The 4 P’s of Marketing
MARKET ANALYSIS
The Importance of a Marketing Mix
 If an organization is to be successful with a new
product, they must consider a variety of variables
 Truly successful companies/products ensure that
they cover all the areas that are important, just
doing one well will not be good enough

Having a great priced product but always out of stock
 Covering all the areas is known as the marketing
mix
The 4 P’s of the Marketing Mix
 The marketing mix is
usually divided into 4
major categories
 These 4 categories are
known as the 4 P’s
Product
 Price
 Place
 Promotion

Real World Example
 The marketing failure example we will look at using the
marketing mix is McDonald’s McPizza
 Although it lasted several years, it was not profitable for
McDonalds and was eventually dropped from the menu
 Many people wonder why, as they enjoyed these minipizzas. We will discover why!
Product Mix
 Includes research, product development,
packaging, and branding
 Branding
For the McDonalds pizza, it was given the “Mc” prefix
 They had had success with McChicken and Egg
McMuffin, other non burger items
 Problem started as customers associated McDonalds with
burgers, not pizza
 Began to blur the company’s identity

Product Mix
 Packaging
 Packaging was a miniature pizza box, protecting the pizza and
establishing the pizza look for the customer
 Research
 Research showed that pizza was their biggest competitor
 Developed technology to create pizza relatively quick (match
fast food)
 Test markets liked the taste
Promotion Mix
 Consists of advertising, sales promotion, and
publicity
Magazines, TV, and newspaper articles covered the
launch
 Media gave owners opportunity to explain the change and
reassure customers that they still did hamburgers
 TV ads explained the new ovens and attempted to
generate excitement
 Promotion included free samples, launch parties and
store banners and signage

Pricing Mix
 Pricing seemed accurate
for McDonalds
Consumer could buy a small
pizza for same as burger and
fries
 Large pizza priced
competitively with Pizza Hut
and Dominoes
 Marketing team thought that
they could make back the
extremely high start-up costs
in a couple years but sales
slowed

Place Mix
 Includes physical
distribution, storage,
inventory
management, and
channel selection
 This is where the
largest problems with
the McPizza occurred
Place Mix
 Space behind counter is small, area is designed for
efficiency with machines close together
 Hard to find room for new pizza ovens and
ingredients
 Employees were trained in the use of the ovens, the
pizza prep, and pizza sales with goal of maintaining
high customer service
Place Mix
 McDonalds had spent $ Billions convincing
customers it was a fast-service hamburger place
Customers in drive-thru lines were asked to park for 10
min for pizza
 If mixed order, hamburger and fries were cold by the
time the pizza came
 Large pizza box wouldn’t fit through the drive-thru
window, so had to be hand delivered by employees
 Pizza tended to be a product that customers developed
loyalties too (specific restaurant)

McDonalds Now
 McDonalds continues to adjust its marketing mix
 Local stores are encouraged to develop products for local markets
 McBrat (bratwurst with sauerkraut and onion) is popular in Wisc.
and Minn.
 McLobster popular in tourist season in Atlantic Canada
 New healthy choices menu following recent trends