The Business Book

281

See also: The marketing model 232–33 ■ Product portfolio 250–51 ■ Promotions and incentives 271 ■
Fulfilling demand 294–95 ■ Quality sells 318–23

each can be adjusted by the
marketer to influence the reaction
of the consumer to the product or
service being sold. The marketer
must also take into account
external market forces, such as
customer behavior or competition,
which will have an impact on the
marketing mix.

Building the mix
Harvard Business School professor
Neil Borden first coined the term
“marketing mix” in 1950, using it in
1953 in his presidential address to
the American Marketing
Association. Borden credited fellow
professor James Culliton as being
the first to introduce the idea of the
marketer as a “mixer of ingredients”
in 1948. Inspired by Culliton’s
ideas, Borden began using the term
to describe what Culliton’s “mixer
of ingredients” should design.
In an article in 1964 titled “The
Concept of the Marketing Mix,”
Borden advised that when
marketing managers build a
marketing program, they should

make two lists: the first one

itemizes the important elements

or “ingredients” that make up

marketing programs; the second

outlines the external forces that

may have a bearing on the first list.

The first list includes ingredients

deemed essential if the company is

to win sales—product planning,

pricing, branding, distribution,

promotion, and so on. The second

list includes market forces, such

SUCCESSFUL SELLING

as the behavior of consumers,

retailers, competitors, government

policy, and other external factors.

In Borden’s model, the

marketing manager should weigh

the effect of external forces, then

juggle the marketing elements from

the first list to achieve the best

possible program to fit the

resources of the company. Borden

advocated that to really get a grasp

of all the marketing considerations,

the manager should draw up a

chart showing the elements of the

marketing mix.

Both Culliton and Borden

inspired further development of

the concept within the academic

community. In 1960, a marketing

professor at Michigan State

University, Edmund Jerome

McCarthy, set out what would

become the definitive word on the

marketing mix. He condensed the

mix ingredients into an easily

remembered mnemonic, the Four

Ps: Product, Place, Price, Promotion.

In his classic text, Basic Marketing

(1960), McCarthy elaborates on ❯❯

The marketing manager,

as head chef, must creatively

marshal all his marketing

activities to advance

the short and long term

interests of his firm.

Neil Borden

When an organization

decides to launch a new or

updated product, marketers must

figure out the selling strategy.

The marketer must

weigh the forces and juggle

the elements within the constraints

of the resources available.

They must also consider

the external market forces

that affect the marketing mix.

They must carefully

calculate the proportions of

the elements (such as product,

place, price, promotion) in the

marketing mix.