The fifth P?

It’s all about PEOPLE, of course. And brandstory couldn’t agree more!

Ever since E. J. McCarthy invented the 4 P’s of marketing, there have been more than a few academics who have exercised their own sense of left-brain “creativity” to expand the number of P’s relevant to their own specialized areas of interest. Five P’s? Six P’s? How about the 7 P’s of Service Marketing, anyone? Indeed, there are multiple examples of “P-exploitation” over the past half-century!

And no, brandstory itself has not been completely immune to this temptation of “P-extrapolation,” either. Because yes, its co-Founding Partner actually studied under E. J. McCarthy during his university undergraduate days. And if one were to be curious enough to consult with Wikipedia to find out even more about this P evolution, one would also discover that it was yet another university professor (Philip Kotler, in fact, often referred to as the “Father of Modern Marketing!”), who contributed mightily to the early popularization of the 4 P’s marketing mix model (and yes, brandstory’s co-Founding Partner also studied under Kotler during his post-graduate MBA studies!). Indeed, so many reasons to be “influenced” by the P’s!

In any event, wherever one may look today, any eventual fifth P is invariably about “People.”

As in, “Power to the People”… brandstory’s own twenty-first century battle cry! No, not a coincidence. Also because, as declared by Lou Gerstner twenty years ago, “An organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.” Just around the time that brandstory actually began its own professional adventures – helping its clients to transform their people into Strategic Brand Story ™ sharers, with conviction and enthusiasm!