The 4 P’s are an important framework for understanding marketing decisions and business strategy. This concept is covered only briefly in the text, but it deserves more attention and practice. This exercise will help you learn to recognize and analyze the 4 P’s.
Assignment: Pick 3 well known companies and describe their strategy as it relates to each of the 4 P’s of marketing. Example:
Starbucks
PRODUCT: Premium coffee drinks that can be customized in an endless variety of ways. Other products include pastries, sandwiches, prepackaged salads, prepackaged drinks, and music CD’s. Warm coffee house environment.
PRICING: Premium pricing, several times higher than a standard cup of coffee at McDonalds. Higher prices can be charged because of the quality of the product, the option to customize the product (which makes it personal), and the inviting environment.
PLACEMENT: Initially all product was distributed through company stores that are strategically located in high traffic areas. Then they expanded to licensed outlets within grocery stores and airports. In total, they have 14,400 stores in the U.S. and about 28,000 globally. Beyond their stores, they distribute packaged products, such as bottle coffee drinks, through grocery stores and convenient stores.
PROMOTION: For most of its history, Starbucks almost entirely utilized word of mouth and good public relations. Instead of investing in traditional advertising, Starbucks invested in highly visible locations, a large quantity of stores, strategic partnerships (like having their coffee on airplanes), and wide distribution of packaged products in grocery and convenience stores. Together, those factors have kept Starbucks front and center in the public’s awareness and it has allowed them to organically become a part of our culture. In recent years, they have expanded advertising via newspaper and magazine ads, as well as digital marketing. They also utilize promotions within their app to sell product. They now have 15 million rewards members who receive customized offers based on their purchase history.
Please remember to follow this process for 3 different companies. Be as complete as possible to earn maximum points. This will likely involve doing some basic background research about each company