Dianne Dean

Friends and relations: long‐term approaches to political campaigning

Proposes a prescriptive model for political marketing based loosely on the Six Markets Model of relationship marketing. The rationale for this is to be found in an analysis of the historical treatment of political marketing, from within both disciplines. Argues that many of the conventional axioms of marketing are inappropriate in politics, and observes how in political science, as in marketing itself, there is a questioning ofthe fundamental rational foundations of anumber of key theoretical constructs. In proposing a multiple markets model for politics, cites as evidence the fact that many of the approaches advocated appear already to have been adopted during the 1997 general election campaign of the British Labour Party.

Fear, Negative Campaigning and Loathing: The Case of the UK Election Campaign

Fear has for some time been used in marketing communications particularly in social and health marketing. This paper explores how fear was used in the General Election Campaign and uses Aristotles concept of rhetoric as a basis for understanding how messages are conveyed to the electorate. It argues that fear appeals are resonant with one particular type of voter but alienates other segments.

Political branding: sense of identity or identity crisis? An investigation of the transfer potential of the brand identity prism to the UK Conservative Party

Abstract Brands are strategic assets and key to achieving a competitive advantage. Brands can be seen as a heuristic device, encapsulating a series of values that enable the consumer to make quick and efficient choices. More recently, the notion of a political brand and the rhetoric of branding have been widely adopted by many political parties as they seek to differentiate themselves, and this has led to an emerging interest in the idea of the political brand. Therefore, this paper examines the UK Conservative Party brand under David Cameron’s leadership and examines the applicability of Kapferer’s brand identity prism to political branding. This paper extends and operationalises the brand identity prism into a ‘political brand identity network’ which identifies the inter-relatedness of the components of the corporate political brand and the candidate political brand. Crucial for practitioners, this model can demonstrate how the brand is presented and communicated to the electorate and serves as a useful mechanism to identify consistency within the corporate and candidate political brands.

Toward a conceptual framework of emotional relationship marketing: an examination of two UK political parties

The purpose of this paper is to review the notion of branding and evaluate its applicability to political parties. As ideological politics is in decline, branding may provide a consistent narrative where voters feel a sense of warmth and belonging. The paper aims to build an understanding of the complexity of building a political brand where a combination of image, logo, leadership, and values can all contribute to a compelling brand narrative. It investigates how competing positive and negative messages attempt to build and distort the brand identity. A critical review of branding, relationship marketing, and political science literature articulates the conceptual development of branding and its applicability to political parties. The success or failure of negative campaigning is due to the authenticity of a political partys brand values—creating a coherent brand story—if there is no distance between the brand values articulated by the political party and the values their community perceives then this creates an “authentic” brand. However, if there is a gap this paper illustrates how negative campaigning can be used to build a “doppelgänger brand,” which undermines the credibility of the authentic political brand. The paper argues that political parties need to understand how brand stories are developed but also how they can be used to protect against negative advertising. This has implications for political marketing strategists and political parties. This paper draws together branding theory and relationship marketing and incorporates them into a framework that makes a contribution to the political marketing literature.

Qualitative projective techniques in political brand image research from the perspective of young adults

Purpose – This paper aimed to focus on political marketing and utilised a number of projective techniques to explore the UK Conservative Party’s “brand image” amongst young adults aged 18-24 years. There is little guidance in the extant literature regarding projective technique analysis. Furthermore, there are explicit calls for insight and more understanding into the analytical process. Responding to this identified gap in the literature, this paper provides an illustrative guide that can be used to analyse and interpret findings generated from qualitative projective techniques. Design/methodology/approach – This paper opted for an exploratory study using focus group discussions, combined with qualitative projective techniques. Eight two-hour focus group discussions were conducted with 46 young citizens aged 18-24 years from three locations in England. Focus groups were conducted prior to the 2010 UK General Election. The data from the projective techniques were thematically analysed by the researcher. F...

From pushchairs to wheelchairs: understanding tensions in family decision making through the experiences of adult children caring for ageing parents

Abstract Within a modern family life, roles have changed significantly; however, relatively little attention has been given to the increased health and longevity of parents. This article focuses on the tensions relating to the transitional role of parent as ‘carer of the child’ to child as ‘carer of the parent’ as parents age. This article focuses on the experiences of adult children as they care for their parents and the related tensions that emerge and coping strategies that are adopted. Adopting an interpretive approach we shed light on the decision-making practices around shopping, residential arrangements and other consumer choices and how they take place in complex arenas of intricate family interactions, influence and power. Key themes that emerged were strategies adopted by both the adult child and ageing parent to attain or retain control in an increasingly sensitive environment where there is no roadmap to guide either party.

Intergenerational spaces: citizens, political marketing and conceptualising trust in a transitional democracy

Abstract As the third largest democracy in the world, Indonesia’s relatively peaceful transition from authoritarian rule to democracy deserves academic attention. This study explored the notion of trust and how it could influence electoral behaviour. An intergenerational perspective was used to compare the differences between parents who were familiar with the previous political system and their children who have only been exposed to a new democratic system. Through the extension of the Dermody and Hanmer-Lloyd model of electoral behaviour, this study identifies the antecedents of trust/distrust in a transitional democracy and shows how these are different when citizens’ consider the political system and the political candidate. The work can benefit policy makers and political candidates who can develop political marketing strategies to engage citizens in the electoral process.

They Come over Here … 300 Years of Xenophobic Propaganda in England

Englands rulers, merchants, and organized labor in the early modern period (from the 16th to the 18th centuries) were all actively using what today we would call propaganda. Each group appreciated the need to get popular opinion on its side, or at the least to convince other groups it was in the public interest to act in a particular way. This study focuses on the use of xenophobic narratives by these actors in order to further their political, economic, or cultural objectives. The targets were economic rivals including the Dutch, but most particularly ethnic and religious outgroups, including Roman Catholics, Muslims, and Jews. Although there were public relations win-wins for anyone who was able successfully to demonize foreigners, racist and xenophobic propaganda was often more pernicious than the tellers realized, in many cases extending its influence over several generations. In addition, it is clear that many narratives failed to engage with public opinion, for reasons that were not always clear to the groups responsible for them.

A Review of: “Johnson, Dennis W., Editor. (2009). Campaigning for President 2008: Strategies and Tactics, New Voices and New Techniques.”

Dennis Johnson has assembled a distinguished group of practitioners and political scientists to review the 2008 U.S. presidential election and has provided an insightful analysis of this remarkable election. This is an essential read for students of politics, campaigning, and political marketing alike. If edited volumes occasionally suffer from a lack of focus, then this volume is characterized by a thematic approach that groups the chapters into three sections focusing on the primaries; new technologies; and finally, the presidential election campaigns. Johnson’s excellent introduction captures the drama of this ‘‘transformational election,’’ providing a précis of the chapters to come. Using the material provided from the contributors, he develops his argument that explains why Barack Obama was elected as the first black president. He recognizes that there were a number of complex variables that contributed his success—for instance how the Obama strategists extinguished the inevitability of Hillary Clinton’s nomination; new technological developments that enabled innovations in data mining, communications, and fund raising; and the fault lines in the McCain campaign—but concluded that, ultimately, it was untainted freshness of Obama that caught the attention of voters. He also provides a brief but illuminating explanation of the vagaries U.S. election system including the constitution and voting practices of the primaries and the influence of the super delegates. Hillary Clinton’s failure to secure the democratic nomination was surprising for many, and Faucheux argues that the complexity of the Hillary Clinton brand was exacerbated by the double-edged sword of Bill Clinton, who was able to raise large sums of money for the campaign but also to polarize opinion both among the campaign team and Democratic supporters. Faucheux argues that this resulted in an inconsistent message diluting the clarity of the Hillary Clinton brand. How John McCain succeeded in gaining the Republican presidential nomination according to Tony Fabrizio was his tenacity, remaining resolute when faced with major competition from other Republican candidates and the economic meltdown. According to Fabrizio, McCain failed to get complete support from the Republican party, who only rallied round when faced with an ultra-liberal Democratic nominee. Journal of Political Marketing, 9:225–227, 2010 Copyright # [2010] Crown copyright ISSN: 1537-7857 print=1537-7865 online DOI: 10.1080/15377857.2010.497744