The 4Ps are dead...Long live the 4Ps?

The 4Ps -- for marketing folks, these are the timeless foundation for our practice...or are they?

A couple of years ago, there were obituaries for the 4Ps showing up in the blogosphere. Some were whispering that the sacred 4Ps -- product, price, promotion, and placement -- were no longer relevant after 45 years of reigning supreme. Permission based marketing, social networking, new technologies, bringing the customer into the development decision loop -- these trends were viewed as factors driving the 4Ps into the ground or perhaps, underground.

So, we did a little checking around and found a solid academic article by E. Constantinides entitled, "The marketing mix revisited: Towards the 21st century marketing." A faculty member at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, Constantinides performed an in-depth literature review and uncovered some interesting findings. First, he demonstrates that the staying power of the 4Ps is due to two key factors: they are memorable and practical. Marketers actually use the framework. He also shows, however, that the debates surrounding the 4Ps are largely theoretical, not empirical. In other words, most of the talk is unsubstantiated, as few researchers are actually measuring the performance of the 4Ps by the organizations that say they are using them.

So what of the future? We think Constantinides got it right...new concepts, new technologies, and new business models are creating fresh perspectives and the 4Ps were never designed to address these. Therefore, it is quite right to update, augment, or otherwise revise the 4Ps. What's interesting, however, is that no one has come up with a paradigm that is as universal. We've seen "Personas, Participation, Publishing, and Page rank" for permission-based marketing, and also the "4Cs" -- Customer needs, Convenience, Costs, and Communication. Not much stickiness here...

While we don't disagree that the 4Ps are dated and represent a very different marketing era, the overall framework is still useful. Indeed, we've observed that many MBA programs are still teaching the 4Ps; until something better and as universal comes along, the 4Ps are unlikely to disappear anytime soon. And like everyone else, we're thirsting for some hardcore research that provides us with quantitative evidence.

Check out the article: Constantinides, E. (2006). The marketing mix revisited: Towards the 21st century marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 22, 407-438.