Psychology and Marketplace: Advances in Psychology and 4Ps of Marketing - Literature review Example

Psychology and marketplace: Advances in psychology and 4Ps of marketing How have advances in social psychology, psychophysics, psychoanalysis, and learning and cognition reflected in the development of the 4Ps of marketing? What are some examples? In a recent review of the literature on marketing strategy and framework, Goi (2009, p. 5) concluded that the 4Ps of marketing have remained as the most popularly used marketing framework despite its limitations. Goi explained that the reason for the popular use of the 4Ps of marketing emerged from on its simplicity and, thus, marketing textbooks typically organize their exposition around the 4Ps (2009, p. 5). Goi said that even with the numerous criticisms on the 4Ps, it has been "extremely influential in informing the development of both marketing theory and practise" (2009, p. 4). One of the criticisms against the 4Ps of marketing is that the framework is supposedly production-oriented and not customer-oriented (Goi, 2009, p. 4, citing the work of Popovic, 2006). However, as pointed out by Goi (2009, p. 2), the 4Ps of marketing actually covered 12 elements---product planning, pricing, branding, channels of distribution, personal selling, advertising, promotions, packaging, display, servicing, physical handling, and fact-finding and analysis---simplified into 4 groups. The 4Ps of marketing, also known as the "marketing mix", is not a scientific theory but only a conceptual framework that identifies the most important decisions that management must make to meet consumers needs (Goi, 2009, p. 2). Several have criticized the 4P approach and have argued for Cs rather than Ps, more Ps rather than only 4, but popular use of the 4Ps has persisted (Goi, 2009, pp. 4-5). In contrast, Ansary clarifies that the 4Ps embody a strategic planning model which is different from a strategy process model (2006, p. 283). According to Ansary (2006, p. 283), a strategy planning model must focus on the 4Ps while the strategy process model must focus on the "formulation of segmentation, targeting, differentiation, and positioning strategies to create, communicate, and deliver the value to customer resulting in gaining customer satisfaction and loyalty." The 4Ps are meant to achieve company financial objectives (Ansary, 2006, p. 283). One of the popular articulations of the 4Ps of marketing is that of the Internet Centre for Business Management and Business [accessed 19 January 2010]. The Centre informs that the 4Ps became popular after Neil H. Borden forwarded his 1964 article, The Concept of Marketing Mix. Constantinides (2006, p. 408) and the International Centre for Management and Business Administration agree that it was Jerome McCarthy (also in 1964) who grouped Neil Bordens "12 controllable marketing elements" of 1964 into four Ps: product, price, promotion, and place. The four Ps are presented by the Internet Centre for Management and Business Administration in Figure 1. Both Constantinedes (2006, p. 408) and the International Centre for Management and Business Administration concur that Borden had viewed that controlling the said elements would lead to profitability. Figure 1. 4Ps of Marketing Source: Internet Centre for Management and Business Administration [Accessed 20 January 2010 at http://www.netmba.com/marketing/mix/] Developments in psychology potentially or actually contributed to advancements in the 4P planning model. One area of psychology that contributed to advances in approaches related to the 4Ps is evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology has developed notions on social psychology and cognition. Evolutionary psychology combines evolutionary biology and cognitive psychology (Saad & Gill, 2000, p. 1005). One important finding of evolutionary social psychology that has bearing on the 4Ps is the finding that physical attractiveness is an important concern among women (Saad & Gill, 2000, p. 1016). Thus, we see that products are oftentimes sold or promoted on the basis of the improvements that the product can do in improving the looks of women. At the same time, this finding is an important finding in product development because products are being developed to enhance the looks of women. Another finding of evolutionary social psychology pertains to the finding that men value youth and looks more than the women (Saad & Gill, 2000, p. 1016). This implies that promotional approaches for men should be different for women. Still another finding of evolutionary psychology is the confirmation that women are the main patrons of cosmetic surgery procedures rather than men (Saad & Gil, 2000, p. 1018). Social psychology research has also found that the incidence among men is higher than women in engaging in windsurfing, canoeing, power boating, fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, bicycle riding, motorcycling, roller blading, snow boarding, and many other activities (Saad & Gill, 2008, p. 1020). These findings have important implications on market targeting and segmentation as well as product development consistent with the concerns of the 4Ps. In particular, the findings have important bearing on product, promotions, and place of the 4Ps. Another area of psychology that contributed to the advancement in the 4Ps is psychophysics. One finding from psychophysics is that responses are greatly influenced by contexts (Williamson & Stewards, 2009, p. 64). One application of this principle is that consumer perception of product value can be influenced by the contexts under which the presentation of the product is made. For instance, consumer perception of product value will be higher if the product is associated with certain personalities or lifestyle attached to luxurious or expensive lifestyles. This matter is applied in many type of advertising such that a cigarette, for example, is associated with personalities or lifestyles that are expensive. Thus, consumer obtains a larger bang for their money if they purchase the product associated with personalities or lifestyles attached to luxurious living. In the area of psychonalysis, Karremans et al. (2006, p. 1) reported their own empirical studies or experiment taking off from a 1957 report that Coca-Cola increased its sales of soft drinks and popcorn in theatres via subliminal messages in movie screens. In using subliminal messages, Coca used "subliminally primed participants with pictures of Coca Cola cans and the word "thirsty" (Karremans, 2006, p. 2). A key finding of the study of Karremans et al. (2006, p. 1) is that subliminal advertising works best if the consumer has a need for the product. According to Karremans et al. (2006, p. 2), for the mind to process the subliminal messages, the messages have to consist of one or two very short words. According to the authors, this indicates that subliminal advertising is most appropriate for products with short brand names (2005, p. 2). Karremans et al. (2006, p. 2) generalized their findings to mean that subliminal advertising are feasible. Assessing the significance of their works, the authors believe that their key contribution lies in providing empirical support for the view that subliminal messages could lead to product consumption and can be used in marketing or advertising. In the area of learning and cognition of psychology, Oxoby & Hugh (2005, p. 1) produced a series of experiment and illustrated that how consumers received information can influence the consumers buying decision. In particular, according to the authors, when consumers receive information regarding price and quality, the information serves to filter the other information, even if the other information may be more relevant. Further, according to the authors, the information block can be carried-over to the judgement of other products. It is easy to see that the many of the foregoing were already applied in the marketing programs of several companies. Through several years, the findings from psychology with regard to social psychology, psychophysics, psychoanalysis, and learning and cognition have been directly and indirectly improving how the 4Ps are applied in marketing. This is because even if the influence is not formally declared in the literature, those using the 4Ps have been applying the knowledge learn from psychology to advance the implementation of the 4Ps. Reference list Constantinides, E., 2006. The marketing mix revisited: Towards the 21st century marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 22, pp. 407-408. El-Ansary, A., 2006. Marketing strategy: Taxonomy and frameworks. European Business Review, 18 (4), pp. 266-293. Goi, C. L., 2009. A review of marketing mix: 4Ps or more? International Journal of Marketing Studies, 1 (1), pp. 2-15. Karremans, J., Stroebe, W., Claus, J., 2006. Beyond Vicarys fantasies: The impact of subliminal priming and brand choice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, pp. 1-7. Available at: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/psychologie/ae/Ae01/hp/scharlau/lehre/karremans.pdf [Accessed 20 January 2010]. Internet Centre for Management and Business, n.d. The marketing mix (the 4 Ps of marketing). Available at: http://www.netmba.com/marketing/mix/ [Accessed 20 January 2010]. Matthews, W. & Steward, N., 2009. Psychophysics and the judgment of price: Judging complex on a non-physical dimension elicits sequential effects like those in perceptual tasks. Judgment and Decision Making, 4 (1), pp. 64-81. Oxoby, R. & Hugh, F., 2005. Developing heuristic-based quality judgements: Attention blocking consumer in choice. Munic Personal RePEc Archive, No. 1523, Popovic, D., 2006. Modelling the marketing of high-tech start-ups. Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 14 (3), 260-276. Saad, G. & Gill, T., 2000. Applications of evolutionary in marketing. Psychology & Marketing, 17 (12), 1005-1034. Read More