The Marketing Mix has been steadily evolving since it was first introduced in the 50s and then classified into the product focused “4P’s” (product, price, place, promotion) in the 60s. The 70s and 80s brought about additions to the product focused marketing mixed and we began to see our first change from a product focused mix to the consumer-driven mix in the late 90s. Currently, a theory by a Japanese, graduate business school professor by the name of Koichi Shimizu’s is rapidly gaining ground. It’s an innovative new model that we endorse and recommend to be put into practice in every marketing department. It is a model that shifts marketing management thinking from a profit based bottom-line approach to a confidence-based bottom line approach -- or from the 7P “Promotion-Marketing Model” to the 7C “Communication-Marketing Model.”
The 7Cs Compass Model is a fresh look at the marketing mix that is on the same track with this new era of marketing. The mass marketing and one strategy fits all marketing approach has all but perished completely. The compass model provides a visual framework that guides marketing management thinking to supply for and tend to the needs, education, wants and security of consumers. This is accomplished by taking a look at the commodity, communication, channel and cost as directed by your company and taking into consideration the circumstances that affect your intended audience. These circumstances include things such as new laws, social economic conditions, and the weather when looking to market to members of your market segment.