Questions the nature of marketing methods in political campaigns based on a grounded theoretical approach conducted using in-depth interviews. Suggests that if marketing success is measured solely by the level of turnout then the use of marketing in political campaigns would appear to be failing. Other reasons, however, may also explain this lack of success. The use of marketing may be less effective because the "market" is more restrictive, or marketing methods whilst actually being appropriate may be being used inappropriately. Concludes that, although the political "market" is different and restrictive, this does not negate the role of marketing in political campaigning.
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Marketing and political
campaigning: mutually
exclusive or exclusively
mutual?
Paul R. Baines and
Joh n Egan
Introduction
This paper explores the nature of political
campaigning and the use of marketing
techniques in such campaigns. The paper is
based on a qualitative study, the objective of
which was to investigate the opinions and
atti tudes of US political marketing
practitioners and their use of marketing
techniques in political campaigns. Much of
the existing commentary on political
marketing exists in the form of ''how to (win
an election)'' guides in popular US
bookshops, although there has been growing
academic interest in the subject since the early
1970s. Begin ning in the USA there has been
an ever-broadening debate on the potential of
marketing in political campaigns (see Kotler
and Zaltman n, 1971) which has latterly
spread to the UK[1].
Empirical research into political
campaigning[2] is scarce (although certainly
not non-existent) in the marketing discipline
and many published works are co nceptual.
This is to be expected at this stage of the
subject's develo pment. The ''phenomenon of
political marketing'' (see O'Shaughnessy,
1990, for a discussion of this in a book of the
same title) is still relatively new in historical
terms, although the process of cam paigning
has existed since time immemorial. Early
examples include the elections held, and the
positions secured, for military tribunes by
Tiberius and later, his younger brother, Gaius
Gracchus in the second century
BC
in ancient
Rome. However, consideration of the
systematic use of techniques associated with
commerce and the applicability of political
marketing seems to have developed more
recently, with the rise of industrialism and the
enlargement of the (voter) fr anchise (see
Wring, 1999, for more on the historical
development of the political marketing
discipline). As an art-form, therefore, it has
existed prior to the general notion of
democracy; as a collection of communications
to ols and techniques it has grown up as the
tw entieth century has develop ed (Egan,
1999). Wring (1999), as a political science-
marketing research hybrid, is, perh aps, well
positioned to advance the argument that the
marketing discipline has colonised political
campaigning in the latter part of the twentieth
century.
The study on which this paper is based used
qualitative research methods which, at this
The authors
Paul R. Baines is a Senior Lecturer and John Egan is a
Principal Lecturer, both in the Marketing Group at
Middlesex University Business School, London, UK.
Keywords
Grounded theory, Politics, Marketing activities,
Marketing strategy, Qualitative techniques
Abstract
Questions the nature of marketing methods in political
campaign s based on a grounded theoretical approach
conducted using in-depth interviews. Suggests that if
marketing success is measured solely by the level of
turnout then the use of marketing in political campaigns
would appear to be failing. Other reasons , however, may
also explain this lack of success. The use of marketing
may be less effective because the ``market'' is more
restrictive, or marketing methods whilst actually being
appropriate may be being used inappropriately. Concludes
that, although the political ``market'' is different and
restrictive, this does not negate the role of marketing in
political campaigning.
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Number 1
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pp. 25±33
# MCB University Press
.
ISSN 1352-2752
stage in political mark eting's development,
could be argued to be more appropriate for
investigation into this new academic
discipline. It is certainly the view of the
authors that qualitative research can provid e
an insight into the nature of political
marketing in a way that quantitative studies
cannot. It is argued that the political
marketing discipline would benefit from this
kind of exploratory investigation in the hope
of developing more accurate hypotheses for
fu ture research. It is from this investigative
perspective that this paper has been written.
The paper utilises a study into the nature of
political marketing from the perspectives of
the political consultants working in and
ar ound US campaigns. In that respect the
investigation is unique in that other research
in the marketing arena has tended to be
conducted into phenomena (e.g. ad vertising,
consumer behaviour, marketing planning,
etc.) rather than contexts[3]. The aim of the
research documented here was to obtai n data
th at were more qualitative in nature and
provided a rich background into political
marketing practice in the USA. The aim of
th is paper is to highlight these findings in the
light of both general and specific marke ting
th eory and concepts.
Methodology
In this study, a grounded theoretical approach
has been undertaken (Glaser and Strauss,
1967), since multiple data sources have been
used (e.g. interviews, articles from acad emic
jo urnals, textbooks, and journalistic an d
consultant commentary). T he consideration
is based on social research; a snowball
sampling method was used, and the data
coded through a series of steps and
reinterpreted on a number of occasions.
Theoretical perspectives from various
disciplines were considered (e.g. political
science, journalism, marketing etc.).
The data presented in this paper are part of
a wider three-phase study considering the
extent to which US marketing techniques can
be used in UK political campaigns,
specifically from the marketing planning
perspective. During this research, it soon
became clear that a consideration of the
ap plicability of marketing to political
campaigning was both necessary an d timely
considering the increased po litical activity i n
the UK.
The data were gathered using semi-
structured in-depth interviews, where a small
set of topics were determined prio r to the
interviews but with significant consideration
of new topics as they arose or were introduced
in the co nversation by the researcher based on
previous interviews. The dur ation of the
interviews varied from half an hour to over an
hour and a half in some cases. The d ata
presented in this study are taken from the first
phase of the wider study undertaken amongst
35 political consultants in a variety of
occupational categories (e.g . polling,
advertising, d irect mail, opposition research,
general consulting and fund-raising) over a
month in three cities in the USA. All
interviews were held in the consultant's own
offices as this was believed to enhance the
val idity of such qualitative research (de
Ruyter and Sc holl, 1998) . Whilst this length
of time may not appear significant in itself,
the interviewer was involved in little else
except interviewing over this per iod. The
interviewees were also difficult to acce ss and,
although a small number of interviews had
actually b een ar ranged tw o months
previously, the majority (over half) of the
interviews were obtained on a referral basis
once the interviewer ar rived in Washington
DC. This procedure ensured that further
interviews were obtained as we ll as allowing
the consideration of ideas previously
developed by the interviewer and the
interviewee.
The interviews were taped so that full
transcripts could be produced, ensuring a
higher degree of validity in the data (Perakyla,
1997). The initial analysis was undertaken
over a period of six months, although later
analysis (almost an entire ye ar later)
substantially enhanced the duration of this
study. It could be argued that a different
theory-laden (and perhaps val ue-laden)
perspective affected the later consideration of
the nature of political marketing from the US
interview data. In that sense, further
consideration of the nature of political
marketing had taken place through the
reading of more recently published mater ial.
This affects the degree to which the ''category
saturation'' effect both actually is real and is
perceived to be so by the researchers.
The data from the interviews are presented
in such a way that respon dents are able to tell
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th eir own story. These ethnographic
commentaries are, however, ob scured in
interpretation and re-interpretation and have
at different times belonged to many different
categories. Nevertheless, the reader can make
their own decision with regard to the nature of
the validity of the data. Each interview was
analysed using NUDIST (a common
practice) see Weitzman and Miles, 1995))
and a copy was sent to the interviewee for
comment at a later date (a technique used to
increase the validity of the data (see Miles and
Hubermann, 1994)).
Marketing in politics
Ear ly acad emic debate on political marketing
seems largely to be written from the
perspective that marketing could be ''bolted''
on to political campaigning and required little
ad aptation for context (see O'Leary and
Iredale, 1976). More recent work by Butler
and Collins (1999) suggests that simple
ap plication of ''a marketing orientation'' is
perhaps an over-simplification. Marketing's
entry in to the political arena has not been
universally applauded. The idea that
marketing techniques can be utilised in
political campaigning often brings disquiet to
many, not least those who believe that politics
has a higher purpose than commercial
profitability or wh o acquai nt marketing with
''style'' rather than ''s ubstance''. Othe rs feel
uneasy because of the potential for what they
see as ''manipulation'' of the electorate .
The general uneasiness with marketing's
entry into the political arena suggests that
detractors give more credence to the ''power
of marketing'' than most marketers would
give themselves. In commercial sectors where
trust and fidelity are deemed important (for
example, financial services) such fears are
balanced (in most developed markets) by
protective legislation. In politics this
protection (for reasons of ''free speech'') is
conspicuous by its absence. Cynical observers
might feel that the political consumer has
little to lose from marketing exposure. In bot h
financial services and politics the service-
provider has a high degree of technical
expertise that the consumer (voter) does not
hold (i.e. c redence). It can be argue d, then,
th at in both situations the consumer is looking
for reassurance that they are making the right
choice, and that mar keting is providing them
with sufficient information to enable them to
do this.
A stronger argument for unease would be
that , despite the perceived need by political
campaigners around the world for increased
marketing, the outcome has been far from
spectacularly su ccessful by the normal
measures of marketing success. Although it is
perceived that, in modern political
campaigns, marketing is playing a gre ater part
than ever (Egan, 1999) the results are
disappointing. I f the measure of success is the
equivalent of increased purchases (viz.
increased voting), then the results are
depressing from the marketer's persp ective.
Rather than being enticed into politics
through marketing, consumers (voters)
appear to be opting-out o f the political
process in their millions.
Despite the problems that marketing has
gone thr ough in recent years (marketing's so-
called mid-life crisis) it is generally recognised
in the commercial world that marketing
stimulates demand. So what is going wrong?
For the purposes of this paper the auth ors put
forward three potential, if as yet
unsubstantiated, arguments, for marketing's
perceived failure in the arena of politics:
(1) marketing is unsuited to political
campaigning; and/or
(2) political campaigning is not a free market
and, there fore, less influenced by
marketing; and/or
(3) political campaigning practitioners ar e
applying marketing concepts
inappropriately.
Evidence is sought, based on the qualitative
study, to support or refute these arguments.
We hope, in this way, to create a platform for
further debate.
Argument 1: Marketing is incompatible
with political campaigning
The consideration raised here is whether
marketing, as it is commercially practised, is
incompatible with political campaigning?
From the study i t is clear that many political
marketing practitioners (as we shall see) are of
the opinion that substantial differences exist
between political marketing and the
mainstream, which prohibit the direct transfer
of techniques. Many authors (e.g. Lock an d
Harris, 1996) agree that there are differences
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and that these should be acknowledged. A
general observation from the research was
that a majority of consultants either were
unfamiliar with the term ''political marke ting''
or disliked what they perceived as its
implications. The major concern amongst
detractors appeared to be that marketing
tends to focus more on images than issues
(Wells et al., 1995). They further generally
believed that the concepts of commercial
marketing were distinctly different from their
fi eld of expertise. The implication was that
marketing reduced important messages to glib
phrases or soundbites and, potentially,
removed rationality from the electorate's
decision-making process (Egan, 1999).
There were a number of con sultants who
could see the direct application of marketing
techniques in campaigning and welc omed it.
They were quick to point out, however, that
they were not dealing with run-of-the-mill
products or services. According to o ne
consultant:
I see no difference between commercial
marke ting and political marketing [except in] the
sense that the product of political marketing is
far superior to commercial marketing
(Co nsultant M).
Although many of these consultants
subscribed to the ''marketing ethos'', there
appeared to be a gap between understanding
and reality. This was reflected in comments
that overly strongly differentiated political
from general marketing. The perceived view
amongst practitioners was that the differences
from the mainstream were such that
marketing required considerable adjustment
in the political arena. The following appears
to illustrate this point:
When you're McDonald's, you can buy
. . .
te levision ads that go at the level of 100
(t elevision rating) points, or 150 or 200 points
bec ause they're always advertising the entire
year. Political campaigns have to get known
quic ker for a short period of time. You want to
have 600-700 points (Consultant C).
We never have as much money as the
co mmercial people (Consultant H).
Many other respondents made comparis ons
regarding the nature of political marke ting
and the use of mar keting in traditional,
commercial markets. In gen eral, they are
perceived as different in a number of ways,
some of which are believed to have ser ious
implications for the planning of the campaign.
In particular, practitioners highlighted the
fact that political campaigns are conducted
over a shorter time period, the smaller size of
the budgets, the special nature of the
''product'' and the fact that in political
campaigns the competition is intense. They
further emphasised the unique need in
politics to obtain the highest share (as
opposed to a growing share) of the vote.
In the academic literature this comparison
has tended to be made from a consumer
goods perspective rather than from a services
perspective (although Egan, 1999, reverses
this trend somewhat). Many authors have
documented these percei ved differences (e.g .
Reid, 1988; Butler and Collins, 1994; Lock
and Harris, 1996; Egan, 1999). Baines et al.
(1999a), for example, stated that major
differences between the two processes of
political and commercial marketing existed.
These included the shorter time frame for
election campaigns than was usual
commercially and that the message (arguably
a com ponent of the ''pr oduct'' along with the
candidate) is usually developed by poli ticians
rather than advertising pr ofessionals (thus,
policies are fashioned more from the supply-
side perspective than a demand-side
perspective). In addition they note that
budgets in political campaigns, even in the
USA, are much smaller than in commercial
marketing; and that competition is
fundamentally different since the number of
political parties or candidates allowed to
compete in a given area is highly regulated.
Such statements as these would appear to
lend some weight to the idea that marketing is
different in political campaigning, although it
is arguable that these differences ar e
sometimes overstated. The literature relating
to the nature of the political market and the
extent to which free use of mark eting
techniques can be applied is non-exis tent,
although academic consideration regarding
the influence that US political marketing
techniques have had in other countries is
more apparent. This can be seen to be a
useful corollary since th e literature is
dominated by the differences in the
infrastructure of the political markets
involved.
It may be suggested that these views make
two highly questionable assumptions. The
first is that commercial marke ting is the
preserve of large corporate organisations and
th at comparisons can only be made on the
basis of their techniques and available spend.
In reality most commercial marketing activity
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is undertaken with equal or greater pressure
on fund s. Mass -marketing, whilst far from
being dead, is being challenged by highly
targeted techniq ues and concepts that have
advanced marketing theory away from 1960s
corporate US thin king. In such a climate the
comparison is na
õ
¨ve. The second is that
political campaigns ar e always short-term.
While the uniqueness of the winner-takes-all
nature of the contest should be
ac knowledged, this is not an argument for
short-termism. A holistic approach based on
long-term development of a market may
produce considerably better results.
The nature and content of political
marketing versus commercial marketing were
al so critici sed:
We have to play it so much safer tha n
co mmercial advertising. I can't use naked
wom en, I can't use outlandish humour. We have
to be careful. We are trying to reach 51 per cent
of the market. We do not have the resources and
the t ime (Consultant Q).
You can't be absu rd in a political campaign. In
co mmercial campaigns it might make your
prod uct stand out, it might make your spot
me morable, but I think that people think of
cam paigns as a serious endeavour that has an
impact on their lives and the lives of their
chi ldren (Consultant E).
The difference may, however, be superfluous.
Offending consumers (through bad taste,
political incorrectness etc.) is just as much (if
not more so) a concern with the mainstream
as with political marketers. The speed with
which Pepsi replaced Michael Jackson at the
first hint of scandal or Weetabix dropped
Glen Hoddle following the announcement of
his marital separation is an obvious indicator.
By comparison the Conservative party took
longer to deal with Lord Archer (and indeed
other Minister s) than was prudent and the US
Democrats have retained Clinton, despite his
proven indiscretions. At the other end of the
spectrum perh aps th e best remembered UK
party political broadcast (i.e. advertisem ent)
of the modern era was John Cleese's
humorous promotion of ''proportional
representation'' for th e Liberal & SDP
Alliance during the early 1980s.
Campaigners interviewed generally believed
that the extent to which marketing techniques
can be used in US political campaigns was
limited as c andidates and issues are constantly
changing and the di fficulty arises in
communicating those changes to the
electorate. It may be argued, however, that
commercial pro ducts and services have the
opposite, and perhaps more difficult,
problem. In their case there is per ceived to be
a ben efit in ''newness'' and the difficulty is
how to convey this differentiation to the
public at large.
Argument 2: Political campaigning is not
a free market
The greater use of marketing techniques (and,
th us, an increasing voter orientation) appears
to be hampered by a number of factors
(adapted from Scammell, 1997). For
instance, the nature of the electoral system
and the structure of party competition (where
only a small number of parties operate and in
which the most popular party may not
necessarily be elected into government) both
have considerable impact upon the degree of
voter orientation that can be achieved. I n
addition, whether the campaign is candidate
or party-centred, it is extremely difficult to get
elected to a constituency seat without
adopting a party label. The nature and
structure of regulati on (relating to financ ial
and legal considerations) and the restrictions
on media (including, in the UK, the illegality
of paid advertising) also impact upon the
process. Finally, the structure and ownership
of those media (i.e. broadcast news
organisations are expected to main tain ''due
impartiality'' but broadsheet news
organisations make no such claims) alter the
degree to which the views of different parties
are communicated.
The perceived failure of political marketing
may also be because th e political market is far
from a free market in that electoral systems
are regulated to favour the market leaders and
restrict the number of brands. This argument
could suggest that marketing is unable to
work properly because the competitive nature
of the market is skewed. In politics the market
leaders have acces s to the media in a way that
th eir commercial equivalents can only dream
of. The ''first past the post'' system favours
political oligopolies. The need for a marketing
orientation is often less (and certainly less
influential) in an established (and effectively
protected) oligopoly than in a more diverse
marketplace.
The contrived and finite n ature of the
market was referred to by a number of
consultants, for example:
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Unlik e commercial marketing, you either win or
lose, you have to have that 50 per cent of the vote
and so it's a little bit tougher business than the
world of commercial marketing where you're
trying to get 2 or 3 per cent of market share
(Co nsultant E).
In the USA there is a car rental company here
that advertises the fact that it's number 2
. . .
Avis
. . .
You can be very successful being number 2 in
market share [in a commercial market]. There's
only one winner in a political campaign
(Co nsultant H).
De spite the obvious use of marketing in
political campaign man agement, the actual
turnover of candidates is limited since once
gain ing office they have a number of
ad vantages that manifest themselves during
the next campaign. The following com ments
illustrate the financial advantages of being an
incumbent cand idate:
P eople don't like to take risks. So you are the
ele cted official, people like you, generally the
P AC (political action committee) community
likes to stay with you; they will not take a risk to
support someone new against you because they
fe ar repercussions and they fear change. So,
ge nerally an incumbent has tremendous financial
advant ages (Consultant L).
Inc umbents tend to have a tremendous
advant age in terms of campaign finance and the
reason for that is that they receive money fro m
polit ical action committees
. . .
( challengers) have
a very difficult time beating incumbents unless
they hav e great means themselves to match the
amou nt of campaign finance that the incumbent
has (Consultant U).
The incumbent candidat e for US state-wide
contests is also able to take advantage of the
fact that the press is more interested in their
press releases and conferences as they are
directly affecting people's everyday lives. This
can have enormous advantages, particularly in
expensive med ia markets:
The incumbent mayor of New Yo rk has an
en ormous megaphone. Anytime the Mayor of
New York speaks he gets covered and so there is
a tremendous advantage to being an incumbent
in a market like that (Consultant B).
Incumbent candidates also have an advantage
in terms of experience since they are more
familiar with the process of cond ucting a
campaign and understand more about what
can and cannot be achieved:
Every incumbent who has run is an expert
bec ause they won their race. So they have a very
strong idea about what they want to do. If they
are not an incum bent and they are a first time
can didate then this whole process can be very
overw helming (Consultant V).
There is here a valid differential argument,
although it may not be as straightforward as
claimed particularly with the wider use of
proportional as opposed to first-past-the-post
systems. It may als o be suggested that, in a
national (multi-con stituency) context, the
winner does not necess arily take all, although
th ere are market leadership rewards tha t may,
in the short term, be greater (Egan, 1999).
Whilst the ''incumbency argument'' is
poignant, is it that different from the
ad vantages of scale and scope enjoyed as a
result of market leadership? An interesting
point was made by one respondent regarding
candidate branding:
M arketing in the commercial world falls down
e ntering the political arena
. . .
[w hen] political
c onsultants are asked to
. . .
t ak e a product that
o ften has zero per cent real market share,
alt hough once you have a party label it does have
a 30 per cent market share and, in a month,
m oves that market share to 51 per cent, with
bu dgets that are minuscule compared to
c ommercial marketing (Consultant G).
Again the argument m ay be superfluous.
What we appear to be seeing here is the effect
of stand-alone new product development as
opposed to brand extension.
Argument 3: Marketing is
inappropriately applied to political
campaigning
The extent to which political campaigning
practitioners have been applying the
marketing concept appropriately is largely
unconsidered in the political marketing and
campaigning literature. Certainly, the process
is not simple (Mokwa an d Permut, 1979) and
is, perhaps, more us eful in the promotion of
''products'' than in their formulation (Walsh,
1994). A stronger view on the current state of
US political campaigning would suggest that
marketing is being used inappropriately.
Nimmo (1996, p. 45) illustrates a highly
negative picture of US campaigning culture,
stating that there is:
. . .
t he paradoxical confluence in contemporary
c ampaigns of an information overload and
m issing information brought about by symbolic
in flatio n [which] yields campaigns of play, of
fanc iful engineering, akin to Machiavelli's
f antasia. Voters sedated by the spirits of
c ampaigning are involved in the play of
information
. . .
they are as small children
fascin ated by a kaleidoscope, seduced by the
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shift ing transitory play an d passage of images in a
phant om electronic world.
The degree to which political consultants are
using marketing techniques effectively is
difficult to determine, as it is in commer cial
marketing spheres. The use of marketing
te chniques in promoting political candidates
to voters has certainly failed to raise the
ge neral levels of turnout (which are still
ar ound 50 per cent even for presidential
elections in the USA) and may act as our best
proxy measure. In some cases, the persuasive
techniques adopted by the campaigns have
not just fai le d to incre ase turnout, but they
have actually succeeded in disillusioning the
public:
[A major problem is] the overall cynicism and
disint erest of the public. Driven, and not
irratio nally so, by candidates, increasingly, and
peo ple in government, increasingly, whose
objec tive is to get re-elec ted and little else
(Co nsultant W).
How do you reach voters now that they have had
a 12-year diet of negative ads? (Consultant X).
Thus, the use of negative campaigning, in
particular, was widely thought to have
contributed to low turnout and voter
disfranchisement. If the objective was to
increase the whole market (perhaps by so-
called generic advertising) a positive message
would be apt. As this objective is of no
urgency in po litical markets where share is th e
dominant factor, negative advertising may
well be regarded as a misapplication of the
marketing ethos.
The potential for the transference of skills
from mainstr eam mar keting professionals to
their political counterparts was not generally
supported:
M any of the people that are involved in politics-
move up the ranks, they're a more specialised
animal, they understand that the political
me ssag e is quite different than the [commercial]
me ssag e (Consultant C).
Comm ercial advertising types drift over into
polit ical campaigns and they do not have a
fe eling for the urgency of the situation that
the y're in (Consultant H).
Perhaps th is lack of cross-pollination be tween
the two sectors has added to the
misapplication of marketing concepts in the
sense that each sector is operatin g in a
mutually exclusive fashion; its own version of
marketing being d eveloped and applied in situ
without consideration for the techniques
applied in other sectors.
Discussion
That marketing is unsuited to political
campaigning would appear to be an
unsubstantiated argument. It has been noted
that marketing and campaigning have been
synonymous for centuries. That differences
are perceived to exis t may be supportable,
although they may not be as great as is often
suggested. The argument that the political
market is rigged may suggest that at times
what can be achieved using marke ting
methods may be restricted but su ch
restrictions are no t dissimilar from those
placed on markets such as financial services.
The third argument has, in the view of the
authors, more validity. The extent to which
this applies has been alluded to in the
previous section but it may be use ful to go
back to basics. A fundamental maxim of
marketing is that consumers (voters) buy
benefits and not products or services. Thus
the candidate (effectively both the physical
evidence of the product, and the actual
product itself) may actually be less important
than the benefits emanating from the
purchase (voting). The benefits of brands
may be different but they are still benefits and
marketed accordin gly.
A number of consultants, whilst wishing to
differentiate themselves from brand
marketing per se , saw ideology as the
perceived benefit of vo ting for a particular
candidate:
I hope what I am doing is different from selling
some thing like Jell-O. I think it's more about
id ealism (Consultant A).
I don't shy away from the term political
marke ting, although I feel that it is much more
issue- and ideology-driven. You can't jus t make
some one look beautiful and think they're going
t o be voted for because they have pretty
pac kaging (Consultant L).
Although marketing is acknowledged in both
of these interviews, ''image'' is directly or
indirectly debased. A marketing orientation
would suggest that ''substance'' (issues and
ideology) are not in themselves enough and
image does have an important part to play in
the process. Not only do ideas have to be
communicated (with the attendant costs) but
th ey have to be packaged in such a way that
the target market (the electorate) perceives
th at the message has substance, is
au thoritative and is honest. Failure to attend
to these criteria may lead to disbe lief and
ultimate rejection. If all parties follow this
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model then consumer (voter) apathy may
result.
The difficulty may also be to do with the
intangibility of the message in services
marketing rather than in marketing per se.
Those marketing techniques and concepts
that are currently in use in the political
marketing field appear more appro priate to
products than services. Perhaps ironically the
more complex and intangible the message, the
more important it is to simplify the message.
As on e consultant noted:
M ost people wh o run for public office are pretty
co mplex, multi-layered personalities and when
you get to a campaign you cannot communicate
all those layers and nuances (Consultant B).
Instead ''platforms'' or even ''icons'' are
created that are seen to carry th e message (or
that part of the message that interests the
voter). Thus ''New Labour'' means little in
itself (as does new Persil). In the mind of the
potential voter, however, it im plies ''better
than before'', ''improved and developed''
beyond what came before. The precise detail
is of little interest to the average voter. Thus it
is the ''management of image'' that gradually
transformed Labour from its cloth cap image
into the natural party of government
(McNair, 1996). In the Indian sub-continent
icons play a par t in communicating the image
and appear on the ballot paper for the bene fit
of the less th an fully literate. Even in so-called
sophisticated eco nomies, images (e.g. the
New Labour Ros e) carry a meaning more
equivalent to image than content.
Conclusion
The academic development of th e political
marketing discipline is at an early stage and,
as yet, there is still much debate over the
nature of the role of marketing and its
applicability in political campaigns. This
paper has sought to discuss that role in more
detail by considering three arguments. These
are based around whether the use of
marketing in political campaigns is
inappropriate – and, therefore, the two are
mutually exclusive – or whether marketing
methods need to be adapted for political
markets because they are either restricted or
different – and, therefore, marketing and
political campaigning are exclusively mutual
in the sense that they require the development
of new marketing theories and concepts.
Based on the interview data and the authors'
interpretations of it, and the current
literature, it would appear that, whilst
political markets are clearly restricted,
marketing still has a significant role to play.
The authors acknowledge that political
markets are distinctive but question the
degree of distinctiveness from other high-
credence, highly intangible service markets.
Ultimately, it could be argued that turnout
is irrelevant and that market share is all -
important. On this basis, the whole
assumption (often asserted by politicians in
particular) that marketing is not working in
political campaigns could be questioned. If
this view were to prevail, however, it would
not devalue the discussion put forward in this
paper. The intention is to widen the debate
on the role of marketing in political
campaigns and to provide ideas for future
research. Namely, that research be
undertaken to determine the effectiveness of
political marketing (perhaps by measuring the
degree of marketing orientation and political
success) and further to determine whether the
use of marketing methods associated with
high-credence, highly intangible service
products might be more appropriate in
political campaigning.
Notes
1 For example, in the special issue of the European
Journal of Marketing in 1996 and in the
forthcoming special issue of the European Journal of
Marketing in 2001.
2 See Newman and Sheth, 1984, 1987; Lock and
Harris, 1996; Baines et al., 1999a and Plasser et al.,
1999, to name but a few.
3 Plasser et al. (1999), conduct quantitative research
into opinions of political consultants. See also
Baines et al. (1999b), for a combined qualitative/
quantitative perspective on US political consulting
practice and its potential export overseas.
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... The importance of media based political campaigning in influencing the voters in developed countries as well as emerging economies has a proven track record (Plasser & Plasser, 2002;Gibson & Römmele, 2009;Farrell, 2000 ;Wring, 1996;Kaid & Holtz-Bacha, 1995;Gilens & Cohen, 2007). The use of social media as an emergent effective tool for political communication has been noted by many scholars (e.g., West, 2013;Baines & Egan, 2001). But, the literature is silent on role of social media centred election campaign in emerging economies. ...
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![Rajiv Ranjan]()
- Bipul Kumar
The study is expected to provide insights for the marketing campaign managers as well as the advertising consultants of the political parties in terms of their understanding on the spending on social media campaign and corresponding results. The model output also provides insights on the optimum spending on such campaigns with a view on final outcome.
... In the area of social and non-profit marketing (Andreason, 1994) the application of marketing theory to the political sphere constitutes a relatively new phenomenon (Kotler & Kotler, 1999). While there exists a considerable stock of knowledge concerning political marketing, especially in the areas of campaign management, political marketing strategies and comparative political marketing (Newman, 1994; Scammell, 1999;Butler & Collins, 1999;Baines and Egan, 2001;Lees-Marshment, 2001), the essence of political marketing theory remains somewhat opaque; crucial elements are still ill-defined in marketing terms, e.g. the "political market", or the "political product", and the underlying exchange process (Scammell, 1999;O"Shaughnessy & Henneberg, 2002). This is sometimes explained by the notion that "traditional marketing frameworks do not fit neatly into a political marketing configuration" (Dean & Croft, 2001, p. 1197. ...
... In the area of social and non-profit marketing (Andreason, 1994) the application of marketing theory to the political sphere constitutes a relatively new phenomenon (Kotler & Kotler, 1999). While there exists a considerable stock of knowledge concerning political marketing, especially in the areas of campaign management, political marketing strategies and comparative political marketing (Newman, 1994; Scammell, 1999;Butler & Collins, 1999;Baines and Egan, 2001;Lees-Marshment, 2001), the essence of political marketing theory remains somewhat opaque; crucial elements are still ill-defined in marketing terms, e.g. the "political market", or the "political product", and the underlying exchange process (Scammell, 1999;O"Shaughnessy & Henneberg, 2002). This is sometimes explained by the notion that "traditional marketing frameworks do not fit neatly into a political marketing configuration" (Dean & Croft, 2001, p. 1197. ...
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![Ramazan Aslan]()
Ticaret, sosyal hayat, eğitim, sağlık gibi gündelik yaşamın hemen hemen bütün alanlarında siyaset toplumun ilgisini çeken ve etkilendiği bir konudur. Her ülkede toplumun siyasete karşı olan ilgisi ve siyasetin toplum üzerindeki etkisi zamana göre farklılık göstermektedir. Türkiye gibi aşırı politize olmuş veya edilmiş toplumlarda siyasetin etkisi hayatın her alanında yoğun olarak hissedilmektedir. Toplum kendilerini yönetecek olan siyasi aktörlerin çok farklı yönlerini incelemekte ve kimi seçeceğine karar vermeden önce çeşitli araştırmalar yapmaktadır. Bu yüzden siyasi aktörlerin toplumla olan ilişkilerinin önemi her geçen gün daha da artmaktadır. Seçimler, demokratik ülkelerde siyasilerin iktidar olmaları için katılmak zorunda oldukları bir yarıştır. Bu yarışlar doğal olarak siyasilerin birbirleriyle rekabet etmelerini gerektirmektedir. Siyasi aktörler bu yarışta birinci olmak için çok fazla emek, zaman ve kaynak harcamak zorundadırlar. Pazarlama faaliyetleri işletmelerin bulundukları pazarlarda rakiplerinden üstün olmaları için kullanılırken, siyasal alanda da partilerin diğer partilerin önüne geçmesine yardımcı olmaktadır. Seçimlerin sonunda birinci olan siyasi aktörler iktidar olma yolunda önemli bir zafer kazanmışlardır.
- Shekh Moinuddin
The role of the media was critical during the election and it was further exaggerated since social media joined the election in the form of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp. Social media is now inevitable and found in every sphere of lived activities. Election is a live activity in democratic world. Everyone wants to capture the live activities including election, to know how and to what extent election has been influenced by social media through political contents. Social media emerged as a political tool and found precarious over a period of time. This chapter discussed the correlation between social media and election and how both are inseparable as well in spatial representations and interpretations.
What is the effect of the types of over-vote spending on campaigns for municipal mayors? The objective of this article is to analyze how the types of electoral campaign expenditures made by candidates for mayors of Brazilian municipalities in 2008, 2012 and 2016 contribute to the winning of votes. Theoretically, this research contributes to the still scarce literature that tries to analyze how different forms of expenditure of campaigns for mayor in Brazil can be used as explicative variables. Methodologically, we used descriptive statistics and an inferential model to test the hypothesis that campaign expenditures in the Advertising / Propaganda dimension have a positive and significant effect on the probability of winning votes, as the number of voters increases in the municipality. We systematized a database based on information collected on the website of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). Preliminary results indicate that (1) in the years analyzed, advertising spending presented the highest average; (2) expenses with the dimension Structure has an effect on voting in smaller cities; (3) Finally, the larger the electoral college, the greater the effect of spending on the Strategy dimension on the conquest of votes.
The Brazilian national elections of 2018 constitute a milestone as the first election in the history of the Brazilian public administration in which there was restriction of donations of legal entities. This paper aims to analyze the influence of economic power on electoral choice, for which a prediction model based on financial and political-ideological variables is proposed, identifying if the odds ratio is increased for candidates with greater economic-financial disposition. We proposed a logistic regression model and estimated the probability of success in the electoral campaign and its relationship with the variables. We collected the data from the open base of the Brazilian Electoral Justice, totaling a universe of 46,867 valid applications in 2018 and 2014. The results show a new logistic regression model, in which it was verified that the candidate's condition to seek his re-election is the factor of greater relationship with the ratio of chances of electoral success, increasing by 6 times the chances of a candidate succeeding in the election. Economic-financial variables of interest confirmed the influence that economic power has on the election process in the same way as the dominant ideology in central government, leaving the results of financing by legal entities conflicting.
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![Sevilay Uslu Divanoğlu]()
Pazarlama ticari ürün ve hizmetleri kapsayan ekonomik boyut ile birlikte, sosyal, siyasal, çevresel ve kamusal alanları da içerecek boyutta her geçen gün kapsamını ve sınırlarını genişletmektedir. Bu durum pazarlamaya ticari niteliğinin yanı sıra sosyal ve siyasal bir nitelik eklemektedir. Pazarlamanın bu nitelikleri farklı çalışmalarda farklı yönleri ile tartışılmakta ve incelenmektedir. Siyasi partiler ve siyasi adaylar rakiplerinden farklılaşmak, yeni seçmen kazanmak, seçmen kitlesinde parti bağımlılığının oluşmasını sağlamak için pazarlama biliminden yararlanmak zorunda kalmışlardır. Siyasetin vazgeçilmezlerinden olan seçimler demokratik hayatın en önemli dönemeçlerindendir. Seçim kampanyalarında pazarlama karması elemanlarının etkin bir şekilde kullanılması, seçmenlerin oy tercihini, parti ve aday farklılığını ve seçmen bağımlığını pozitif yönde etkileyecektir. Son yıllarda siyasi arenada ve seçmenlerde meydana gelen dönüşümler, kitle iletişim araçları ve teknolojideki gelişmeler, seçmen sadakatinin değişmesi, partilerin ideolojik duruş ve tutumlarının değişmesi, bilinçli seçmen sayısının artması ve oy verme davranışını etkileyen faktörlerin değişmesi, siyasi partilerin ve siyasi adayların farklı strateji ve politika izlemeleri gereğini ortaya çıkarmıştır. Siyasi partiler ve milletvekili adayları bu değişimler karşısında kayıtsız kalmamak, seçmen davranışlarındaki bu değişimlere kolayca uyum sağlamak ve hedef kitlenin ilgisini çekebilmek için yeni uygulamalara ağırlık vermek zorunda kalmışlardır. Bu çalışma seçim kampanyalarında siyasi adayların siyasal pazarlama karması elemanlarını kullanma durumları ve aldıkları oy oranlarıyla karşılaştırma yapmakta, 22. Dönem Genel Milletvekili Seçimlerinde milletvekillerinin kullandıkları siyasal pazarlama karması elemanlarının etkinliğini ve nasıl kullanıldığı ile ilgili verileri değerlendirmektedir. Bunun yanı sıra etkin bir siyasal iletişimin uygulanması için yapılması gerekenlere dikkat çekerek ilerde yapılacak olan uygulamalı ve teorik çalışmalara yönelik olarak elde edilen sonuçlarla ilgili bazı katkılar ve öneriler sunmaktadır.
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![Dalia Elsheikh]()
This book indicates the levels of professionalism adopted by the candidates in the 2012 presidential elections in Egypt may have impacted upon the outcome. Previous chapters explained how the readiness of both Morsi and Shafiq to adopt some 'professionalised' techniques was behind their success in the first round of elections, with Morsi's campaign proving to be the most 'professional', helping him in securing his path towards Egypt's presidency, to be the first elected president after the 25 January Revolution and the first elected president in a very unpredictable first multi-candidate election in Egyptian history. This chapter aims to conclude the study by discussing the implications of the levels of campaign professionalism on the democratisation process in Egypt. The chapter concludes that professionalism—as applied by Morsi's campaign—had a negative impact on Egypt's democratic transition in general, as it led Egypt to be stuck in its transitional period, rather than moving to a functional emerging thin democracy. The chapter argues that this was mainly due to Morsi's performance once elected. The chapter also provides an evaluation of the application of the professionalisation index in order to understand campaigns in nascent democracies.
- B K SINHA
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![Harishwar Dayal]()
While the BJP was victorious in terms of the seats won in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand, its vote share was less than in 2004. The Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, separately or together, however, seem incapable of winning the state and the entry of Babulal Marandi's Jan Vikash Morcha has further fragmented the political scene. With a Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies survey revealing that respondents find the BJP best placed to handle the state's issues but rate Marandi, who has split from the BJP, as the best choice for the chief minister, the forthcoming assembly elections promise to be interesting.
Suggests that insufficient attention has been given to the significant differences between political and product or service marketing. The rise in awareness of political marketing has coincided with a decline of party membership in Britain and an increased distance between party and voter. Considers the relationships between party leader, brand image, exposure and awareness. Notes the current absence of predictive and prescriptive theories of political marketing action, and the relative significance of exogeneous factors in electoral success. Crossovers between conventional marketing, political science and political marketing are identified for future study.
Suggests that political campaigners are faced with marketing problems and opportunities. Acknowledges the increasing professional marketing activity in political campaigns. Examines the similarities and differences between elections and other marketplaces. In considering marketing in the political/electoral context, upholds the convention of examining the distinctive marketing features of the "industry", and drawing out the management implications of these. Presents a model of political marketing in terms of structural and process characteristics. Structural characteristics include the nature of the product, the organization and the market; outlines the marketing management implications of these. Process characteristics are concerned with the procedures and systems which govern marketing activity and their implications; briefly proposes appropriate strategic responses for each.
Can marketing concepts and techniques be effectively applied to the promotion of social objectives such as brotherhood, safe driving, and family planning? The applicability of marketing concepts to such social problems is examined in this article. The authors show how social causes can be advanced more successfully through applying principles of marketing analysis, planning, and control to problems of social change.
- Nicholas J. O'Shaughnessy
Introduction: the electronic soapbox big lies, little lies - the story of propaganda only in America television the peevish penmen - direct mail and US elections the monopoly of Midas Congress and political action committees high priesthood, low priestcraft - the role of political consultants Washington's space cadets - the centrality of polling, computer and other technologies in US politics today merchandising the monarch - Reagan and the presidential elections a licence to export - the spread of political marketing methods to Britain the selling of the President, 1988 an ethical conundrum.
- Kieron Walsh
Examines the development of marketing in the public service and presents a short discussion of the growth of marketing in public service organizations over the last 20 years. A critical analysis of marketing as applied to the public service, argues that, if it is applicable, it needs to be adapted to the particular character of the public realm. Gives an analysis of how an approach to marketing that is appropriate to the public service might be developed. This implies not so much the application of marketing as it exists, but the development of a new form of marketing. The management of the public sector is political management, and marketing, if it is to be effective, will need to be politically informed.
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![ko de ruyter]()
- Norbert Scholl
Discusses a number of important issues pertaining to the domain of qualitative market research. Attempts to define what qualitative research is about and discuss some of the difficulties involved in coming up with a clear definition of the qualitative paradigm. Suggests a number of issues relating to theory and practice that warrant the existence of a new journal devoted specifically to qualitative market research. Concludes with a discussion of validity and reliability in the context of qualitative research.
Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242031905_Marketing_and_political_campaigning_Mutually_exclusive_or_exclusively_mutual
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