Final Diro Report_political Branding_06!03!2010

8/6/2019 Final Diro Report_political Branding_06!03!2010

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[Ty text]pe

6TH MARCH, 2011

SUBMITTED BY:

KHUSBOO YADAV : 2010A14 ANKITA SAXENA : 2010A30 ADVAIT PATKI : 2010A31 ANKIT SINGHAL : 2010A48

POLITICAL BRANDING

DIRECTORS PROJECT


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POLITICALBRANDING:DIRECTOR'SPROJECT March6,2011

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CONTENTS

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...........32. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH....62.1Primary Research Objective...62.2Secondary Research Objective...63. BRAND...63.1What is a brand?....63.2Branding consists in transforming the products category.....63.3A brand is a long term vision......73.4A brand is a living memory.....73.5A brand is a contract........73.6Brand identity and self expression.....83.7Brand Levels......84. POLITICAL BRANDING.....94.1Case: the New Labour Party.....94.2The evolution and development of the brand......94.3Conclus ions of the case......95. MEGA BRANDING.....96. POLITICAL MARKETING FUNCTIONS AND DIMENSIONS.....106.1Differences between political and product or service marketing.....126.2The Political Product.....126.2.1 Person/party/ideology.....13 6.2.2 Loyalty......136.2.3 Mutability.....136.2.4 Marketing strategies relating to product characteristics.........136.3The Politi cal Organization.....146.3.1 Amateurism....146.3.2 Negative perception of marketing......146.3.3 Dependence on volunteers. ......146.3.4 Marketing strategies relating to organization characteristics......146.4The Political Market.....156.4.1 Ideologically charged......156.4.2 Social affirmation........156.4.3 The counter-consumer .........156.4.4 Marketing s trategies relating to market characteristics..........156.4.5 The Nexus in the Political Market.......166.5The Process Characteris tics of Polit ical Marketing.....166.5.1 Style versus Substance.....166.5.2 Advertising and Communications Standards.....176.5.3 News and Media Attention.....186.5.4 Political Polls.......186.5.5 Tactical Voting........19

6.5.6 Marketing Strategies Relating to Process Characteristi cs.....237. POLITICAL BRANDING.....247.1Personal Polit ical Branding......257.2Personal political brands in the past.....26

7.2.1 Benazir Bhutto ......287.2.2 Aung San Suu Kyi......307.2.3 Grand Ayatoll ah Sayyed Ruhol lah Khomeini....... 31


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7.2.4 Margaret Thatcher........327.2.5 Ronald Regan.........337.3Political brands as brands......347.4The rise of the politi cal brand......348. LOK SABHA ELECTIONS 2009: AN OVERVIEW......358.1Analysis of some of the states in which UPA did well......37 8.1.1 Andhra Pradesh.........37

8.1.2 Uttar Pradesh........378.1.3 Maharashtra.........378.1.4 Rajasthan...........388.1.5 Delhi...............388.1.6 West Bengal .......388.2Analysis of some of the states in which NDA did well.......38

8.2.1 Bihar..............388.2.2 Karnataka...........398.2.3 Gujarat............399. PRIMARY RESEARCH.......399.1

Data Collection Methods.......399.2Measurement Techniques.........39

9.3Sample.........399.4Time and cost requirements.........399.5MainQuestionnaire........3910.ANALYSIS & KEY FINDINGS.........4111.DETAILED FINDINGS..........4311.1 T Statistic........4311.2 ANOVA......4411.3 Factor Analysis.........49


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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARYIndia is a land of great leaders. At the time of independence, the country was led to victory by a great number ofleaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sadar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Bal Ganagadhar Tilak, BabasahebAmbedkar, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan to name a few. These leaders became names in the Indian household andwere revered like deities. Their vision set India on a trail of progress and prosperity. In due course of time thesenames became brands with which people identified certain personality traits.Not only their charisma but also theirway of communication with the public, the way they dressed and presented themselves, their lifestyles and theminutest details in their persona became exemplary. Thus Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became that adorable leaderwho loved children and who carried a red rose along with him. Indian National Congress was the single strongforce that marched India to freedom. Those were the times when the political benchmark had been set in the

minds of the people as to what qualities should a great leader possess. But India is a diverse country inhabitedby people from various cultural backgrounds. The interest of one community is quite different from the interestsof the other. While independence and later on the progress of the country were the major binding agenda in themid 20th century, a similar strong binding force was lacking amongst the people of the country towards the closeof the 20th century. In such a scenario it becomes imperative that leaders win the trust of the people and unitethem on a common ground. The task of communicating the same becomes somewhat easier today due to anincreased media penetration in the society. However, the challenge is to find those values which commonly bindall Indians together. The quest to find out those qualities would finally lead to the evolution of a megabrand whichwould command respect from the majority of the countrymen. Thus this research would help find answers tosuch questions.

It was intended to find out how these mega brands are built either in the form of parties or leaders. To fulfil this

main objective a host of secondary objectives were considered like: (1) to define brands and megabrands (2)todefine and determine the scope of political branding in context of both personal branding and party branding(3)to determine (existing) factors that have built a political brand and (4) to develop a profile for a political brand.

These objectives were sought to be fulfilled through both secondary research as well as primary research.Through secondary research the major issues that came to the fore are: (1) to transform how people look atleaders (2) to harbour a long term vision (3)to become a living memory (4) to emphasise on ones own identityand self expression.

Even before the political product is made into a brand it needs to go through few marketing ideals. The marketingtraits of the political product are considered in three parts: the multicomponent (person/party/ideology) nature ofthe offer; the significant degree of loyalty involved; and the fact that it is mutable, i.e. it can be changed or

transformed in the post-election setting. Before a brand is built the party/person has to be marketed well and thisincludes various functions like: (1) product function (2) distribution function(3) cost function (4) newsmanagement function (5) fund raising function (6) communication function (7) parallel campaign managementand (8) internal cohesion function.

There are also six general applications of political marketing for most democratic systems as: (1) communicationand spin (2) product image management (3) news management (4) political marketing strategy development (5)political market research and (6) political market organization and professionalism.

A few conclusions which have already been drawn through literature review are: (1) the brand is an essentialelement in the modernization of the party, and a device to suggest and promise changes (2) the brand promiseoften assures people of change and novelty (3) the brand can be devalued when some of the important promisesmade are not delivered (4) the brand can be built through communication but the discrepancies betweenannouncements and actual performance can lead on to cynicism about the government and the party.


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Moreover, political organizations here are considered to be those intending to win positions in public officethrough the election process. Distinctive marketing characteristics of political parties are that they tend tomaintain the tradition of amateurism; that a negative view of marketing permeates them; and that, because theyare hugely dependent on volunteers, control over operations is exceptionally difficult.

To the extent that markets are made up of people with resources and the willingness to commit them in anexchange, the electorate constitutes a political market. Of significance to marketing are the followingcharacteristics of the electorate: the process is ideologically charged; the vote is a forceful social affirmation; andthere exists in the electorate a counter-consumer.

The process characteristics in a political marketing situation can be described as the market operations peculiarto this context. In this section, only those characteristics which contrast markedly with other marketing situationsare highlighted. The process characteristics amount to the rules of the game, and are concerned withprocedures and systems which govern marketing activities. The main issues here are the drift from substance tostyle in electioneering; the different advertising and communications standards which apply; the political pollingphenomenon in recent years; the news media attention paid to the process; and the operations of tactical voting,allowing the negative purchase.

Competitive strategies suggest that there can be four types of positions for the political product: (1) Defender (2)Challenger (3) Follower (4) Niche.

The market leader, i.e. the ruling party tries to defend its market share, i.e. vote-bank. The challenger(s), i.e.strong contenders give the leader a strong fight and aspire to replace the leader. More often than not, the leaderand the challenger(s) are national parties. Then there are some regional parties, which are seasoned players butlack the capability to reach the top. These parties are generally content as long as they are able to hold on totheir market share. Last in the decreasing order of market share is what can be called niche players in theelectorate. These parties are generally non-conventional in their ways, their promises, and sometimes, theirrepresentatives too. As with the niche marketer, these parties are able to identify the needs and aspirations of asmall section of population so precisely, that it becomes impossible for the larger parties to attract that segment.Thus, size of their target segment is significant enough to keep them going, and insignificant enough for thelarger parties to ignore.

A number of actors drive the personal political brand and excerpts have been taken from the lives of BenazirBhutto, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Ruhollah Mostafavi Moosavi Khomeini.

In order to provide a realistic picture of the Indian political stage an overview of the general Lok Sabha electionsconducted in 2009 has been provided. As shown by the results these were the times when no clear majority wasachieved by a single party and Congress had to join hands with other parties to form the UPA (UnitedProgressive Alliance) at the centre.

The primary research was run on a sample of 50 respondents who mainly represented the educated class andbelonged to a well off society. A questionnaire was thus administered amongst the respondents and the resultswere then analysed to reveal the following: (1) There is a significant difference in the mean ratings of promisesmade and fulfilled by BJP and Congress (2) There is a significant difference in the mean ratings of strong partyleadership of BJP and Congress (3) There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of former leadersreputation of BJP and Congress (4) There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of regional candidatesof BJP and Congress (5) There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of alliances with other parties ofBJP and Congress (6) There is a significant difference in the mean ratings of scams by BJP and Congress(7) The mean ratings of preference for older candidates over younger candidates are different for respondentswith different income levels. (8) The mean ratings of preference forleaders belonging to known family of leadersare same for respondents with different income levels (9) The mean ratings of relatives and peers affecting thevoting decision are same different respondents with different income levels (10) The mean ratings of preference

forthe same party at the central and the state level are same for respondents with different income levels.


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Finally a factor analysis was run to find out which factors affect the formation of a political brand and the resultswere: (1) Candidates profile and his past record (i.e. the Candidate himself), (2)Partys manifesto, partysperformance as other State Governments and campaign promises (i.e. the party as a whole) (3) Media reviews(4) Partys philosophy.

These issues when kept in mind can help develop a strong political megabrand which could sustain the ravages

inflicted by the political winds in any country.


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2. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH2.1Primary Research Objective

To determine how mega political brands are built in India.

2.2Secondary Research Objective(1) To define brands and megabrands.(2)To define and determine the scope of political branding in context of both personal branding and partybranding.(3) To determine (existing) factors that have built a political brand.(4) To develop a profile for a political brand.

3. BRAND3.1What is a brand?

A product is a physical entity that lives in the real world. A brand is a perceptual entity that lives in the minds ofthe consumers. Given the importance that is attached to brands and branding nowadays, the question whichimmediately springs to mind is: why is it necessary to transform a physical entity into a perceptual entity? Theanswer to this lies in the failure of the products in generating competitive superiority. Brands are drivers ofcompetitive edge. A successful brand is a name, symbol, design or some combination which identifies theproduct of a particular organization as having a sustainable differential advantage.

When we say that physical entities or products fail in generating competitive superiority what does it imply? Aproduct entitles a marketer to enter a market place. It is the ticket to market participation. But it does notguarantee success. Simply put, market participation is not equal to market success which means actualisation ofpotential exchange i.e. a when a buyer voluntarily buys a brand rejecting the others. Marketing in thecompetitive arena implies rejection or elimination. The consumer must reject competitive offerings. This is theonly way to stay alive in the market these days. Shaping or bending customer preferences in ones favour andagainst ones rivals are critical to success.

So what is branding all about? Branding is everything a marketer does to the offer so that a customerdiscriminates a brand in its favour. Building up of this prejudice in the customers mind is the ultimate aim ofbranding. But one thing to be kept in mind while branding is that this process is directed at customer value

creation. It is winning through value.

3.2Branding consists in transforming the products categoryBrands are a direct consequence of the strategy of market segmentation and product differentiation. Ascompanies seek to better fulfill the expectations of specific customers, they concentrate on providing the latter,consistently and repeatedly with the ideal combination attributes- both tangible and intangible , functional andhedonistic, visible and invisible- under viable economic conditions for their businesses. Companies want tostamp their mark on different sectors and set their imprint on the products. The first task in brand analysis is todefine precisely all that the brand injects into the product (or service) and how the transforms it:

What attributes materialise What advantages are created What benefits emerge


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What obsessions does it representFew brands have succeeded in proving with their slogans that they know and understand what their fundamentaltask is: to transform the product category. A brand not only acts on the market, it organises the market, driven bya vision, a calling and a clear idea of what the product category should become. Too many brands wish only toidentify with the products category and thus control it. In fact, they often end up disappearing within it: Frigidaire,

Xerox, Caddy, Scotch and Kleenex have thus become generic terms.

According to the objective the brand sets itself, transforming the product category implies endowing the productwith its own separate identity. I concrete terms it means that the brand is weak, when the product is transparent.In this respect Coca Cola is doing the right thing by keeping the recipe a secret.

3.3A brand is a long term visionThe brand should have its own specific point of view on the product category. Major brands have more than justa specific or dominating position in the market: they hold certain positions within the product category. Thisposition and conception both energise the brand and feed the transformations that are implemented for matchingthe brands products with its ideals. It is this conception, which justifies brands existence, its reason for being on

the market, and provides it with a guideline for its lifecycle. How many brands are today capable of answering thefollowing crucial question: What would the market lack if we did not exist?. Brand strategy is too often mistakenfor company strategy. The latter most often leads to truisms like increasing customer satisfaction Specifyingbrand purpose consists in redefining the raison-dtre, its absolute necessity. Naturally, a brand draws itsstrength from the companys financial and human means but it derives its energy form the specific niche itoccupies in the product category. A brand builds up gradually from this niche. If it does not feel driven by anintense internal necessity, it will not carry the potential for leadership and energy.

Major brands can be compared to a pyramid. The top states the brands vision and purpose-its conception ofautomobiles for example, its idea of the type of cars it wants, and has always wanted, to create, as well as itsvery own values which either can or cannot be expressed by a slogan. This level leads to the next one, whichshows the general brand style of communication. Indeed brand personality and style are conveyed less by words

than by a way of being and communicating. The next level presents the brands strategic image features:amounting to four or five, they result from the overall vision and materialise in the brands products,communication and actions. Lastly the product level, at the bottom of the pyramid, consists of each modelspositioning in its respective sub market.

3.4A brand is a living memoryThe spirit of a brand can be inferred through its products and its advertising. The content of a brand grows out ofthe cumulative memory of these acts; provided they are governed by a unifying idea or guidelines. There mustbe accumulation and not just mere juxtaposition. The importance of memory in making of a brand justifies why itsimage can vary between generations. It is precisely because a brand is a memory of the products that it can actas a stable and a long lasting and stable reference. Unlike advertising in which the last message seen is often

the only one that truly registers and is best recalled, the first actions and message of a brand are the ones boundto leave the deepest impression, thereby structuring long-term perception. In this respect, brands create acognitive filter: dissonant and atypical aspects are declared unrepresentative, thus discounted and forgotten.

Thus a brand is both the long term vision as well as the memory of the products.

3.5A brand is a contractBrands become credible through persistency and repetition. Over time their programme gradually commits themto the long term view. By creating satisfaction and loyalty, the programme indeed forces the brand to fulfil thequasi contract that binds it to the market. In return the market is likely to view the brands pending productsfavourably from the start. This mutual commitment explains why brands, whose products have temporarily

declined in popularity, do not necessarily disappear. A brand is to be judged over the long term: deficiency canalways occur. Brand support gives products a chance to recover. This brand contract is economic and not legal.


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3.6Brand identity and self expressionCustomers buy brands not only for their product functionality but also for their ability to express the userscharacter and identity. This is especially true for conspicuous brands. The brand can signal the current characterand the make up of the person. There are many growth codes available to a brand in this category of brandbuilding.

First a brand can characterise the user by emphasising certain traits. Second, people have beliefs convictions, ideologies and philosophy. Ideologies make a person different

in social grouping. The need to share, express and convert others is one of the important drives thatpeople have. Brands come to play an important role in this regard. A brand can stand for a particularideology and philosophy and gather people around it.

People feel the need to belong. Brands can be a ticket or entry card to membership of a group thatcustomers aspire to belong to.

A brand can be coveted for its ability to convey and express a personal message. It may act as amessenger. Brands can appropriate a message and can become a powerful signalling device.

3.7Brand LevelsBrand is imprinted in the minds of the consumer. It represents culmination of marketing efforts. A superficiallooks at the brands in a product category hardly reveals what meaning is conveyed to prospects by the brands topull customers. A brand negotiates with its prospects at different levels. Depending upon the marketing strategyemployed a brand can convey different meanings. The choice of meanings to be conveyed depends upon thedevelopment level of the market. As marketing has evolved from inward orientation to external orientationbranding has also evolved in similar fashion.

Brands now reach out and connect with the customers on the promises that go much beyond the products thatthey sell. Brands appropriate and represent something that is entirely drawn from the customers and not locatedin the production systems. The following types of branding approaches can be found representing the product orcustomer or a combined focus:

Attribute brands Attribute describes a characteristic of a product. There are various kinds of attributes. For e.g. anattribute can be tangible (colour, size or form) or intangible (after sales service), objective (size, weight)or subjective (appeal, safety). Many brands use an important characteristic of the product in theirbranding process.

Benefit brandsAttributes are characteristics or features of the product. But an attribute, to be of any significance inbrand building must translate into a specific benefit valued by the customer.

Emotional brandsBrands penetrate deeper into the customer psychology by translating consumption into an emotionallysatisfying experience. Humans are much more than physiological or rational beings. Consumers seekbrands that deliver positive emotional experience and avoid the trigger of negative emotionalexperiences. In fact many people view consumption as an experience. Elevating brand from purefunctionality to provider of emotional experience requires thorough understanding of subliminal cravings.

Value brandsHuman motivation goes beyond physiological and emotional needs. Human beings can be described interms of psychographics-the psychological and the behavioural construction. In order to relate well with


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the customers marketers now probe their prospects psychological make up before developing productsand brands. A deeper probe into the reason as to why a product or a brand is bought by the consumerusing a series of why questions generally reveals the end states of existence that are aimed to bereached at.

4.

POLITICAL BRANDINGPolitical parties emerge as a response to social developments, when groups of people feel that they have anapproach to social questions around which they wish to gather support, or which they seek to defend andpromote in the face of opposition. Political parties have histories, traditions and approaches to managing theirown affairs. They also acquire and use names and symbols, to strengthen their own positions, to rally theirsupporters, to garner further support and, perhaps, to intimidate their opponents.

In recent years, political parties have turned to techniques of marketing to manage their affairs and further theirinterests. Since World War II, and drawing to a large extent on the experience of political parties in the UnitedStates and other developed democracies, political parties in North America and Europe, and more recently inemerging democracies such as South Africa and the countries of central and Eastern Europe, have made

steadily increasing use of these techniques.

4.1Case: the New Labour PartyThe following example explains the case of the New Labour Party .Applying branding principles to a politicalparty the case of New Labour; a political party, despite the difficulty of defining the market place for its brand,can consider itself as a brand, to be developed to offer functional and emotional values to an electorate as part ofits appeal.

The New Labour brand was developed as part of the modernisation of the Labour party, which occurred ofnecessity between 1983 and 1994. By the 1983 election, the Labour partys support had reduced to the pointwhere there was a danger it might lose its position as official opposition to the increasingly powerful and secure

Conservative Party. The Conservative Party had come to power in 1979, replacing a weak and failing Labourgovernment. It was to remain in power until 1997, through elections in 1983, 1987 and 1992. By 1983, theConservative Party was making strong use of marketing techniques to sustain its hold on power (White, 1983).New Labour was the product of traumatic and multiple failures (Rawnsley, 2000, page (viii). It emerged fromrecognition through three election defeats, that the party had to modernize, reconnect to the electorate, andovercome the electorates doubts and fears about Labour as a party of government. The process ofmodernization is well described in books such as Gould, 1998. He first mooted the term New Labour in 1989,but the term and the brand were not adopted until the 1994 Party Conference, which had the theme, NewLabour, New Britain.The New Labour brand represented an explicit break with Old Labour, the party of tradition and the almost onehundred years of history that the party had lived through since its foundation as a party to represent the interestsof organized Labour.

New Labour had to break explicitly with the past, and to demonstrate the new partys commitment to currentvalues. This involved changing the partys constitution and founding principles, among them Clause IV, whichcommitted the party to taking significant components of the economy into public ownership.A revised Clause IV allowed for the workings of the market economy.New Labour set out to represent functional values of openness, modernity, economic orthodoxy andredistributory social policy.Emotionally, the brand had to reassure, remove the fear that voters still after many years felt that a Labourgovernment would return the country to the dark days of the winter of discontent, when the country wasparalyzed by union disputes in the winter of 1978 1979, under the last Labour government. Labour set out toappeal to middle England, recognizing it is most successful as a party when it bestrides the centre ground (TheEconomist, November 15, 1997).


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4.2The evolution and development of the brandImprovement of the Labour product and the communication of its benefits went hand in hand (Fletcher, inMarketing, November 27, 1997). Gould (1998) shows how, partly as a result of his experiences with the USpresidential campaign in 1992, he and other advisors were able to professionalise the process of party and

campaign communication through the elections of 1987 and 1992, and in the successful election of 1997. Gould,a strategy and polling advisor to Tony Blair and the Labour Party in the 1997 General Election campaign and inthe three years that preceded it, is one of the central figures in the modernization of the the Labour Party, but thearchitects of New Labour are recognized as Tony Blair (now Prime Minister), Gordon Brown (Chancellor of theExchequer), Alastair Campbell (the Prime Ministers press secretary) and Peter Mandelson (a close advisor tothe Prime Minister, and recognized master of communication techniques used in the pursuit and retention ofpolitical power).

In the 1997 election, Labour came to power with 419 seats in the House of Commons, for a majority of 179. TheConservatives retained 165 seats. New Labour as a brand was successful in part because of its ambiguity. Itrepresented values with which large swathes of the population could identify, such as personal opportunityflowing out of strong communities. It was an easy target for criticism. The Economist, for example, said that Tony

Blairs project to establish New Labour in government was to achieve cultural hegemony by creating a moreinclusive politics for a post ideological age (The Economist, October 25 1997).Rawnsley (2000) talked about the illusions that sustained New Labour. He said the illusionists are best placed toknow what an illusion it was that New Labour was a glossily impotent machine always under the masterful controlof an assured leader. That this illusion was maintained for so long was one of the great triumphs of AlastairCampbells spin.

4.3Conclusions of the caseReflections on the emergence, development, evolution and demise of the New Labour brand suggest a numberof conclusions:

The brand was an essential element in the modernization of the party, and a device to suggest andpromise changes.

The brand promise, vague though it seemed to commentators at the time, was aimed to reassure, toallay fears and to convince the electorate that Labour would provide a new kind of government.

The brand came to be devalued when some of the important promises made were not delivered. The brand was built through communication (Gould, 1998), but the discrepancies between

announcements and actual performance led on to cynicism about the government, New Labour andpolitics itself. This cynicism led on to poor voter turnout at the 2001 election.

5. MEGA BRANDINGA Megabrand on the other hand would be something which has gone beyond being just a normal brand.

A Brand which has been tried, tested, accepted, assimilated and revered by people is known as aMEGABRAND. The same concept extended to politics gives rise to a Political Megabrand.

The growth of a political megabrand can be analogous to the Product life cycle of any brand. The growth stage isalways slow and steady but gets accelerated after some time. If you are really impressive and the people loveyou then the growth is fast. After some time, the brand has to take efforts to grow more. When the brand is at thematurity stage and if it is well known and accepted amongst the masses across the country then the brand canbe termed as a Megabrand.


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6. POLITICAL MARKETING FUNCTIONS AND DIMENSIONSPolitical Marketing has been described as marketing designed to influence target audiences to vote for aparticular person, party, or proposition. There have been various attempts to clearly define political marketing,however the essence of political marketing theory remains somewhat opaque (Scammell 1999; Newman, 2002;

O

Shaughnessy and Henneberg, 2002a, O

Shaughnessy 1990; Kotler and Kotler, 1999).Contemporary definitions of political marketing often identify the political marketing process as concerned morewith the communication process between voters and political entities (Shama, 1975; Lock & Harris, 1996; Wring,1997) and often neglect the organizational development perspective of the political entity in a way that mostcommercial marketing definitions do not. Lee - Marshment (2001) in redefining political marketing states thatpolitical marketing goes beyond the spin and campaigns of political parties and also covers the role of marketintelligence in policy, leadership and organization of political parties.

The application of commercial marketing techniques and tactics to elections is considered to be relatively newand still in the infant stages in many parts of the world (Henneberg 2004, Marland

2003). However, the relevance of particular aspects of marketing theory for political entities has been illustrated

by numerous authors. Again, Lee Marshment describes four main activities that a party attempting to usemarketing in determining all aspects of its behaviour has to engage in. These include:

the use of market intelligence adapting party behaviour to suit those whose support it seeks implementing this new behaviour at all levels of the party organization and conveying this to the electorate (Lee Marsment 2001).

Henneberg (2002: 123) also describes eight generic political marketing functions which include:

product function distribution function cost function news management function fund raising function communication function parallel campaign management and internal cohesion function

He also proposes six general applications of political marketing for most democratic systems as:

communication and spin product image management news management political marketing strategy development political market research and political market organization and professionalism

Henneberg argues that a Market-Oriented Party (MOP) is one which seeks to determine its entire behaviour inorder to provide voter satisfaction and in doing so satisfy its own goals.

In both the four core activities and eight functions of political marketing described by Lee Marshment andHennerberg, the marketing-in concept is employed. This means that the political product should be designed tofit into both the social and economic context of the target audience whose votes that particular political party isseeking. This reveals the practicality of the product versus the environment in marketing theory, the marketingmix that is the Product, the Place, Price and Promotion as well as the People. However, the pivotal role of boththe product and the place in the Marketing mix can be deduced, since both promotion and price are dependent


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on the product and the place where it is to be marketed, whereas the product design is determined by theexpectations of the people for whom the product is designed. Two key factors sell a product;

the characteristics of the product itself and how it is promoted6.1Differences between political and product or service marketing

Political marketing is concerned with communicating with party members, media and prospective sources offunding as well as the electorate. Its multiple audiences mean that it has a great deal in common with marketingfor public and non-profit organizations, Kotler and Andreasen (1991) and Lovelock and Weinberg (1984). Itsparallel objectives relating to members, funding and votes do not have exact equivalents in most mainstreammarketing situations. We identify the seven following significant areas in which political marketing is different:

For any one election, all voters make their choices on the same day (with trivial exceptions such aspostal and proxy votes). There are almost no purchasing decisions with this characteristic and certainlynone which affect as large a number of people. Thus while there are similarities between opinion pollsand tracking measures of brand shares, the latter are aggregations of real purchasing decisions as

opposed to the essentially hypothetical questions of the former. While some might argue that there are long-term individual costs or regret (in the economists sense) in

electoral choices, the fact that there is no price directly or indirectly attached to voting or the choice ofparty sharply differentiates it from a purchase. Despite being normally constrained to making only onevalid choice, the conventional utility- maximizing framework subject to budget constraints fits electoralchoice poorly and the link to personal outcomes subsequently is at best tenuous.

Although the actual act of voting may not have a price attached to it, apart from emigrating, a voter hasto live with the collective choice, even though it might not have been his or her own preference. Thisshows the sharp distinction between public choice issues and consumer markets.

Winner takes all in the UK first past the post election, whether in an individual constituency or across ageneral election. The nearest business equivalent would be bidding to run the National Lottery and themonopoly it grants.

The political party or candidate is a complex intangible product, which the voter cannot unbundle. As aconsequence most voters have to judge on the overall packaged concept or message. Apart fromgeneral economic self-interest, it appears that single issue voting has in the past had a minor effect onthe overall outcome of British elections. While there are other complex products or services whichconsumers are unable to unbundle, the range of concepts and issues in the political bundle distinguish itfrom such situations. Furthermore, in the case of complex product or service choice, consumers areusually able to change their minds, albeit at a cost, if they believe that they have made a mistake.Voters have to wait until the next election.

While there may be means of influencing the direction of a local or national party (with clear parallelswith conventional product modifications or brand extensions), the possibility of introducing a new brandin the form of a new party is relatively remote witness the short but eventful life of the SDP. A recent

European example is the Forza Italia movement of Silvio Berlusconi, although the recent denouementmay discourage other media moguls from attempting to emulate it. Apart from communism in the past,international brands do not really exist and there seems little immediate prospect of cross-border partieseven in the EU, although we recognize that parties have been able to form transnational groupings inthe European Parliament since its formation.

In most marketing situations, brand leaders tend to stay in front. In the UK, while governments may winsuccessive elections, there seems to be an increasing trend for them to fall behind in opinion pollsbetween elections. This is of course connected with the fact that governments have to make difficult andsometimes unpopular decisions, particularly when choosing between controlling expenditure and raisingtaxes. This cycle may well become more accentuated as it appears that governments borrowingcapabilities are becoming increasingly constrained by financial markets.


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6.2The Political Product Even before the political product is made into a brand it needs to go through few marketing ideals. Themarketing traits of the political product are considered in three parts: the multicomponent(person/party/ideology) nature of the offer; the significant degree of loyalty involved; and the fact that it ismutable, i.e. it can be changed or transformed in the post-election setting.

6.2.1 Person/party/ideology.In the context of political elections, the product or offer is made up of several distinct components, which areusually, although not necessarily, indivisible. These are the candidate, the political party or grouping, and theideology. Nominating candidates calls into question such issues as their competence and back-up resources,their past record and promises for the future, and their degree of autonomy, given the need to adhere to the partyline. Confusion and even contradiction between the components of the offer are a pronounced trait in thiscontext. For example, a voter may support the only candidate of his or her preferred party despite not having anyconfidence in him or her personally. Similarly, a voter may support a candidate s stance on an important localissue despite not wanting his or her political party to win power on a national basis. One marketing implication of

this multicomponent offer is that the components cannot be offered separately. This situation results inparticularly complex trade-offs of costs and benefits.

6.2.2 LoyaltyPolitical parties and candidates command an extraordinary level of loyalty. Voter loyalty is especially marked inwhat political scientists refer to as first-order elections, for example, national parliamentary elections. In second-order elections, such as those to local councils a greater degree of volatility exists. Similarly, by-election votesare often protest votes, rejecting some aspect of one partys record rather than stating loyalty to another. Apositive implication for campaign managers of the strong loyalty factor is that it allows parties or candidates acertain degree of flexibility in shifting policy. On the other hand, however, it militates against conversion of peoplefrom one party to another, and constitutes a barrier to entry to new parties and groups.

6.2.3 MutabilityA notable property of political marketing is that the purchase is alterable even in the post-purchase setting.Parties fight vigorously during elections to enter a coalition. Although, in many cases, pacts are formed prior toelections, some voters would not have supported a particular party or candidate, had they known the post-election outcome. Also the coalition can signify a failure to win outright by one party, but can be a successfuloutcome for another, whose objective had been to win only enough seats to influence power.

Political parties will have to address the problem of being honest with their supporters before the election, andappeasing them after the election and coalition. Essentially, difficulties may arise from asserting distinct policies

during a campaign, and then compromising them after the election. The potential for devaluation of the politicalprocess and for cynicism arising out of this kind of situation is largely dependent on cultural and traditionalfactors.

6.2.4 Marketing strategies relating to product characteristics.One strategic implication for marketing arising from product characteristics is that appeals to the electoratebased on the rational presentation of single issues are unlikely to succeed. People are judged by their policies,and policies by the people who put them forward. Market segmentation and positioning must take cognizance ofthe congruence between the candidate, the party and the message. Strategists should attempt to brand policiesand ideas, and build barriers to entry in order to own an important issue.


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The loyalty factor here underlines the importance of winning first-time voters because peoples first electoralchoices tend to be enduring. Furthermore, loyalty encourages strategies which follow a brand extensionapproach, such as coat-tailing in multi-member constituencies.

Regarding the problem of post-purchase mutability, the appeasement of dissatisfied (former) supporters can be

addressed by a strategy of pointing to the achievement of greater objectives through compromising on lesserissues. Marketing communications should stress continuity of principle and past record, rather than dramaticchanges in direction.

6.3The Polit ical OrganizationPolitical organizations here are considered to be those intending to win positions in public office through theelection process. Distinctive marketing characteristics of political parties are that they tend to maintain thetradition of amateurism; that a negative view of marketing permeates them; and that, because they are hugelydependent on volunteers, control over operations is exceptionally difficult.

6.3.1 Amateurism.Elections are ultimately a form of registering and collating individual value judgements. Technical advice is seenas supportive but not crucial to the process of decision taking. Thus, at the core of political marketing, there is thepropensity to value the non-expert. The high status afforded the committed amateur in many societies isreflected in political organizations. Party activism is developed over several years of committee meetings,constituency panels, canvassing during elections and the like. A change to centralized national communicationsprogrammes is, naturally resisted. Valuable knowledge potential is to be gained from participation rather thanfrom professional marketing.

6.3.2 Negative perception of marketingGiven the nature of political party organizations, the reasons for membership, the historical traditions and theoverwhelming amateur and volunteer status of participants, it is not altogether surprising that marketing isperceived in a negative manner. A common view of marketing is as being unethical and trivializing. The fearexists that politicians might increasingly focus on narrow, short-term issues just because they are popular, withthe result that matters of greater substance become hostages to fortune. However, many anxieties expressedabout political marketing are to be based on exaggerated assessments of its impact.

6.3.3 Dependence on volunteers.In common with many other not-for-profit organizations, political parties and groups rely heavily at all levels on avolunteer workforce, and often a volunteer management team. Electoral marketing cannot be completelydivorced from the ongoing political marketing undertaken by incumbents and opposition alike. In thesecircumstances, the volunteers are more likely to be reduced to carrying out low-level tasks on the instructions ofthe professionals than participating in local policy-level discussion and debate. Marginalized volunteers may beeasier to control in terms of their activities, but their enthusiasm may be more readily dissipated.

An implication of the dependence on volunteers is that efforts need to be made to retain their enthusiasmthrough a feeling of proximity to power, or significant contribution to a worthwhile cause. Organizations neglectthe social dimensions of work at their peril. For political parties, this function is often fulfilled through conferences,conventions and other quasi-social events. Parties in power have a decided advantage in dispensing statelargesse to their volunteers.


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6.3.4 Marketing st rategies relating to organization characteristicsNegative perceptions of marketing can be overcome only by showing, indeed proving, that the marketingorientation is not necessarily unethical or unworkable. The ethical dimension is certainly the more difficult issue,so there is some merit in showing the benefits of marketing techniques in the shorter term. For instance, electoral

successes, clearly facilitated by professional marketing research and communications, will help to persuadeactivists of the value of a marketing approach.

Volunteers are likely to have a certain sense of loyalty not just to a party in abstract terms, but also to a particularcandidate or senior figure. Clearly, it is sensible to target these influential people first to aid diffusion of themarket orientation. Their support will be crucial in generating a trickle down effect.

6.4The Political MarketTo the extent that markets are made up of people with resources and the willingness to commit them in anexchange, the electorate constitutes a political market. Of significance to marketing are the followingcharacteristics of the electorate: the process is ideologically charged; the vote is a forceful social affirmation; andthere exists in the electorate a counter-consumer.

6.4.1 Ideologically chargedIn democratic communities the election is seen as a hallmark of civil society. Opinion poll data from the emergingdemocracies show that peoples propensity to vote at elections does not seem to be affected in a major way. Forthe vast majority of people in these regions, the significance of the franchise far outweighs immediateconsiderations of particular policies and personalities. The importance of elections is reflected in the way inwhich they are conducted. The legal requirements are strict state institutions are involved and affected both bythe process and the outcome. In marketing terms, this feature suggests that campaigns must be carried on withdignity, and political institutions treated with respect. The paradox remains, however, that campaigns which

should be dignified are characterized, in part, by hoop-la and triviality. Given this, only a thorough understandingof the electorate, its culture, values and expectations will enable the marketer to avoid counter-productive gaffes.

6.4.2 Social affirmationMore than any other consumption activity, the vote is an act of social affirmation. Certainly, personal interestsand current circumstances cannot be discounted but, in the main, the major social cleavages in society areexpressed in elections. Most political communications tend to affirm existing commitments. The priorassumptions of the electorate restrict the marketing manoeuvrability of the parties. Marketing implications includethe problems associated in addressing new issues. This is especially the case if such issues are seen tochallenge the long-established axioms of party support. In addition, the importance of social affirmation addsweight to the objective of getting the vote out ensuring that the traditional supporters do actually get to the

polling-station.

6.4.3 The counter-consumerA phenomenon not experienced in other marketing contexts is the counter-consumer. Within the electorate maybe a group which not only is interested in its preferred candidate winning an election, but also may be more (oronly) interested in preventing another candidate from taking office. This objective is pursued through negativecommunications during the campaign, and through tactical voting. The counter-consumers vote is motivated bya desire to prevent a particular outcome rather than support the candidate in whose favour the vote is cast.Theconsequence of this characteristic is the need for marketers to understand the election and voting procedures, sothat a defensive stance can be planned. The competition, in this scenario, is not just from voters choosing

opposing parties or candidates; it is also from those with a vested interest in a candidate losing.


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6.4.4 Marketing st rategies relating to market characteristicsThe value of strategic qualitative information becomes evident when dealing with the electorate. Values, attitudesand perceptions must be understood in such an ideologically charged situation to ensure compatibility betweenthe offer and the core values of supporters. The development of a credible position for the electorate requires

an extraordinary empathy, which necessitates top-quality feedback through both formal and informal channels ona continuous basis. The counter-consumer is a particular problem for the political marketer, who may need toensure that other aspects of the campaign are instrumental in limiting the political damage which this group cancause.

6.4.5 The Nexus in the Political Market

6.5The Process Characteristics of Political Marketing


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The process characteristics in a political marketing situation can be described as the market operations peculiarto this context. In this section, only those characteristics which contrast markedly with other marketing situationsare highlighted. The process characteristics amount to the rules of the game, and are concerned withprocedures and systems which govern marketing activities. The main issues here are the drift from substance tostyle in electioneering; the different advertising and communications standards which apply; the political pollingphenomenon in recent years; the news media attention paid to the process; and the operations of tactical voting,allowing the negative purchase.

6.5.1 Style versus SubstancePolitics is largely concerned with the processing of ideas. Elections are one mechanism whereby some peoplesideas come to prevail over those of others. It is unusual, however, for substantive debates on policy to be themain focus of political marketing. Many political scientists and communications writers refer to this change in thesubstance of public political debate. President Reagan garnered much support in US elections by dwelling onthemes appealing to the masses with a broad focus, symbolism and emotiveness, rather than with the specificpositions, programmes and differences, which are followed only by the political nation. Identifiable symbols,ceremony and rhetoric would appear to be of more benefit in vote-catching terms than the development and

explanation of policies. Many political debates on television are merely shows, where rehearsed set pieces areproffered, in fear of making a blunder. The same kind of insubstantial statements appear in the print media, butonly the editors of quality newspapers produce verbatim reports of political texts in their entirety as opposed tosound bites.

The inherent conflict is that, while more political information is delivered faster to more people than ever beforethrough the instant mass media, the political content of such information and reporting tends to besensationalized, personalized and trivialized. Counter to this, few believe without political marketing, campaignsmight indeed become real debates, but only for an attentive minority. The majority of voters, he claims, are willingto consider only the essence, and perceive much electioneering as random noise.

6.5.2 Advertising and Communications StandardsRegarding the market operations pertaining to advertising standards, political marketing differs significantly fromother contexts. The practice of negative advertising is unique to politics, with the relatively tame comparativeadvertising being the nearest commercial equivalent. This facility to engage in disparaging communications evenat deeply personal levels, often by anonymous surrogates, is not uncommon in politics. Negativecommunications can backfire, however. This was illustrated in the 1990 presidential election in Ireland, where alate personal attack on a candidate resulted in a massive backlash. The capacity to generate anxieties, doubts,and fears is augmented by the brevity of television spots and news coverage sound bites, which do not allowtime for qualification or defence.

All countries attempt some control of political advertising and communications. In some instances, broadcast

time is made available according to agreed formulae and, in others, budgetary limits are set. Such restrictionswould be intolerable in commercial marketing.

However to reiterate once again that advertising is ONLY ONE of the elements of the marketing process. It comes into play after much preparatory work has been performed. Often politicians ignore the other phenomena and focus only on this.

Eg: For LK Advanis online advertising campaign alone BJP is spending Rs 230 crores on Google AdSense


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Eg Ad expenses for 2009 elections: The Rs150 crore account for the Congress poll campaign was handled byCrayons Advertising Ltd and JWT India Ltd; the BJPs Rs250 crore account was handled by Frank Simoes-Tag and Utopia. While a regular 10-second spot of a Hindi general entertainment channel can go up to as muchas Rs1.5 lakh, a political party may be charged between Rs3-4 lakh for the same spot, said the second, a mediabuyer involved in negotiations with parties, who too didnt want to be identified. Both the Congress and the BJPplan to spend substantially more on their ad campaign as they target 714 million voters, mostly young people,many of whom will be voting for the first time.

6.5.3 News and Media AttentionThe attention paid to political and electoral issues, especially during elections, is unrivalled in any other

marketing setting. Even outside the electoral context, the ongoing coverage of political events and processes leading to the notion of the permanent campaign provides opportunities unknown in other businesses. Inparticular, television coverage of politics and elections is influential and is a mechanism of change for those whovacillate in their electoral choice.

Of particular interest to marketing professionals is the actual influence on the electorate of such coverage. Socialscientists disagree on the nature and extent of the power of the mass media. It is difficult to disentangle itsinfluence from those of education, religion and so on. The same message can be received and interpreted bydifferent people in different way. At the minimum, however, there is broad acceptance of the agenda-influencingpower of the mass media in political terms.

Although the quantity of coverage is significant, the television medium, from which most people now get theirpolitical information, is one of semi-concentration by the audience. Thus, the danger lies in the simplisticreportage of short news items. This is exacerbated by the general publics belief that television news is muchmore complete and impartial than newspaper coverage. The obvious implication for marketing is the necessity todevelop media expertise which focuses on photo-calls, set-up walkabouts, and situations flattering to thecandidate masquerading as news.

Electronic Media: The very least that political parties ought to do is the use them professionally, because it uswhat the voter takes from the message by way of a residual stimulus that will constitute the real influence onultimate behaviours. Here, non verbal interpersonal communication is extremely important.

Political rallies: The live and televised political events often result in influence the voters evaluation of the

leader/party in question.


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6.5.4 Political PollsUnlike most market research reports, political polls are continuous, and subject to wide and intense debate. Pollsare conducted and published within days during elections. Their immediacy precludes great depth of informationbut fundamental attitudes and preferences can be addressed. Polls cover current voting intentions, perceptions

of party leaders, government performance, current issues and much else. They also differ from other marketingresearch activities, because they are available to the market as well as the manufacturer.

The publishing of polls and the subsequent debate influence several aspects of the political process. Partymorale and policy formation are acutely affected. Party activists and policy makers tend to be surrounded bypeople holding similar political views, and public opinion polls provide a source of relatively reliable information.Polls also serve to determine party agendas, themes, communications, the general tone of the campaign andeven the election date.

6.5.5 Tactical VotingThe process of tactical voting differentiates electoral marketing from other contexts. It is analogous to a negative

purchase. Tactical voting occurs when voters vote for a candidate other than their favourite to defeat their least-favoured candidate. Measuring the extent or outcomes of tactical voting is difficult, but there is evidence that ithas become more common in recent years. Encouraging tactical voting may form an important part of the localmarketing plan. This market operation does not exist in other, commercial markets. The marketer here mustunderstand the complexities involved, and analyse polling data for possible signals in this regard. The implicationfor the marketer is that this situation demands subtle and precise targeting of political effort. This may requiresupporters behaving in a counter-intuitive manner by acting on marketing, rather than ideological, criteria.

Voters decision and the political partys/candidates influence

Is political win a function of marketing or is marketing just one of the many realms of getting noticed by the votersthemselves and at the end of the day what matters - the party/ candidate.

Political parties must determine the scope and nature of their offerings and then find the most effective way ofcommunicating its benefits to a target audience. However, often its based on the past records of consumerbehaviour.Some of the early literature in Political marketing and branding included the following observation from differentauthors:

1 The market systems in politics can be defined in terms of parties; relationshipsplus actions which enhance and facilitate both the performance and theprevention or prohibition of marketing exchanges

Goodman et al, 1979

2 The decision making in many political systems is a process in which the onlyfeasible changes are those that alter socio political or economic states by

relatively small steps

Lindblom et al , 1977

3 For the political marketers the above stated observation implies that t heyought to pitch their communication to operate within a fairly narrow latitude ifacceptance

Sherif et al , 1961

4 Since advertising and politics have always bordered on sharp practice, it wasinevitable that they would fuse one day. Voted so not actually vote forpoliticians, they make a psychological purchase of them.

McGinnis J, 1980

5 The electorate is basically lazy and uninterested in making the effort tounderstand what the politicians are talking about, the task of thecommunicator is that of shaping the image of the candidate or his/her party.

McGinnis J , 1980

6 The media was used as an information source by the undecided voters andthat voters did not necessarily yield to the persuasive intent

Narayan, OB , 1974

7 The persuaders ought to concentrate on the effect they hope to create, thenutilise the media in such a way that they produce a stimulus that will trigger a

Schwartz, T, 1973


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POLITICALBRANDING:DIRECTOR'SPROJECT March6,2011responsive chord- a programme a of sensation that is already there. Oldsensations currently encompassed within the subconscious, not just asmemories, but recollections charged with rich feelings. By failing to recognisethese facts, politicians fail to make the post of media opportunities.

8 The key intervening variables in the immediacy of the language chosen by the

communicator.

Wiener et al, 1968

9 Some writers have found that the live televised medium result in morefavourable evaluation of the political communicator

Keating et al, 1976

Voter Decision Making Process(McGinnis et al, 1974)

There are 5 vertical zones:

a. Informal input and processingb. Decision process stage

Problem recognition triggered by announcement of elections or by media generated concernover major issues . Who will I vote for?

Search newspaper, magazines, TC, Radio, other personal sources Alternative evaluations Choice Outcomes

c. Political image evaluationsd. General motivating influencese. Internalised environmental influences

The model is based on the recognition that any consumes choosing to buy a bicycle or a political message ismaking a high involvement decision and thus undergoes a process of problem solving before making a decision.

22


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Fig: The different Stimulis that Influence a voters Decision

Political views have high centrality and many voters remain staunch supporters of some political faction or theother and will vote for it no mater what. Thus, promotional noise must be aimed at the floating voter,It requires a co- ordinated marketing strategy to influence the floating voter. The strategy must be to achieve

overlap of the aims of the party with a knowledge of the complicated process the voter foes through and theforces which will win influence.

The Strategic process applied could include the steps :1. Define the political complexion - establishing in the minds of potential voters the impression that it will be bestable to satisfy the needs of the section of the electorate which it sets out to appeal.Formulate policies, programmes and philosophies to address to certain receptive sections of electorate.

2. Using Analystical bulding blocks - The shape and scope of the political complexions must be based on somesort of informed analysis.

3. Formulating Strategic Objectives, Prognosis , Alternative Generation - The strategy should have long termimplication as well as affordable. It is necessary to formulate the objectives carefully and compare them with theprognosis. A collection of policies, communication and images must be offered to electorate in a planned , controlledmanner - this constitutes a product and promotional mix. The final step is to execute and follow up the plan andcheck the conversion rate.

6.5.6 Marketing Strategies Relating to Process CharacteristicsThe tendency towards themes rather than issues reflects the attention paid to style rather than substance. Inelections, communications often steer towards similarities rather than differences. The strategy lesson from thisfeature of political marketing is that presentation must be given due weight. While elections are not decided bythe pitch of a ministers voice or by the colour of the backdrop at a party conference, it is important not to devaluecompletely the import of subliminal and non-rational elements in voting behaviour.

The different rules and standards relating to political advertising force marketers to utilize news programmes toconvey their message. In relation to television coverage, the smart word is often more likely to be edited in than


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attacking Congress, and the latter doesnt let go of Ayodhya Ram Mandir while criticizing the former (based onwhoever is ruling in that particular state).

FollowerFollowers, defined as the also-rans of the market, are the regional parties in the political sense. Neither do theyintend to be the leader, nor do they have the wherewithal to become one. Their motive in the market is mereprofitable existence, without ruffling many feathers. These players are the first ones to come under the radar,when the leaders and challengers look for acquisitions once the market moves towards consolidation. Similarly,the regional parties are the most sought after, when BJP & Congress look for alliances. Regarding the specificstrategies to be undertaken, these parties do as per their classification, followers.

These parties seldom come up with any revolutionary idea/unconventional promise etc for the public. They eitherfollow the age-old techniques for politics, or adopt whatever their alliance leader promotes.

NicheThese are the most dynamic of them all, and probably the most exciting to study. Though they are the smallestplayers in the market, they are responsible for most of the innovations. There are two types of players wholeverage their size well in the market: the leaders and the nich-ers. The big sizes, in terms of marketing fund,R&D spend, consumer knowledge is important to the leaders in warding off the challengers. However, the nicheplayers benefit from their small size; being nimble footed and being the most efficient ones in capturing theopportunities.

Coming back to the political scenario, there is no specific formula for a niche player, apart from the fundamentalstrategy to target a very small segment of the electorate and capture their demands precisely. Consequently,these parties become the ones with the most unconventional promises, and given their small size,unconventional promotional techniques (not unlike the marketing field). Parties like Youth for Equality (promisinganti-reservation in educational institutions), Shiv Kheras Bharatiya Rastravadi Samanata Party (targeting theeducated upper middle class Indian by highlighting the doctors, engineers and judges as members of the party)

form excellent examples.

7. POLITICAL BRANDINGPolitical parties get launched as a result of social and political developments, when certain sections of societyfeel that they have to approach certain social and political questions around which they gather support or theyseek to defend in the face of opposition. Thus, political parties have histories, traditions and philosophies, whichwhen combined with party names and symbols, create and strengthen their position and image in their voteraudiences (White and de Chernatony 2002).If we have a look at their strategies with a business perspective (andignoring the ethical aspect), the politicians are actually marketers. The dilemmas that a political party faces arepretty much the same as those faced by a marketing professional. Thus every political party has a symbol (logoin terms of marketing), a unique image for the public (brand positioning), which it communicates through

extensive campaigns (promotions), makes some promises (value proposition) and then battles it out with otherparties to sell itself to the electorate.

A careful observation would lead to the realization that a political party goes through the same segmenting-targeting-positioning, marketing mix etc that a marketer does. It even experiences the same product life cyclegraph that any marketer worth his salt would have seen.

The Segmentation Targeting & positioning can be done as has been described in the ensuing paragraph. A partystarts by segmenting the electorate based on factors like religion, region, community, caste, income etc. Most ofthe political parties follow one of these segmenting techniques. We have examples galore; Bahujan Samaj Party(caste), Shiromani Akali Dal (religion), All India Gareeb Congress (income) etc. However, there also exist a few

parties, which segment the population based on psychographic factors. Communist Party of India falls in thiscategory, as they divide the population based on their preferences for the kind of economic system. In marketing,


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once the segmenting is complete, the target segment is zeroed upon based on factors like size, accessibility,attractiveness etc of the segment. Politics is not much different.

After dividing the population, the party chooses the target. Factors which impact the targeting decision in politicsare not very different from the ones in marketing: identification of an underlying need of a segment (Telangana

Rashtra Samithi for creating a separate Telangana state), a recent advancement in the external environment(Youth For Equality, a party formed after the legislation of introducing 24% quota in government funded highereducation) etc.

Next comes the stage, which literally defines the meaning of the product/brand for the consumer: Positioning.Our parties too position themselves, each having a unique place on the perceptual map of the common man.Some parties position themselves as the drivers for economic growth, some as promoters of social equality,some as the friend of the poor etc. How parties choose their positioning is very interesting, especially when thereare zillions of political parties in India.

The need to differentiate themselves from the clutter makes them follow the same strategic planning as amarketer. It might so happen that the political parties make a perceptual map of all the parties in the voters mind,

and then trying to find a vacant space to capitalize. For example, Raj Thackeray had been criticized by many fordividing the population and causing trouble for the North Indians in Maharashtra. If, for a second, the unethicalaspect of this approach is forgotten, Maharashtra Navnirman Senas positioning strategy is worth appreciating. Ithas been able to establish itself firmly in a very short time in an environment filled with the heavyweights likeBJP, NCP, BSP etc and innumerable small parties. If a perceptual map is made, with regionalist attitude on x-axis and overall development on the y-axis,then it is observed that MNS is sitting pretty in a relativelyuncontested space.

7.1Personal Political BrandingPersonal branding is not about creating a larger than life image for the outside world, it is about understanding

the unique combination of rational and emotional attributes such as skill, values and passions and using theseattributes to differentiate the person as a brand and guide his career decisions in his service to the citizenry. It isabout knowing how to powerfully leverage what is unique about that person that differentiates him from others.Personal branding strategy is absolutely critical to long-lasting success in politics. Despite the poverty and socialunrest in the land, an intending political office holder still needs to build up and manage his brand in order toachieve his goals in the political realm of the country. A winning political brand enjoys good visibility andpresence as well as increased mileage among his audience. For a politician to be a successful brand, his brandhas to be given a context. A brand (the leader in this case) needs to define his vision and purpose especially asit relates to the people that he wants to serve. Purpose is internal but as a good political brand, vision is external.Vision forms what the brand sees possible for the world. The purpose is the role the brand plays in supportingthat vision.

In addition, personal branding needs a clear definition of goals. What does the brand want to achieve for oneselfand ones audience in the next two, four or even eight years? To successfully unearth a brand, ones personalitymust be authentic. What are the strengths and weaknesses? Knowing these qualities makes it possible for oneto position oneself relative to ones competitors and gives one a road map for beating them. With the rightcommunication, the next step would be to describe the essence of the brand attributes, create a brand statementand develop a plan to communicate it to the target audience. This is the plan of the ideal communication tools bywhich the audience can be reached. This can vary, depending on the brands goals. A critical evaluation of thetools of communication (like regular ward meetings, rallies etc.) is imperative in order to appreciate the best oneto use in penetrating the audience. Method of communication with the target audience should reflect the brand.Whether giving a presentation, participating in a meeting, or writing a report, the brand cannot be left behind.Every meeting, every project, every business trip, every business meal, every public speaking engagement mustbe connected with the brand. Everything that a brand does, every tool that it uses, every article of cloth he wears

needs to be questioned. Such attitude keeps the brand clear and consistent. A proper evaluation of the brand isa compulsory step to take in order to know how successful it is. The feedback the politician gets from his


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audience enables him to evolve or develop for the better, if hitherto such feedback has been negative.Improvement could also take the form of augmenting the brand attributes as it continues to grow. The bottom-line is that the brand should continue to be authentic and differentiated.

7.2Personal pol itical brands in the past7.2.1 Benazir Bhu tto

Daughter of Quaid ae awam (Leader of the people) Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

ZAB he was the scion of the Bhutto family, from Larkana, North Sindh. His father, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto wasthe Prime Minister of Junagarh, and was the prime reason for the Nawab of Junagarh wanting to merge withPakistan. Coming from a landed feudal family, post Pakistan politics was ZABs coming. He rose to gain the trustof the military there, a very important factor in Pak politics. He was the Foreign Minister representing Pakistanwhen the UN Security Council was holding a meet on the Bangla genocide. He came across as a Pakistaninationalist back home, whom became the President of Pakistan, then the PM through his pro poor, left wingpolitics, and made his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) the only party to have presence in all four provinces Baluchistan, North West Frontier Province, Punjab and Sindh. He later had fallout with the military and wasdeposed by General Zia ul Haq. Zia appointed a judge to try ZAB for treason. He was hanged by Zia in whatwas called a judicial murder in Pakistan and elsewhere. It is important to know that ZAB was a Shia, who rose tothe top in a Sunni majority country, where the peace between the two streams of Islam is often tenuous to hold.

Nusrat ZAB married Nusrat, an Iranian Kurdish from Isphahan province of Iran. After ZAB, she took over theparty. Nusrat, despite her aristocratic background, was a street fighter, hence a lady of the masses. She paid avery big price for this, for she was leading the protests once in Lahore in the late 1970s, where the police hit onher head with a baton. She never recovered from the injury, which deteriorated into Alzheimers and lives hertwilight her daughters home in Dubai. It is said that Zia dint let her out for treatment abroad, so her condition iswhat it is.

Nusrat and ZAB had four children Benazir, Murtaza, Sanam and Shah Nawaz.

Benazir took over from her mother, when the party was splitting because most of her workers didnt want aforeign born Iranian to lead the party. Benazir was lucky, for Zia permitted her to go abroad and live her life, alsolet her recover from a continuously bleeding ear and to take care of her mother. She returned to a rapturouswelcome to Lahore in 1986 or so. Benazir was told 5 lakh people would turn out to welcome her, she told themedia only 2.5 were expected (she didnt want the military to claim points telling the press she could not estimatethe crowd right). Yet, surpassing all estimates, close to 20 lakh people turned out to see Bhuttos daughter. Theslogans coined for her were

Charon ubon ki Zanzeer, Benazir, Benazir (the chain that binds the four provinces)

Roshan Pakistan ki tasveer, Benazir, Benazir

Tunji bhen munji bhen, Benazir, Benazir (in Sindhi, your sister, my sister)

She posed a direct challenge to Zia, who called for elections, without announcing the date. Benazir was 35 andunmarried, a liability in a Muslim majority country. Her mother arranged her marriage to the scion of an ethnicBaloch feudal family, Asif Ali Zardari, a Shia. She married him and was expecting her 1st child, when Ziaannounced elections. Zia somehow came to know that she was expecting in November. Zia announced theelection date as 20th Nov, 88. But that was not to be. She delivered Bilawal Bhutto on 21st of Sept, 88; and wasfeted as the baby who fooled Zia. Zia died in a mysterious plane crash and Benazir comfortably won herelection to become Islamic worlds first female PM on 2nd Dec, 88.

She established governance after nearly a decade of military rule, in a country not used to long periods ofdemocracy spasmodic democracy it can be best called.


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After 2 years of rule, she was overthrown by the military, and Nawaz Sharif became the PM. Three years ofNawaz and she won her next election in 1993. After two years of rule she was again overthrown, and went intoexile in Dubai in 1996.

Even in her absence, her party did very well. It was the single largest party in the Pakistani National Assembly, in2002 elections; when she led the party in absentia. It was broken by Musharrafs party, the PML(Q) which went

to form the govt.

She returned to Pak on 17th Oct, 2007, seeing an opportunity in Musharrafs massive unpopularity. She claimed an entire generation in Pakistan has grown up without knowing me.

Her welcome was humongous. Nearly 2 million people were on the streets of Karachi, out to welcome theirleader. It was attacked by two suicide bomber. She escaped. But 138 others could not. She was all set to win theelection, but was assassinated in Rawalpindi on 27th Dec, 2007, not far from the place where her father washanged.

i. She was the daughter and wife of Shia men, in a country where Shias are called kafirs and areoften targeted by the militant groups.

ii. Her mother was Iranianiii. She was a Sindhi in a mostly Punjabi countryiv. She was a liberal in a mostly conservative countryv. She was a democrat in a largely feudal dominated politics, though she anointed herself as

Chairperson for life of the PPPvi. She was a woman in a mans professionvii. She was the wife of an ethnic Balochiviii. She was also the symbol of democratic continuity in a spasmodic democracy, essential for

people to have faith in their leader.

So essential is the Bhutto name in PPP politics that her children, who were Bilawal Zardari, Aseefa Zardari andBakhtawar Zardari rechristened themselves as Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari and Bakhtawar

Bhutto Zardari, when their mother was assassinated.

Why is martyrdom so important and revered in Pakistan?

This is not the case with Pakistan alone. Martyrdom, especially among the Shias, is a reminder of the sacrifice ofImam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad. He is exalted, by both, Sunni and Shia as the 'Martyr OfMartyrs', who fought tyranny as he refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid I, the Umayyad caliph. He rose up tocreate a regime that would reinstate a "true" Islamic polity as opposed to what he considered the unjust rule ofthe Umayyads. As a consequence, he was killed and beheaded in the Battle of Karbala in 680 by supporters ofYazid. The anniversary of his martyrdom is called Ashura (tenth day of Muharram) and is a day of mourning forShia Muslims. Since then, it is said among Shias that every generation has a mrtyr of its own. Revenge for hismartyrdom was turned into a rallying cry that helped undermine the Umayyad Caliphate and gave impetus to the

rise of a powerful Shia movement.

Benazirs, who styled herself as Zaynab, the sister of Imam Hussein, and Khadijah, the wife of the Prophet, sawher younger brother Shah Nawaz being poisoned mysteriously, and experienced her husband being accused ofkilling her other brother, Murtaza. For her followers, she had been seen as someone who gave up her upperclass, feudal, aristocratic upbringing to serve them, and in turn lost all that she had; much like what the women inIslamic history went through

7.2.2 Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Awn Sahn Sue Chee) is the third child and only daughter of Aung San,

considered to be the father of modern-day Burma. She was two when her father was assassinated. Sheremained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 of the 21 years from when she was first imprisoned.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni_Islamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_of_Muharramhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_of_Muharramhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni_Islam


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About Aung San Aung San was born into a well known family, which worked for resistance to the British rule.His great uncle Bo Min Yaung fought against the British annexation of Burma in 1886. Aung San enteredUniversity politics and rose steadily to become War Minister when the Japanese freed Burma in Second WorldWar. He was a founder of Communist Party of Burma and was instrumental in bringing about Burma'sindependence from British colonial rule in Burma, but was assassinated six months before it could becomeindependent. He is recognized as the leading architect of independence, and the founder of the Union of Burma. Affectionately known as "Bogyoke" (General), Aung San is still widely admired and revered by the Burmesepeople.

In 1988, Suu Kyi returned to Burma, to tend for her ailing mother. By coincidence, in the same year, the long-time military leader of Burma and head of the ruling party, General Ne Win, stepped down. This led to massdemonstrations for democracy on 8 August 1988, which came to be known as the 8888 Uprising and wereviolently suppressed in. On 26 August 1988, she addressed half a million people at a mass rally in front of theShwedagon Pagoda, the most sacred Pagoda, in Rangoon, calling for a democratic government, which was notto come by as the military took over. On 24 September 1988, the National League for Democracy (NLD) wasformed, with Suu Kyi as general secretary.

She chose to adopt Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence and by more specifically Buddhist conceptsinto her politics and work for democratization but was put under house arrest on 20 July 1989. She was offeredfreedom if she left the country, but she refused.

One of her most famous speeches is the "Freedom From Fear" speech, which begins: "It is not power thatcorrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corruptsthose who are subject to it."

In 1990, the Burmese military called an election, in which the NLD received 59% of the votes, guaranteeing 80%seats in Parliament. However, she did not stand as a candidate in the elections. Instead, the military governmentnullified the results, and refused to hand over power. Aung San Suu Kyi

Documents

Final Diro Report_political Branding_06!03!2010