funnel framework
The 5 A’s: Kotler’s Modern Customer Path
The 5 A’s model the modern customer path as Aware, Appeal, Ask, Act, and Advocate. Its insight is that the journey no longer ends at purchase: in a connected market, advocacy loops back to influence the next buyer’s awareness.
By The Marketinque TeamReviewed June 2026
Where it comes from
Introduced by Philip Kotler in Marketing 4.0 (2016) as an update to the linear funnel for the digital, socially connected buyer.
The stages
- Aware. The buyer learns you exist.
- Appeal. A few brands stick in memory.
- Ask. They research and ask their network.
- Act. They buy and use.
- Advocate. They recommend, feeding others’ awareness.
When to use it
Use the 5 A’s when word of mouth and peer influence drive your category, since the model makes the advocacy loop explicit rather than treating it as an afterthought.
How it maps to the marketinque funnel
The 5 A’s map almost one to one onto our funnel and reach the same conclusion the bowtie does: Advocate feeds Aware. Their Ask stage is where the dark funnel lives, the peer research no attribution model fully sees.
Related frameworks
Sources
- Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya & Iwan Setiawan, Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital (2016)
Compiled by The Marketinque Team to our editorial standards.
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