Luxury Brand Management: A World of Privilege, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 8

Communication

In today’s world, everything is communication.

Brands and their underlying logic are omnipresent in our public and private lives. The advent of the seemingly overpowering postmodern brand is rendering obsolete many previously efficient management tools.

Obsolescence of the 4Ps

In the second half of the twentieth century, most business students learned Philip Kotler’s 4Ps, which were presented as the most powerful marketing analytical scheme. In 1967, Kotler defined marketing management as “The analysis, planning, implementing and control of programs designed to bring about desired exchanges with target audiences for the purpose of mutual gain. It relies on the adaptation and coordination of Products, Price, Promotion and Place for achieving effective response.”1 This is what is commonly called the marketing mix.

• The products category was made up of product lines, quality, brand, package, and services. Note that brands, at the time, did not have the overwhelming importance that they went on to acquire in the 1990s. They were merely one of the inherent attributes of products.
• The price category included basic price, discounts, special promotions, credit, and transport terms.
• Promotion was made up of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and publicity.
• Places incorporated distribution channel types and locations, logistics, and everything related to sales territories.

The model was born in the low-tension competitive context of the 1940s, and built ...