In marketing, the whole product concept is the third iteration of a model originally developed by Philip Kotler, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
In his book entitled “Marketing Management” Kotler drew attention to the fact that consumers purchase more than the core product itself.
Following the insights provided by Philip Kotler, Ted Levitt, a professor at Harvard Business School, elaborated on the fact that consumers purchase more than core features and functions.
In a 1986 publication entitled "The Eye of the Beholder", Peters proposed an extension to Levitt’s total product concept that describes the discrepancy between insider and customer perceptions in three different types of industries.
Schirtzinger organizes intangible product attributes into three groups that surround the core innovation, and act to lower the end user's perception of risk and encourage the adoption of a new innovation;[4] Working together with Warren Schirtzinger, Jose Bermejo suggested new intangible attributes that apply specifically to software products.