most countries, it represents a significant share of GDP. Tariff refers to the duties or taxes imposed on internationally traded goods when they cross the national borders. Virtually all of today’s developed countries built up their economies using tariffs and subsidies (and many other measures of government intervention) throughout the 19th century and most of the 20th century (in particular, until the early 1970s). United States maintained average industrial tariffs at around 40 per cent, and never below 25 per cent except for brief periods, far higher than many other developed countries. During 1950-1973 the so-called ‘Golden Age’ the six fastest growing countries including America were high tariff countries Japan, Italy, Austria, Finland and France.

One of the most important features of the international trading environment is the proliferation of trade barriers. A country can have several reasons for imposing a tariff. For example, a revenue tariff may be applied to an imported product that is also produced domestically. The primary reason for this type of tariff is to generate revenue that can be used later by the government for a variety of purposes. This tariff is normally set at a low level and is usually not considered a threat to international trade. When domestic manufacturers in a particular industry are at a disadvantage, vis-à-vis imports, the government can impose what is called a protective tariff. This type of tariff is designed to make foreign products more expensive than domestic products and, as a result, protect domestic companies. A protective tariff is normally very popular with the affected domestic companies and their workers because they benefit most directly from it.  India has had one of the highest tariff walls in the world.  The Chellaiah Committee steadily reduced the peak level of tariffs from over 300 per cent in 1995 to 25 percent in 2003, excluding agriculture and dairy products. The organizations like WTO prefer tariffs to non-tariff-barriers (NTB) because tariffs are transparent and less regressive than NTBs.  Thanks to WTO, there has been a significant replacement of NTBs by tariffs. Hence, Price becomes Tariff.

Place becomes transportation: Brilliant marketing logistics covers physical distribution plus managing marketing channels. The importance of transportation to economic growth and productivity is undisputed. Transportation confers place-utility and time-utility to products and services.  At the macro level, progressive transportation modes contribute handsomely to the national economy. At the micro level, techniques have been developed and refined for determining the economic impact of transportation programs and projects. It has been observed that there is a shift in hiring services of contracted and third party transporters by many organizations.  An increasing reliance on the use of externally contracted services eases out maintenance and logistics tensions. In transport terms, this is witnessed by the growth of the logistics and total distribution providers including express freight and logistics services companies. Economies of scale achieved within the transport sector by logistics providers act to reduce the costs of provision of the transport element of a business, together with increased complexity and benefit of using Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in the delivery of the logistics ‘product’. UK High street retailers including Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury regularly contract a majority of their distribution functions to third party suppliers, although Sainsbury maintains a small number of own account transport distribution facilities. Close home; the big retail organizations like Shopper’s Stop, Viveks, and Big Bazar also work on intelligent transportation logistics to achieve economies of scale. Key to the increasing globalization of industry is the provision of quality air transportation. Air services have a vital role in reducing travel times, increasing accessibility and therefore improving economic efficiency and productivity. Critical factors in companies’ decisions to locate near an airport include the need for rapid delivery of products (air freight) and for international business travel. Airports serve an important role in attracting inward investment, particularly from overseas, help to stimulate and sustain the growth of local businesses by opening up new markets and supply chains. Of course of particular importance for air transport is the level of services provided (e.g. direct flights to relevant locations at suitable times or good inter-connections) and surface access as well as the actual physical infrastructure.

A research shows that businesses in computing, software, research and development, biotechnology and some food manufactures as well as the banking, finance and insurance are heavily dependent on air freight and air services prefer to be located near the airports. Airports can promote the ‘clustering’ of businesses, whereby a number of interlinked manufacturing and service activities are concentrated in one place. Airports are frequently the focus of ‘clusters’ of businesses and services. It is important, to examine transport factors such as timing, reliability and perception of cost in the value chain. Sometimes, it can be as important as cost itself. Movement of goods both upstream and downstream of elements of the manufacturing process has become typified by inclusion within the wider production process. The transport elements of the production become internalized to the costs and pressures of the wider supply structure. Tighter control of delivery and use of stock, Just In Time (JIT) practices, and a demand for added value in components (part finished and partial component assembly) increases demands on the logistics elements of the supply chain. Demands placed on businesses and supply is also changing, in line with increased accuracy and flow of information, and in terms of consumer expectations. Multi-national and large firms have maintained and increased the complexity of their operations while reducing own account transport requirements, while many smaller sized companies have developed around geographical and technical clusters resulting in changed demand and reducing costs of transport provision. The changing pattern of logistics especially (but not solely) in manufacturing has potentially profound implications for the role and impact of transport upon employment location (consumer service companies are also greatly affected by logistics changes but front line premises are more dependent upon the best customer location, although warehousing may be affected by logistical changes).  Transportation plays a pivotal role in making the goods and services available to customers – progressive transportation models help the   businesses to become successful. So Pace becomes Transportation.

Promotion becomes transformation: The dictionary meaning of the world transformation means to put into simpler terms, to change from one form, function, or state to another; convert or transform. Promotion keeps the product in the minds of the customer and helps stimulate demand for the product. Promotion involves ongoing advertising and publicity (mention in the press). Activities like advertising, translating message to the consumers and transforming the business with profitable sales are often considered aspects of promotions.

The advertising industry is passing through one of the most frantic periods in history due to diversity in media channels. The stalwarts are unable to handle more curious and aware customer. Diversity is the central issue of the global village. The multicultural and multilingual effects of society reflect on media diversity. Television networks, which once upon a time were the best option of reaching the mass audience, are no more a favorite of advertisers. It does not attract the same amount of viewing anymore.  Digitalization is taken over. Could computing is adding to the diverse media habits of both marketers and consumers. Change in TV-viewing habits is however; only part of a much wider shift in the way media is consumed.  People are spending less time reading anything, they prefer reading and writing on their mobile handsets. But, they are going more to cinemas listening more to the FM radios, people are turning in ever increasing numbers to the Internet. This shift is due to escalating need of the consumers to access information easily.  The technology bust is changing the media habits of the people like never before.

Getting trendsetters to buy new product or service is no great idea. The scene is changing. Everett Roger’s innovators and early adopters are no more the favorites of the markets, instead now they look forward to pursue the prosumers.   Prosumers can be defined as professional consumers. A large chunk of marketers are of opinion that this group is much powerful.  They are not impulse driven like the innovators and early adaptors; they go slow and steady but once they accept a product they support it.  They are serious buyers in sense they do a lot of research before their buying decision. From a high-tech product like a camera, a VCD, a computer to not high-tech product like clothing or a professional course the prosumers venture to buy these only when they are satisfied with their self-study.   This group of consumers is proactive in nature. Euro RCGC, a world renowned market research agency recently completed their prosumers survey spanning over nine countries in the world. The study concludes that prosumers represent 20% or more for any category of products. They can be found everywhere in the world, they are vanguard of consumerism movement. The prosumers often reject traditional ads and invariably use the Internet to research for what they are going to buy and how much they are going to buy for what price etc.  They don’t trust companies and brands, which are not advertised on Internet. Companies have to be extremely open about providing information on net to attract these prosumers.

Prosumers are by definition early adopters but they are also much, much more: They are proactive in seeking out information and opinions; active in sharing their views and experiences with others; ahead-of-the-curve in their attitudes and behaviors. Early adopters tend to be more “one dimensional”, i.e., they tend to be defined by the particular behavior of adopting early. The prosumers demand transparency and authenticity from the marketers.  Transforming them into consumers requires a different ball game altogether.

Traditional marketing is changing; customers are getting more sophisticated and price sensitive. They expect products and services to be delivered faster and more conveniently and they have no qualms about switching to competitors. Competition is making firms edgy, with customers responding swiftly to any new development, irrational rivalry among products, harsh price wars, and industry is changing at a rate that is hard to predict. Innovation is the key for sustenance. Promotion therefore becomes Transformation.

The market was and will always remain indefinable.  Customer is the KING. Give him what he wants. Companies survive on the strength of their brands; marketers must be ready with strategies if brands fail. Some time companies suffer due to unclear objectives, myopic view of markets can spoil the entire strategy. When products reflect corporate desire rather than customer needs it portrays ‘Marketing Myopia’ of the company; respond fast by shifting from 4 Ps to 4 Ts.

Parity means sameness or equality. In marketing substitution happens when functionality is same. One biggest fact in marketing world is no two products are the same. Marketers opt for product differentiation or price differentiation. Product differentiation is the process of distinguishing a product from others, to make it stand out from other competitive brands for a target market. This involves differentiating it from competitor’s products as well as a firm’s own products. The concept was proposed by Edward Chamberlin in his 1933.

Perceived brand parity relates to the perception among consumers that all major alternatives in a product class are similar. Though high levels of brand parity greatly concern many marketing professionals, very little empirical research has been published on this topic.

The primary goal of a marketing program is to create a customer base that is cognitively brand loyal and insensitive to price competition. However, such a customer base is utopian, very difficult to develop in the absence of perceived differences between major brand substitutes. It is not possible that a customer would be willing to pay a higher price for a particular brand when the major alternatives in a product category are all the same. Even developing a preference for a specific brand may be very difficult when all of the brands in the particular category are seen as being alike.

In the meantime, the competition keeps increasing for any category product. The number of products continually keeps expanding on the shelf which leads to cluttering of shelves. Due to the rise of private labels and smaller retail formats, marketers are forced to think and take increasingly complex decisions about which products to place where and how to properly activate them. Another fact is that sales teams are often not equipped to make the right trade-offs because of the fast changes that take place in the market. As a result, shelves are muddled, promotions are inadequately executed, brands struggle to stand out, and sales productivity ratios stagnate.

Another fact is, customers appear to be insensitive to marketplace information in circumstances of high brand parity. There is a wide gap between perceived brand differences and information search because majority of customers are less receptive to marketing communications. Parity perceptions are high, and customers do not even give advertisers the opportunity to present information which could change the parity perceptions. So battling brand parity gets mystified by its own very existence.

For example, when you go to buy table salt you find these brands along with many other brands on the shelves: Tata salt, Captain Cook, i-shakthi, Aashirvadh, Annapurna, Surya salt, Sambhar salt, Nirma shudh, Patanjali, Akar salt, Catch and Saffola salt it is so confusing which one to buy….salt is one of the most commoditized brands. Tata Salt, which contributes about 19 per cent to the total turnover of the parent company – Tata Chemicals, is aiming at a growth much higher than what it has achieved in the past three years. Expanding its communication from the emotional tagline ‘Desh Ka Namak’ to going functional and proving the purity of the salt, the brand has changed its communication statement with its new advertisement trying to connect emotionally with the customers. The very purpose of advertising is to differentiate the brand in customer’s minds.

Another common item in parity brands belongs to toothpaste category. In India, brand Colgate has been one of the most trusted brands for decades. It is not only the older generation which grew up with Colgate; it is a first brand, even for the young, when it comes to oral care. The brand has faced tough competition from time to time and has fought back effectively to regain its market share. In the 1960s and 1970s, Geoffrey Manners’ Forhans was the challenger brand but it is completely forgotten today. Binaca, which later became Cibaca and finally got taken over by Colgate, was another challenger.

Despite the strong brand and Colgate’s focus on oral care, in the late 1980s Close-Up changed the way toothpaste looked and felt in the mouth. High on freshness ingredients, the red transparent look and the youth-centric approach gave Colgate some sleepless nights at the time. Close-Up gained a significant share of the market, forcing Colgate to launch a similar product and alter its strategies for some time. Unilever also attacked Colgate on the ‘healthy gums’ platform with Pepsodent, thereby attacking on two fronts. Currently, despite Colgate accounting for about 55 per cent share of the toothpaste market, Pepsodent and Close-up are still sneering at its heels with alternating attacks. All three – Colgate, Pesodent and Close-up are challenged by Vicco’s Vajradanti, Patanjali’s Dantkanti and Oral B.

Buyers of parity products which are most often commoditized products see little functional difference among them. Selling a commoditized product with differentiated supplementary services such as after-sales service, packaging differentiation, price differentiation and advertising differentiation can appeal to buyers willing to pay a premium for the convenience. It is indeed a great task for marketers to differentiate parity products.

About two decades back when manufacturing dominated almost all progressive countries such as the UK, the US, France and Germany, the physical layout of production units such as factories was not very important to the end consumer because they never went inside the factory. However, today’s consumers are keen to know how goods are processed, what goes into it, how safe is the product for usage, the package, aesthetics etc besides the price of course. Today customers are becoming very demanding because of the dominance of e-commerce and retail chains in supply chain, and ever increasing substitution of products available to them.

The entire value chain is stressed to offer various facets in the product and that too for a multiple segments. Today’s customer seeks high level of presentation in the retail outlets; the retail business literally depends on visual merchandise for a perfect presentation, customers want to easily find their way around the store, and want an enjoyable shopping experience.

The importance of quality physical layout is important in a range of service providers, including: students going to college or university have far higher expectations about the quality of their accommodation, mentoring, and learning environment than in the past. As a result colleges and universities are forced pay far more attention to creating attractive learning environments, student accommodation, shops, libraries, playgrounds, bars and other facilities; which is of course good.

Air passengers expect attractive and stimulating environments, such as plush departure lounges, with activities for young children, good food on flight and efficient flight attendants.

Hair dressing and beauty salons are expected to provide pleasant waiting areas, with attractive reading materials, access to coffee for customers, good music and of course good beauty products and efficient beauticians.

While the fact is nobody likes to go to hospitals; but when they need to go patients these days expect services of five star hotels, good lounges, restaurants, helping and positive attitudes of healthcare workers, cleanliness and all under one roof services. If organizations ignore marketing, they find themselves lagging behind.

The man behind the four Ps was Jerome McCarthy. He suggested the 4 Ps classifications in 1960. McCarthy emphasized on product, price, place and promotion as the main four elements and just few about years back, Philip Kotler talked about shift from the four Ps to four Cs.  He expressed in one of his interview that the 4Ps have become 4 Cs because of the customer imperative, the value challenge, and the increasing value of mega distribution. The skills and talents of the marketing manager recline in making the offer to customers in the most attractive manner.  The Marketing Manager is no less than an artist; he has to proportionately add, subtract, replace, and centralize the elements of the mix – The Product; The Price; The Place and The Promotion. Hence, the marketing mix is a value-delivering tool of the marketing function.

One of the glaring challenges that most brands across the world face today is of lowering brand loyalty from the consumers.  The brands are ‘commoditized’ no sooner they enter markets.  At the consumer level, on one hand we are seeing an increasingly more globalised consumer – one who is tuned in almost real time to trends and aspirations across the globe.  Increased access to electronic and traditional media, the Internet, and more frequently (and more adventurous) travel outside the home frontiers are some of the factors that have led to the globalization of the average consumer. At the business level, the most challenging development is consolidation across all kinds of industries – be it travel, education, health, transportation, telecommunication, banking, consumer durables, or retail. The consolidation is not limited within the traditional geographical boundaries but is increasingly becoming cross-national and cross-continent; as a result, local and national brands are struggling literally to retain their identities in the consumer’s mind share. Many brands are living a very short shelf life.

The evolution has been brought in fundamental changes to the basic Marketing mix. Where once there were 4 P’s to explain the mix, nowadays 3 more Ps have added to layer of depth.

In the late 70’s it was widely acknowledged by marketers that the Marketing Mix should be updated. This led to the creation of the Extended Marketing Mix in 1981 by Booms & Bitner which added 3 new elements to the 4 P’s. The older 4Ps and 3 more new Ps of marketing mix are extended to both tangible and intangible products.

The extended 3 Ps are as follows:

People: Organizations are reliant on the people right from shop floor to the Managing Director. Having the right people is crucial because they are as much a part of business offering as the products/services offered by the organization. The three main tasks for employee engagement are: culture, managing style, and hiring. The performance and attitude of people can result in the success or failure of a business.

Processes: The delivery of a product or service is usually done with the best of management practice. The thumb rule for success of any product is that when the customer pays for the product/service he should feel satisfied. Most competitive organizations use 6 SIGMA tool for optimizing best product output. Continuous efforts to achieve stable and predictable process results by reducing process variation. Manufacturing and business processes have characteristics that can be measured, analyzed, controlled and improved. Achieving sustained quality improvement requires commitment from the entire organization. This happens particularly from top-level management. Six Sigma project helps a clear focus on achieving measurable and quantifiable financial returns. 6 Sigma works efficiently when an increased emphasis is laid on strong and passionate management. It doesn’t give room for assumptions and guess work.

Physical Evidence:  This refers to the way a product, service, and everything about the company, appears from the outside, or is perceived by the customer. The physical evidence is about packaging. It is about the presentation of an organization, person or thing in an advantageous way. In physical packaging the size, shape, color, material, UPC bar code, and label of the packaging matters as much as its aesthetics. This should be customer tested and updated when needed.  It should fall in line with organization’s other product offerings as well.  Packaging involves the visual layout, practical setup, and when needed for products, clear and precise installation instructions. Product liability insurance is needed in case anybody suffers any harm from the product. Engineering tests are also needed to make sure that the package can stand any break.  There may also be regulatory issues to consider. Visual packaging of a tangible product can make or break a purchase.  Small improvements in the packaging or external appearance of the product or service can lead to completely different responses from customers.

Is there place for 8^thP?  Some marketing experts are of opinion that the extended marketing mix should evolve of Productivity. It is about how well people combine resources to produce goods and services. It is about creating more from available resources, such as raw materials, labour, skills, capital equipment, land, intellectual property, managerial potential and finance. With the right combination, higher production, higher value and higher incomes can be achieved for every hour worked. Productivity helps in managing costs.

In conclusion, even after 54 years the original marketing mix cannot be ignored. It is applicable for every business every day. Jerome McCarthy’s well thought 4 Ps – Product, Price, Place and Promotion and additional 3 Ps added in 1981 by Booms & Bitner’s People, Process and Physical Evidence are the core of any business.  In my opinion, the 8^th P – Productivity should also be added to the extended marketing mix. And, a good marketer is the one who adapts the Ps  suitably to his offering.