PPPPPPP

The other day when we were trying to decide on a name for our entrepreneurship club, somebody suggested that we call it EEE. When asked to explain what EEE stood for, he said, ‘Well, I don’t know what the first two E’s stand for but the third one is for Entrepreneurship’.

A few days back, I met this marketing manager and as anxious as I am about placements as every other MBA student is, I asked him about preparing for the marketing interview. He told me this – ‘Being a fresher into the Marketing domain make sure you have the fundamentals of Ps, As, Os etc done good’. I was stunned.

What is this with management education (especially marketing) and repeating alphabets? All theories or at least the ones that matter (well, the ones that are talked about) have repeating alphabets. What am I talking about? Check this out – The 4 P’s of marketing, Kenichi Ohmae’s 3 C’s, Nirmalya Kumar’s 3V’s, Management accounting’s 4M’s, the 5S quality principle and the list goes on.

During a discussion on the 4P’s, somebody even suggested that it’s now become the 7Ps with People, Process and Physical Evidence being P number 5, 6, 7. During Dr.Philip Kotler’s visit to Great Lakes, the advertising paraphernalia read “Philip Kotler – The most important P in marketing”.

The point is, why can’t the marketing mix model have for instance 4 P’s, 2E’s and a G. Why do I have to extend the thought process only by adding more P’s?

If current trends continue, the marketing mix of 2050 might well be akin to this interesting dialogue between V and Eva Hammond in the movie ‘V for Vendetta’.

Says V to Eva, “Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate.This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.”


(To be continued)