One of the first things you learn as an earnest student of marketing or advertising is the 4 p's. They are first generation (old school marketing), and exist through a functional, purely tactical perspective. They are inevitably:
(The Marketing Mix, 2005)
With the integration of technology into everyday consumer life, a new marketing era has made its way out of the wings. Diverging from the previously functional perspective, second generation marketing holds a 'customer' view. Marketers of the second generation seek closer customer engagement hoping to uncover unmet needs, facilitate conversation and deliver real customer value (Mootee, 2007).
Cue the mental cringes in your automatic mental reference to telemarketers and other popular devices in the marketer’s toolkit. People are so in tune to these strategies that they may now as well be obsolete. Second generation marketers know this, and so have developed new strategic marketing theory to handle consumers in an 'experience economy'.
Enter the new 4 p's as suggested by innovation strategist Idris Mootee in 2001:
- Personalisation: customisation of products and services through the internet.
- Participation: allow consumer to participate in what the brand should stand for, what should be the product directions and even which ads to run.
- Peer-to-peer: customer networks and communities where advocacy happens.
- Predictive modeling: neural network algorithms successfully applied in marketing problems.
(Mootee, 2007)
As a student of not only advertising, but of media and communication, I take a special interest in Mootee's notions of 'participation' and 'peer-to-peer' in the new 4 p's model.
'Participation' as Mootee describes is an element inherent to most web 2.0 activities, and resounds in Henry Jenkins’ (2006) notion of a ‘participatory culture’ which describes how media consumers may also become media producers. Citizen journalism sites and many other produsage sites integrate 'participation' in their structures to bring back the democratisation process often found lacking in mainstream news media (Bruns, 2008). In the new 4 p's, 'participation' allows anyone to create and publish their own content. 'Listen and watch' has also spread from specific media companies to anyone with a camera and an internet connection (Mootee, 2007).
Could it be seen then, that advertising in the mainstream media may be classed as having similar incompetence as mainstream news media? Traditional news in this scope is often seen to be bias, so could advertising also be seen to be bias within this context - leaving out important information or perspectives crucial to the purchasing decision? The internet and the new 4 p's in this regard may see advertising undergo a movement similar to citizen journalism and produsage concepts whereby consumers participate in the ad producing process (see Sony for an example of how this is already happening!).
I also find the idea of 'peer-to-peer' in the 4 p's model intriguing because the marketing passes through non-traditional outlets such as online customer networks and communities. This is done in the hope that it will bring consumers into a deeper conversation about a brand (Mootee, 2007). This insights what CEO Kevin Roberts of top advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi has named 'lovemarks', brands that inspire loyalty beyond reason (Saatchi & Saatchi B, 2008).
Historically, the problem with advertising is that it imposes itself on the consumer e.g. a television ad does not engage the audience. Such a 'passive customer base' may now be replaced by 'active customer communities' where closer engagement happens in those conversations (Mootee, 2007). This in turn may make it more difficult for 'culture jamming' to defame advertising. The consumers would perceive the culture jammers to be poking fun at the consumers themselves, as they also operate with the brand in these active communities.
This can also be said as a result for 'participation', which leads me to think that the old school (i.e. old school marketing) is out. Enter the new school, the new 4 p's and an abundance of savvy marketing. The best I believe, is yet to come.
And we're there again,a*ms
Reference List (including links)
Bosman, J. (2006). User-generated content starts to take hold in advertising. Retrieved
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: When new and old media collide.
http://www.lovemarks.com/
The Marketing Mix - Unit 3 - The 4P's of Marketing. (2005) Retrieved May 8, 2008, from http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/bus_studies/gcse_m_smidman/ unit3/4ps.htm
2 comments:
Hi Amy,
The concept of the new 4P's is really interesting - I am glad that I came across your blog to read about it. The idea of participation in advertising is particularly interesting, as with many other subjects such as politics, the more participatory a person is (say, with a particcular political party), I believe that they feel a stronger link towards that political party.
The same goes for brands. I was recently on the Coco-Cola website, and after navigating around the Coke page for a while, and playing some of their jingles, I started to feel very fond of Coke, and developed a craving for it. The website was very bright and colourful and it just looked fun. The website could be used as a participatory medium, with users checking what events their friends were attending.
Being a Coke drinker all my life, I already feel a link to the brand, however I can see how advertising linked with online participation could be a very strong combination.
Anyway, another blog that I suggest you read is Melinda's "Advertising and Produsage", which you can find at http://melindamarie201.blogspot.com/2008/04/advertising-and-produsage.html (why doesn't this comment section allow hyperlinks?!?). It is very interesting and has an example of how Coca-Cola, one of the worlds leading brands, got its online advertising wrong, and the backlash by online communities that followed.
Blog out.
Hi Amy
I really liked your analysis of Mootee’s notions of ‘participation’ and ‘peer-to-peer’ interaction. This is an area that really interests me (as I’m studying Advertising) and I’m glad to see we share the same views.
I agree that the new experience economy is definitely driving the marketing and advertising industry forward with online participation allowing companies to communicate with users in a more personalised and engaging manner. In a quote by Lauren Papworth of World Communities, “If you want the truth in advertising, ask your customers” (Tay 2007). An example of this is the company AdCandy (www.adcandy.com) which organises competitions that encourage users to submit ideas for slogans, images, products and marketing campaigns for corporate partners.
In furthering your discussion on user-participation, I found that many companies are now building custom-made websites where people can upload their own videos, for instance, Moe’s Southwest Grill (http://moes.sharkle.com/index.html). These sites really incorporate people which then promotes brand image, enhances customer loyalty and creates an overall ‘experience’ for the user as you suggest. I thought I’d also point out that businesses are now communicating with and even creating their own online communities to allow new content to be collaboratively shared and continuous built upon (Bruns 2008). This doesn’t always work as Lucy pointed out in a previous comment. The Coke Zero blog was a perfect example of how a company can lose influence over what their consumers upload or share with the rest of the world.
In adding to your discussion of peer-to-peer communication, I found that many websites are now allowing for social interaction between consumers which is really beneficial. For instance http://www.naturallycurly.com/ is a great site sponsored by various hair care companies. Here users can submit comments, read discussion boards and chat with others thereby increasing the overall ‘experience’ of consumers.
I thought you might also like to know that I incorporated your ideas about the user-generated initiative behind the Sony advertisement and Kevin Roberts production of “lovemarks” in my blog. I thought that this information aligned really well with my arguments in regard to user-created production and how it enhances a brand’s overall identity and connection with consumers.
Great job on this blog entry!
Bruns, A. 2008. Produsage: Towards a broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation Re-public. http://www.produsage.org/files/Produsage%20(Creativity%20and%20Cognition%202007.pdf (accessed April 7, 2008)
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