Thana-marketing strategy: exploring the 8Ps that dare not speak their name

The Extended MM has evolved to become one of the fundamental concepts underpinning marketing theory and strategy development. The ability to conceptualise and integrate the '8Ps of marketing' into a coherent Extended Marketing Mix (MM) strategy demands the firm to answer a number of important questions regarding their target consumers and how the firm is placed to systematically satisfy their needs and wants over time. Whilst the majority of the literature exploring the role of the Extended MM has focused on optimising customer value propositions, there remains evidence of systematic Thana-marketing strategies in the commercial world; strategies that have the specific intent of covertly diminishing target customer value in favour of maximising a firm's return on investment. This paper seeks to explore the Thana-Marketing Mix, which is defined here as the systematic, covert, and (initially) profitable maltreatment of target customers through the use of misleading and deceptive marketing practises. This paper proposes an alternative Thana-marketing mix to explain how firms can potentially 'lose their focus' on maximising customer value propositions, and/or to help firms and private citizens recognise the danger signs associated with its systematic implementation.