The hottest ‘P’ in marketing
Given the state of the economy and how people’s budgets are vastly different just 6 months on, Ryan France – head of brand strategy, Kantar Australia – has penned a follow-up piece to his earlier op-ed to discuss why price is now the ‘hottest’ p in marketing.
Oh, how fast things change! In February, I wrote that price was the forgotten ‘P’ of marketing to direct more attention to this critical brand growth lever (units and dollars). I anticipated that as inflation crept up, price would become more front-of-mind for marketers. But things escalated quickly and suddenly price is the hottest ‘P’ in marketing. This time last year barely anyone talked about it. Now it’s all we talk about.
With perspective, it’s zero surprise that price is the hottest marketing topic
No-one running a brand today has dealt with an environment like this. Technically, the last time inflation ‘rose’ to today’s levels was 1999 – but 5.8% then didn’t feel as dramatic as now because inflation sat at similar levels in the mid-90s, and way higher in the early-90s. The last time inflation ‘rose’ this much coming off what was a low base was the 1973 oil crisis (the same for most OECD countries). No-one managing a brand today was doing so in 1973, nor many consumers today managing their family budgets then either. This is all unfamiliar and feels risky.
