As marketers we are obsessive about brand differentiation -- product, price, promotion and people. But what about the fifth "p" -- place?
The marketing books are full of wisdom on how to achieve brand differentiation through product or price but it's fair to say that not much has been written on using the role of "place" in the marketing mix.
Yet the location where a product is sampled, launched or experienced can have a major impact on customer purchasing intention.
For example, who can forget Steve Jobs pounding the boards at the Apple Convention in San Francisco earlier this year at the launch of the new iPhone?
About three years ago, Steve Dobson, managing director, The Marketing Medic () was approached by a client who wanted a product launch at a hotel but "wanted something different".
Dobson went off to research suitable hotels scouring the web and anything else he could find.
Dobson explained: "There are books on the most expensive hotels, the most luxurious hotels, the most exclusive hotels but not the most unusual hotels.
"At the end of the day, it didn't come down to money from our client's perspective but about being different. None of the hotels or venues we saw met our client's expectations."
Having drawn a blank with books and online guides, and rather than give up, Dobson and business partner Simon Penn decided to do something about this conundrum and bought the URL to "unusual hotels of the world".
Dobson said: "We decided that there must be other marketers out there who had faced the same challenge and we decided to dig deeper and do more research as well as share our findings with others on this web site. The online guide spiralled from there.
"We also hoped that the information exchange with other marketers would turn up hotels that would be perfect for our client's needs and requirements."
It worked and the site was soon attracting over 3,000 unique visitors a day.
Fast forward to this month and Dobson's book, 'Unusual Hotels of the World' is published via .
Available in Waterstones bookshops in January next year, this rather wacky book has already been translated into French and Italian with a Spanish version release in early 2008. Dobson and co were obviously on to something.
The book contains 50 hotels across the world that marketers themselves have rated as being unusual, with over 235 stunning photos so you can see what you're getting.
The locations include: The Old Railway Station in Petworth, West Sussex; a crane at the Harlingen Docks in Holland; a disused US Air Force radar tower in the middle of the rainforest in Panama; and even a refurbished former prison in Slovenia, now renamed Hotel Celica. I bet the former inmates wouldn't recognise it now.
Prices range from as little as £15 per night to over £700 for a luxury room at Winvian in Connecticut, US, which has themed cottages including one with a genuine US coastguard helicopter parked in your bedroom. You never know when you may need to have a quick getaway, eh?
Whether these hotel venues are perfect for your next product launch, I'll leave to you to decide. But it's fun imagining what can be achieved out of the ordinary and maybe there's a gem buried in this book that's absolutely right for your client.
If you're thinking of a Christmas present which is a bit different -- then I'd recommend this for your favourite client.
And who knows...your next product launch may be at the ice hotel or in an igloo.
'Unusual Hotels of the World' by Steve Dobson has rrp of £16.99. For a limited period it is available from www.gounusual.com for only £14.99 with free P+P for orders of 2 or more items.
Ardi Kolah is a brand marketing and sponsorship guru based in London. His new book, 'Sponsorship Works: A Brand Marketer's Casebook' is available from www.sportbusiness.com at £149.