The “Myth of the Mix”

E-ZINE ARTICLE, FEBRUARY 2006
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Dr Billy Coop

Classic marketing courses still use the traditional marketing mix, or 4 Ps, as the basis for teaching. The critical question, however, is this: how relevant is the traditional marketing mix in a world that is in a state of dynamic and constant change? Furthermore, and more importantly, where does the brand (both the internal and external brand) fit into the marketing mix, and how does the classic marketing mix apply to the changing customer?
In his book Basic Marketing, A global-Managerial Approach, Professor Jerome McCarthy states that there are many possible ways to satisfy the needs of target customers and that there are numerous variables that impact on the ability of an organisation to satisfy these target customers needs. McCarthy says that it is useful to reduce all the variables in the marketing mix to four basic ones namely, product, price, place (distribution) and promotion. His classic diagram depicts the customer shown as surrounded by the four Ps, but not being part of the marketing mix, but rather the target of all marketing efforts.
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