Marketing Mix -101 - 4C's The next generation, a historic view

We have memorized the 4P’s and can recite them like nursery rhymes and mathematical time-tables. We use them as the cornerstone of marketing mix strategy. I refer to them as the four pillars of marketing. They are respected and used daily as we address each element (or ingredient) to craft marketing campaigns and strategic planning. Today's techno-culture alone has influenced so much change impacting our industry, it appears we are experiencing a marketing mix revolution, a resurgence of individualism and niche product marketing like never before.

Guess what? It’s not new. Have marketers been living under a rock? The “4C” marketing mix has been pumping proudly for decades. Focusing on the consumer (or customer) is not new. Pete Blackshaw wrote in Ad Age (3/10) about "too much sizzle (i.e. social media hype) in the system" to the point of being “obsessed” and reiterated my thought - we need to come back to the basics of marketing fundamentals. He quoted Bob Wehling, a former Procter & Gamble marketing vet, who used the term “listening to the customer”. It’s not new. So, this is a good time for a refresher. I am sure it will also enlighten our new generation of marketers here in Wichita.

In my own experience, two examples jump out at me where we incorporated 4C-strategy. Working at Brite Voice here in Wichita, an international telecommunication leader of interactive voice response systems, we lived and died by customer needs in our vertical markets pumping out information and product to suit our customer’s communication needs. When I marketed higher education over at Friends University, we differentiated ourselves based on high quality customer service and education programs. I recall many discussions former VP Sheryl Riney and our leadership team had about the 4C’s. We implemented our unique business education model and they made a tremendous difference in our success in the market.

The basic set of “C”s known as: Consumer, Cost, Convenience and Communication offer marketing professionals a shift from the traditional product driven marketing mix of the 4P’s (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) to a consumer oriented approach relying on needs of products and services from a customer perspective. Like the 4P’s, depending who you talk to or marketing mentors you admire and follow, you will find the “C’s” enhanced one or two, to five and seven additional ingredients, with the likes of capability commodity, channels, circumstances and confidence. For now, let’s just focus on the primary elements.

The 4C’s are based on the 4P’s of a marketing mix. We will break down each in another segment.

However, before we can truly appreciate the concept, it is best to know how and why they become exemplary and timely guides for today’s marketing mix.

Historically, the fundamental ‘marketing mix’ was inspired by the industrial revolution (speaking of revolutions), as producers did what they were good at. Volume production. People needed things. So, we made things. Eventually, producers realized they needed to find ways to sell it all. Competition became a natural motive. Consumers were given choices and they bought what they liked. A customer-centric environment surfaced and thrived through the 1950’s and 1960’s. Finally in 1973 someone was bold enough to actually endorse the 4C’s as a concept of its own that suggested a new way marketers should view best practice in changing times.

Although this is a bit dated (2003), Jeryl Wray, VP of Marketing at DataPad in Utah revealed an interesting path we have taken leading to our own revolution that aspires practicality with the 4C’s. He also contributed a fifth “P” of marketing – people - to the 4P’s. In all aspects of promotion, pricing, and placement, we rely on our data and experiential-instinct to engage with people to understand their decision-making process.

As we previously discussed the likes of McCarthy, Norden and Culliton, founders of the 4P mix model, there were key individuals supporting and molding a 4C model. In 1973, Japanese Professor Koichi Shimizu, who deemed ‘consumer-centricity’ the new strategy to marketing success, helped launch the “4C” model. Differentiation between products or services became a winning proposition. The ability to provide a product or service with higher quality than your competitor and that met the consumer need would likely assure success. This strategy remains paramount in marketing today.

What better person to reflect on the paradigm shift than to the man himself. Professor Koichi Shimizu, well known for his publishing’s in labor economics also includes his focus on the automotive industry. Today he closely follows his homeland company of Toyota and their recent challenges. More importantly it was Professor Shimizu, who not only constructed the 4Cs, he contributed three additional ingredients to construct a Compass model that he says, “explains the essential factors of low-growth economics”.

Before writing today’s post, I sent a note to Professor Shimizu, an active Professor in the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences in Economics at Okayama University in the Chugoku region of Southern Japan. I hope to receive his insight soon of his innovative concepts addressing the need for consumer-centric marketing techniques and how he came to his 4-C concept.

Other Marketing Mix 101 Series information:
Marketing Mix 101- The Beginning
Marketing Mix 101- The Awakening