The purpose of this research is to examine the marketing mix strategies of AMOCO Corporation. In this examination, the strategies related to each of the four Ps of marketing pro duct, price, place, and promotion are considered separately.
A product is defined as anything offered for exchange to another person including physical objects, services, places, organizations, and ideas. Consumers typically recognize five distinctive product characteristics quality level, features, styling, brand name, and packaging. Depending upon the type of product involved physical, service, and so forth, not all of these characteristics will be applicable in each instance. Brand name, and, as unlikely as it may seem, packaging are the most significant in the marketing of gasoline products. Oil companies, including AMOCO, attempt to make consumers believe that the gasoline products marketed by them are characterized by special levels of quality and by special features. In actuality, however, quality levels and features related to gas oline products in the United States are, essentially, aspects of the packaging process. What is important in this context is for an oil company's gasoline products to keep abreast of the
1 2level of technology applicable to product development in the industry. To stay abreast of industry technology, AMOCO con ducts a balanced program of short, medium, and long range research (AMOCO celebrates . . ., 1989). Emphasis in this research is placed on (1) improved technological process (primarily in exploration and extraction procedures), with (2) a lesser emphasis on improvements in consumer petroleum pro ducts (AMOCO cites . . ., 1990).
Another factor involved in the development of product strategy is that of the product life cycle. Four stages of the product life cycle are recognized by most marketing analysts introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. The gasoline mar ket has been in its mature stag...