The world of marketing, branding, advertising, public relations and corporate communication has never treated any letters of the alphabet as privileged as the letter “P”. We have simply shaped our lives around the letter “P” starting from our years at university. The letter “C” tried to take its role after 2000’s, and the letters “E” and “I” tried to replace it once the information technology became widespread. However, none of them could dethrone it.
The letter “P” owes its superiority to the famous marketing professor, Edmund Jerome McCarthy, who passed away in December 2015. The entire world of marketing “bought” the approach of McCarthy, who defined the marketing mix through 4 Ps in 1960. In fact, McCarthy turned “4 Ps” into a brand and continued his reign to date.(1)
Other “professors” marked up this marketing mix – Product, Place, Price and Promotion – in time! We have seen that the number of Ps have increased to 5 and even 7.(2) According to some, “People” were forgotten. Brian Tracy, the owner of a consultancy company, pointed out that “Packaging” and “Positioning” were also missing. (3)
However, Principles of Marketing, which was written by Philip Kotler, the professor of professors, and which was published in 1967, emphasised that 4 Ps were the core of the marketing mix.
All in all, we had products. We wanted to turn them into “brands”. We needed to “market” them not to “sell” them. To be able to do this, we had to have “4 Ps” available to us.
Some people didn’t like “P”s. They thought they had to be thrown away. Why didn’t we use the letter “E”? “Experience” instead of “Product”, “Everyplace” instead of “Place”, “Exchange” instead of “Price” (which has already been outdated), and “Evangelism” instead of “Promotion” would look sexier and more ambitious.
After a while, Bob Lauterborn, one of the professors at the University of North Carolina, stepped in. Lauterborn stated that 80% of the new products introduced into the US market and managed according to 4 Ps of marketing failed, and he emphasised that we should actually use “4 Cs”. (4)
Today, the marketing journey in the world of letters continues with different contents and in different forms. So far, what we call competition, which in fact is the answer to the question “Why am I different from others?”, has always been interpreted, evaluated and even “rewarded” with epithets starting with the same letter.
Brands make Promises, Reputation is earned!
We have learned that differentiation means “promise” in the world of marketing. Brands make promises. They have to. It is possible to gain currency and to get your hands on customers’ pockets / wallets with these promises. However, we found that the main issue about branding begun after that point by paying the price for it. None of the letters were with us when we were paying the price. For instance, why do you think the brands such as Sabena, Pan Am, TWA and Swiss Air, which used to be the kings of the skies once, are not among us anymore? Why couldn’t Ps, Cs and Es bring them to these days?
We see Amoco in the old American movies. Blockbuster’s… Woolworth’s… A sarcastic expression will appear in the faces of those who remember these brands as I do. The same will happen for Zenith. What’s happened to SHUBUO (5) for which a huge amount of money was spent so that it could become a brand? How about Ixir (6) which was used even by kokorec (7) makers or Compaq computers? Does anybody know what happened to these brands? No need to mention the names of the banks that have gone bankrupt. What has Aria (8), which has made the most expensive purchase in the history of phone operators, miscalculated? How about Ericsson or Nokia? Or Fuji and Kodak which have tried to be born out of their ashes through their new business models and possessions?
In fact, tens or even hundreds of brands that have become extinct form the contents which should be taught as “lessons” at the business management faculties instead of some letters in the alphabet. These brands were managed by young and dynamic professionals who were educated at the best universities. Most of them were corporate companies. They worked with the best advertising agencies and public relations companies. They had a well-established history. Their marketing investments were astonishingly big.
But… But… It just didn’t happen. It could not … They couldn’t carry on. They now rest in the potter’s field!
If we need to make a diagnosis, we can say that the last century’s dilemma was not focused on “trust” but “promises”. It was easy to make promises. It was even free of charge! These brands could still have been among us if they had gained “trust” in return for their promises. Trust is the output of “reputation”. I mean you have to make an effort to gain trust. It is not “free of charge”!
Extramarital Affairs of Brands
The twentieth century imposed capitalism as a lifestyle. It went to bed with “democracy”! Its argument was to create a free market for meeting “needs”. When “profitability” gained only by products was far from meeting capitalistic requirements, “desires and dreams” were added to these needs. That’s how the way for extramarital affairs of brands was paved. The main thing was not only the needs. Everything we called “quality of life”, we desired or dreamed of was put in this network of affairs. This process, which has brought us to a time when Jet Fadil (9) has sold his non-existent timeshares in the Maldives under the brand name Caprice, is actually a movie scenario where we all play different roles.
Let me quote from my book entitled Oyun Bitti (Game Over), which was published in 2012, at this point as it is appropriate to the subject.
Hollywood Ending
One of the best movies I have watched in recent years was Hollywood Ending, which was written and directed by Woody Allen and in which he stars. In summary, this movie is about a director who had a run of bad luck at the peak of his career and who is now having his “downfall” although he made great movies once.
The director, who works up an appetite for a new 60-million-dollar production found as a result of his ex-wife’s attempts, goes “blind” due to stress a day before the shooting. He cannot see anything, and the shooting is to start the next day. He cannot tell anyone apart from his manager that he is blind since he is desperate for this production.
The shooting starts. A blind director shoots a “movie”! As you can guess, it is an “absurd” production. 60 million dollars have been thrown away! Even the director, who got his sight back once the movie was shot, cannot watch it.
When disappointment and harsh criticism are at their peak, a review published in a French newspaper restores shattered hopes. The French who watch the movie shot by the blind director “love and appreciate” it!
I guess we had been starring in an absurd movie directed by blind directors for the last 150 years, and we had to live a life which was like an absurd movie scenario. What’s worse, it had all been “French” to us!
We think Business Management is Cash Management
When we look at the world of the brands which are not among us and the brands which are not satisfied with their performance although they are among us, we see that the main problem is “being focused on cash management”. We even measure brand value by cash! For instance, Apple is the world’s most valuable brand. However, what capitalism didn’t teach us or what it hides under the table is about the management of “values”. If brands had created competition in terms of the management of social values instead of their own values, today’s world would have been much more different than what it is now.
What difference does it make if the fizzy drink producers that still use the sweetener called aspartame, which definitely causes cancer, become brands or not? Or if they are worth millions of dollars or not? Haven’t we made life miserable for ourselves and our kids alike with the “aspartame” of every industry from finance to housing, from food to textiles or from automotive to electronics? Haven’t we realised once again the fact that we live in a world where the sustainability of life is questioned at COP21 in Paris? What brand value will tell the good news (!) about the end of life? The sci-fi novels which said that we were going to drink water out of plastic bottles became a part of our daily lives. Who can guarantee that oxygen is not going to be sold in jars on which global brand names are written in 20 years’ time? We might see Volkswagen on one of these jars!
We obviously see what happens when we prefer managing cash to integrating universally-recognised values into our business. The ideological brands one of which knocked against the Berlin Wall and the other against the Wall Street by claiming that “they were better” are the symbols of a hundred years of history in all. Consumer brands are conceptually a product of this period, too.
New Values are shaped Around “Accountability”
We witness that new universal values are shaped in terms of “accountability” in our entire life. Even “transparency” has become meaningless! If we cannot account for something and “convince” others, what’s the point of being “transparent”? After the global recession in 2008, even the corporations that didn’t have any problems could not hold their periodical profitability meetings for a long time. The public expected more satisfying explanations about profitability. All right, one can earn money, but the answer to the question “How?” is hidden in “values”. The bad news is that the concept we call “values” is not stable. It changes in terms of meaning and scope in the flow of life. In 1970’s, the environment, the ozone hole, consumer rights, child labour and tens of concepts that we now define as values were unimportant whereas these concepts are an inseparable part of everything today.
No wonder accountability becomes a current issue as a value in a world where the natural laws and the human laws call each other to account. A world where everybody calls each other to account has no geographical limits. Brands are in a rush to adapt themselves to this change in some way. Global changes are not easy. If they get sidetracked and use cheap solutions by pretending, they somehow give themselves away.
The Emperor has No Clothes! Neither do Brands!
The wasteyard of brands is expanding. Petrol, automotive and other industrial brands, which were emperors until 2000’s, have given way to technological brands. Technological brands are “temporary visitors” in their thrones since their success is measured by “cash”. The matter of accountability is just behind the cash brand valuation and measurement system!
No matter where we live or where we are in this world, everything that happens concerns us in a way. This is the main reason why accountability is a rising value. The Chernobly disaster did not happen within the Turkish borders. However, hundreds and maybe thousands of people were affected by the diseases caused by that disaster. Even our ministers who drank radioactive tea were not able to change this fact. (10) There are thousands of people who drive Volkswagen’s carbon emitting vehicles around us. They may feel uncomfortable because of the looks they get when driving! We express how annoyed we are on social media because touristic facilities have been built in the place of the forest put on fire in Guvercinlik, in Bodrum.
We are going through a phase between “I did it. So, it’s ok.” and “I did it by taking account of your sensitivities as much as you would.” We may not be able to see this situation in all areas of life “for now”. However, we can see the direction of this change when we look at the last 10 or 20 years: “accountability”. There is a very simple reason for this: A consistent accountability mechanism creates everybody’s “opinions” not just ours, and there is no way we can buy these opinions paying billions of dollars. These opinions are the assurance of our business, power and future anywhere in the world. This is how finance institutions turn on the credit taps. This is how consumer purchases and recommendations are made. This is how qualified human resources are invited.
Using the marketing jargon, we can say: People, Planet and Profit. It’s all about 3Ps in the end.
(*) Printed at Brandmap February 2016 issue
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Jerome_McCarthy [2] http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/70824 [3] http://www.briantracy.com/about/ [4] http://www.customfitonline.com/news/2012/10/19/4-cs-versus-the-4-ps-of-marketing/ [5] A Turkish mobile content platform which spent huge amounts of money on its advertising budget, but vanished in a short time. [6] An internet service provider which had a similar history as 5 [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokoretsi [8] One of the first mobile phone operators in Turkey that was not able to survive. [9] https://www.cihan.com.tr/en/jet-fadil-allegedly-bribes-prison-guards-to-sell-timeshares-to-clients-1990183.htm [10] http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/2014/04/27/chernobyl-effects-in-turkey-28-years-later
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