Dibb et al., (2016) define Physical Evidence to be "The environment in which a service is offered and consumed is central to the consumer's understanding of the service, and to the enjoyment or satisfaction." 

It is clear that service is an intangible aspect, however, it is a very important aspect in terms of marketing. "Customers tend to rely on physical cues to help them evaluate the product before they buy it" (Marketing Teacher, 2016). Therefore what the marketers do, is develop and design the physical evidence and make it tangible, and by doing this, the material is now the physical evidence and part of the service.

Physical Environment

The physical environment is made up of ambient conditions such as; spatial layout and functionality, signs, symbols, and artefacts (Zeithaml, 2000).

Nike, for example, has a simple layout and design that make everyone feel welcome and comfortable. They do not have the Nike logo spread out everywhere to make it overwhelming, however, they have just enough to make it catch your eye when you look around.

Ambiance

The ambient conditions include smell, music, temperature, colour and noise (Marketing Teacher, 2016). One experiences these elements, consciously or unconsciously, and helps make a final decision towards your judgement of the place, may it be good or bad!

For example, the ambience of a Spa will be soothing, light music in the background, relaxing, calm and all kinds of herbal smells running through the air. 

Whereas in a store, from my personal experience Nike for example: has a more busy ambiance , the music is sporty and makes you want to work out, there are a variety of different colors around the store, different materials you can touch and see, the temperature is comfortable, and you have staff asking you if you need any assistance.

Spatial Layout

The spatial layout is generally how the furniture is spread out and set up. The worst thing that can happen is that everything is crammed together leaving you with no space to breathe in and no privacy what so ever.

Nike, give you all the space they can possibly give. There are plenty of places you can sit, either to have a rest or to try on some shoes, walk around without knocking anything over with other shopping bags, and mirrors at appropriate places without having to walk across the store!

There are much more aspects in terms of physical evidence, such as:

• The building itself
• Packaging of the item
• Furnishing
• Uniforms of the employees

Nike can be a very important sponsor for many sporting activities, such as football, tennis, swimming, running, baseball etc. 

By sponsoring famous celebrities and having them wear a uniform from Nike can stun the audience making them want to buy the same attire.

Most uniforms are fitted specifically for them, however, general and similar models will always be available to the general public.

The video below shows the process of making personalised shoes for each football player:

What may also ruin the ambience, is if there is too much going on within the area, may it be too many people, or even if it is very unorganised!

So, my message to everyone...

In the late 70’s it was widely acknowledged by Marketers that the Marketing Mix should be updated. This led to the creation of modifying the core elements and Extending the Marketing Mix in 1981 by Booms & Bitner which added 3 new elements to the 4 P’s Principle. This now allowed the extended Marketing Mix to include products that are services and not just physical things.

Dibb et al., (2016) describe the people variable to be "the aspect of the marketing mix that reflects the level of customer service, advice, sales support and after-sales back-up required, involving recruitment policies, training, retention and motivation of key personnel."

For many products and services customers and consumers are constantly involved by interacting with people, therefore it is extremely important to provide excellent service to the customers because it will definitely influence them in regards to their purchase.

The "People" element of the Marketing Mix is very important. A way this can be shown is through personal selling. This is especially important in many business markets, especially "those in which the purchase is deemed risky because of its size, value or complexity" (Dibb et al., 2016)

The importance of maintaining a long-term relationship with customers and consumers is vital in any business. By keeping this contact the business or company have to keep in touch regularly and on an ongoing basis, they have to interact with their consumers and make sure that they are satisfied or see if anything can be improved.

One brand that really focuses on its consumers and customers is Evian.

Evian, established in 1789, is a brand of mineral water and is a French multinational corporation and is portrayed as a luxury product and expensive bottled water. It focuses on providing healthy mineral water for its consumers. (Evian, 2016)

Evian's slogan "Live Young"

Evian carried out market research and found that people would rather drink from environmental friendly water bottles and glass bottles. Therefore without a doubt, they changed to 100% recyclable containers as well as to preserve the inner qualities of the natural mineral water which is collected from the province Evian-les-Bains in France on the south shore of Lake Geneva (Evian, 2010). Evian makes more than 300 microbiological tests on its water, this is to make sure that no pollution appears on the assembly line. (Evian, 2016)

The premium price that Evian has all come down to the fact that their high-quality water comes from the French Alps and is environmentally friendly. Therefore the price tends to be more than other brands of bottled water. They target all people, however with a higher discretionary income, multi-ethnic people, people who have a healthy and authentic lifestyle, well informed, and people who have concerns over the environmental issues.

It is also known that people like to pay for goods and services of which have a great quality and benefit to them.

Evian's slogan "Live Young" is the genius in my opinion, and in fact, in everyone's opinion. I mean, who doesn't enjoy seeing baby's dance, surf and roller blade?

The point of this slogan is that no matter what age, gender or nationality you are, by drinking Evian's water will make you feel rejuvenated, young, refreshed and the best thing... C'est tout natural (It's all natural).  

 

Evian Roller Babies Ad - 2009

Evian Baby & Me Ad - 2013

Evian Baby Bay Ad - 2016

Evian wanted to reach out to the people on a hot summers day in NYC. By doing this, they promoted that all the people had to do was Tweet their location and write #EVIANBOTTLESERVICE, and no matter where, the Evian employees brought them the bottles by bike, served on a metal plate and even held an umbrella over the consumers for the ultimate luxury treatment.  

The employees would then inform the people drinking the water what Evian is, where it comes from, what makes it so special and why people should buy it!

By promoting Evian on a personal selling basis makes the interaction between the salesperson and the individuals themselves very special. This facilitates a one on one communication, less wasteful communication, persuasion, and creates less miscommunication about the product, good or service. 

The video below shows the salespeople giving out Evian all day long:

The second tool that will be discussed is "Price".

According to Dibb et al., (2016), Price is defined as "The aspect of the marketing mix that relates to activities associated with establishing pricing policies and determining product prices."

A certain price is chosen in terms of location and the people around it. The price will slightly increase in an area where people can afford to pay much more, and therefore living costs will be more expensive and vise versa in poorer areas.

Customers are willing to pay that little extra if they know the good or service is of better quality and that it really works for them.

McDonald's original worldwide logo

McDonald's, the crazily famous American fast food restaurant chain has nearly dominated the whole world. By working nationally and internationally the fast food chain business is placed in more than 110 countries (McDonald's, 2016). This, of course, means that they have multiple currencies as well as different pricing depending on the countries that they deal with.

McDonald's adjusts the price accordingly due to the different geographical location. However, with the different range of products the business has, McDonald's set prices with a "demand based methodology" (What makes McDonald's, 2011). This means that there may be price variations from restaurant to restaurant "but in a way that offers the best value to the restaurants' individual customer base (What makes McDonald's, 2015). 

It also comes down to the fact that price varies because in some areas, such as in high priced cities, people are willing and able to pay more, whereas in smaller places, they are going to charge less because it fits with the local consumers more reasonably.  

Labour, and local taxes also play a role in the price they end up putting up for the public. 

"For example, the average price of a Big Mac in America in July 2016 was $5.04; in China, it was only $2.79 at market exchange rates. So the "raw" Big Mac index says that the yuan was undervalued by 45% at that time." (The Economist, 2016)

Take a look at the price of a Big Mac all around the world! :

In the image below, it is clear that McDonald's is taking over the world, however, it wouldn't have such success if there weren't any customers! Regardless of all the hate, they must be doing something right!

Zeithaml et al., (2008) define process to be “the actual procedures, mechanisms, and flow of activities by which the service is delivered – this service delivery and operating systems."

One of the greatest delivery service provided to the public is FedEx.

Federal Express (AKA - FedEx) was established in 1971 in Little Rock Arkansas, where later on in 1973 they relocate to Memphis Tennessee. "On the first night of continuous operation, 389 Federal Express team members and 14 Dassault Falcon jets deliver 186 packages overnight to 25 U.S. cities — and the modern air/ground express industry is born." (About FedEx, 2016)

Instantly, and over night, this establishment became the world's most popular delivery service.

It may seem easy to drop off a package at the FedEx hub and then have it delivered from point A to point B at the wanted destination withing a few hours or a few days, however the process is more complex than that.

The Process in detail: (FedEx.com, 2016)

1. An order is created in the Customer’s system via various modes (telephone, Internet, email, or by going to the FedEx hub to manually write it)

2. The process then begins when the federal express courier picks up the package (or you dropping it off manually), they then scan the box which electronically sends a message to FedEx saying that the package in in their hands. Immediately you receive an invoice to prove that your parcel has been picked up or dropped off.

3. Then all the boxes and letters the couriers picked up are transferred to a big truck, and then sent to the hub or sorting center. The packages are unloaded onto a conveyor belt which will sort each package and route it to its final destination.

4. The belt carries the packages to a scanner which weighs each box and measures its size with invisible laser beams.

5. A mathematical formula is used based on weight and size which then tells FedEx how much to charge the customers for shipping.

6. The label tells the scanner where the box is being shipped, and once this information is in the computer, the machinery knows exactly what to do.

7. Leading off of the conveyor belt are 9 slides which represent different parts of the Unites States. Un-sized boxes or labels that cant be read are managed manually.

8. Once the package is scanned, sorted and routed, it is loaded into a large cargo container by which every inch of the container is filled to make maximum use of the shipment and reduce costs.

9. Now that the packages are have been routed in the right direction, the FedEx airplanes must be too. This happens at the FedEx control center at the airport. The people here are responsible for all the flights coming in and out, checking the weather, monitoring any delays, and monitoring the trucks that are there to receive and drop off the packages.

Just as the planes are being monitored, so are the packages. There are people responsible for monitoring how many packages are on the container and how many are taken off and put into the right floor container in order to be sent to the right destination, whether that means the package has to board another flight, or if the package is ready to be taken onto a truck which then brings it to its ground destination.

10. Once the packages are out of the plane, they are taken to another sorting center, except now, they are in a different city or country.

11. Once on a truck, FedEx couriers drive each package to the exact location specified on the box, and is delivered right to your door, right on schedule.

How do you know where your package is?

"FedEx Tracking" is the answer!

Once the package has been received, you get the first email as a confirmation. The second email comes when the package has been shipped, this email will include a unique code which is called the "Tracking/Reference Number". This way you can go to their website, write in your unique code and you are now able to see where exactly your package is!

The third email will be when the package has finally reached its appropriate destination and is now either ready to be picked up or directly delivered to your door. 

How would they know if someone is smuggling drugs, weapons or even a possible bomb?

1. Suspicious looking/acting people

2. People that do not know the address of where they are sending their parcel to 

3. People who ship an excessive number of packages even though they do not own a business 

4. People who ship from (or to) "drug dealing areas"

5. People who pay cash to ship packages (Mixton, 2011)

In order to minimize drugs and illegal products to go through, companies could use:

1. Sniffing dogs 

2. High speed X-rays 

3. Detailed X-rays

4. Random sampling (Wishkovsky, 2011)

The third tool that will be discussed is "Place".

Dibb et al., (2016) describe place/distribution to be "The aspect of the marketing mix that deals with making products available, perhaps through multiple channels, in the quantities desired, to as many customers as possible, while keeping the total inventory, transport and storage cost as low as possible." 

What is Google...? The video below has a quick in depth answer for you:

Where is Google?

Google is everywhere! From the highest satellite orbiting the world, beaming down till the tiniest device that's running any one of their products.

Google is available anywhere in the world and accessible from any device as long as you have some sort of internet and/or satellite connection.

Google in always at the right place and at the right time.

The official Google office, known as Googleplex (a combination of Google and Complex) is located at Mountain View in California. The site looks very much like a university campus, containing gyms and cafes. (Marketing Teacher, 2016)

Google also maintains 23 European locations, 14 Asia & Pacific locations, 5 Middle East locations, and 3 Latin America locations.

Google is an online business where it distributes information using the internet as its channel to people all around the world. (Google, 2016)

The fourth tool that will be discussed is "Promotion".

Dibb et al., (2016) define promotion to be "The aspect of the marketing mix that relates to marketing communications used to inform one or more groups of people about an organisation and its products and to maintain an ongoing relationship."                    

Promotion is a very important element of the marketing mix as it can boost brand recognition and sales. Promotion is comprised of various elements such as:

• Sales Organisation
• Public Relations (PR)
• Advertising
• Sales Promotion

A strong leader in the promotion industry is Coca Cola (A.K.A Coke). This is an American company invented in May 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia by Dr. John S. Pemberton (The Coca-Cola Company, 2016) in which the company currently offers more than 500 brands in more than 190 countries and serves over 1.6 BILLION servings... each day. 

They strongly believe in making people happy and bringing them together regardless of race, age, gender, nationality, religion or believes.

Above the line promotion (ALT):

is where mass media is used to promote brands and reach out to the target consumers. These include conventional media as we know it, television and radio advertising, print as well as internet.  This is communication that is targeted to a wider spread of audience, and is not specific to individual consumers. (Theadvertisingclub.net, 2016)

Below the line promotion (BLT):

is more one to one, and involves the distribution of stickers, promotions, brochures placed at point of sale, on the roads through banners and placards. It could also involve product demos and samplings at busy places like shopping malls and market places or residential complexes. However for some rural areas, they might not get all the mass media shown around so it is harder for them to engage and learn about new and upcoming products/goods/services.(Theadvertisingclub.net, 2016). 

One of the biggest competitors Coke has is Pepsi. Lately Pepsi have increased their advertising budget and straight away Coca-Cola management plans to do the same so that they can compete in the advertising compartment as well.

Mediums of advertising and promoting for Coca-Cola:

Print Media: 

Coca-Cola advertisements all over the world are creative so they appeal to the mass media

Point of Sales Materials:

Merchandise is essential to communicate to the consumers

TV Commercials:

The company focuses on urban and rural crowds, and change up their Coke ambassadors from time to time, this way they can really connect with each and every person watching.

Out-door Advertising:

Direct Marketing:

Social Media Promotion:

Word of mouth:

Yes, word of mouth is also a great way of promoting a good, service or product. It might not always necessarily be positive, however if it is marketed right it can do wonders.

                        

This is how Coca-Cola promote most of their activities; they leek the idea to some of the biggest bloggers and YouTuber's and let the magic happen from there.

Celebrity Endorsement:

By using celebrities and their social status or fame, fans will highly likely be influenced by them, this way the awareness of the product is increased which means they want to be drinking it and talking about it as well!

Coca-Cola's Happiness machine around the world promotes people to be kind to one another in the simplest of ways:

The video below shows how Coca-Cola thought of this problem and targeted people living in rural areas with poorer living conditions than in the city. They also came up with a way how the people living there can contact family members living abroad with no cost:

Coca Cola is known for its promotional influence on their customers and consumers. 

By promoting Coca-Cola in other countries, the company has tried to alter the flavor of the original Coke by adding some ingredients that the country desires; such as India. The company has collaborated with established stars and programmers and have gained an understanding of how important festivals and spices are in the Indian culture, as well as the most favourable sport, cricket.

Coca Cola brings people and countries together from different backgrounds and cultures, making them feel united:

Coca-Cola brings people together with different opinions and different thoughts:

The company also has different themes of advertising regarding to what season of the year it is. This means that they are promoting all year round and taking the seasons into consideration.