The School of Real Marketing
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F6-02·F6 — The Marketing Mix

Product — The Centre of Gravity

The productive tension

Product as what you sellandthe value you create

the object is not the offer

The synthesis

The product is the physical thing, the software, the service encounter — the object the customer pays for. The product is also the value they actually receive, which lives in their life, not in your factory. Both definitions are true, and the confusion between them is why good products fail and modest products thrive. The evidence-based move is to design, price, and communicate the object in full awareness of the value — and to research the value in full awareness of the object that delivers it.

Learning objectives

  • Distinguish Kotler's three levels of product (core benefit, actual, augmented)
  • Apply Christensen's jobs-to-be-done frame to a real product decision
  • Translate features into benefits and benefits into outcomes
  • Use the product lifecycle as a diagnostic rather than a prescription
  • Resolve the tension between product innovation and distinctiveness maintenance

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