John Egan

Political Marketing: Lessons from the Mainstream

This paper seeks to examine the perceived differences between political marketing and mainstream marketing. It looks at the justifications for marketing strategies in the political context and suggests that the importance of image may, regularly, outweigh that of policy. It discusses nine areas of supposed differentiation including the single transaction date, non-pricing, collective choice, winner takes all, product complexity, new and extended brands, brand leadership, negative advertising and local campaigning. Generally it finds both comparisons can be made, and potential lessons learnt, from mainstream marketing.

Throwing the baby out with the bathwater

Looks at the dominance of relationship marketing (RM) in the current marketing debate and challenges some of the notions which appear to have grown up around the concept. In particular looks at a number of aspects of RM, which, despite the rhetoric, remain largely unsubstantiated. Examines the various claims of RM as a “new marketing paradigm”, whether it represents a united and cohesive force and if this is perceived as such by both academics and practitioners. Looks at the economic arguments underlying RM and whether they stand up to rigorous scrutiny and at consumers’ responses to relational strategies. Finally, questions the “satisfaction/loyalty/profit” hypothesis frequently suggested as the underlying model for RM.

Marketing and political campaigning: mutually exclusive or exclusively mutual?

Questions the nature of marketing methods in political campaigns based on a grounded theoretical approach conducted using in‐depth interviews. Suggests that if marketing success is measured solely by the level of turnout then the use of marketing in political campaigns would appear to be failing. Other reasons, however, may also explain this lack of success. The use of marketing may be less effective because the “market” is more restrictive, or marketing methods whilst actually being appropriate may be being used inappropriately. Concludes that, although the political “market” is different and restrictive, this does not negate the role of marketing in political campaigning.

Drivers to relational strategies in retailing

Retailing, at first sight, appears to be an industry suitable for the exploitation of relational strategies. Despite this authors disagree about whether Relationship Marketing strategies are appropriate across the wide spectrum of retailing activities or whether the benefits are limited to certain retail types. This paper seeks to clarify whether a claim for universality can be made or, if not, clarify those “conditions” which most strongly support, or otherwise, the introduction of relational strategies.

Market classification and political campaigning : some strategic implications

ABSTRACT There is an argument for a flow of logic from market structure to marketing strategy and performance. The nature of the political “market” and service-product constrains and dictates marketing strategy choices. Interactions between the voter, parties, and candidates in political campaigns could be likened to human services (Dickens, 1996) in commerce. However, parties and candidates operate in peculiar poligopolistic markets competing for the authority to deliver government services through an exclusive right of franchise bidding process similar to that in business-to-business markets. A structure-conduct-performance model is presented based on an analysis of political markets from consumer, industrial, and services marketing perspectives to provide strategic marketing insights. Political marketing is a hybrid subdiscipline of marketing incorporating characteristics from all three major marketing paradigms, with services marketing theory holding particular promise for future theory development.

A century of marketing

For more than a decade a growing number of academics have questioned the basis and value of many core marketing principles and have brought into question the credibility of the dominant historical account of the development of marketing (Fitchett 2005). Despite this criticism, and the growing disdain heaped upon marketers, change is notoriously slow in marketing education. This paper traces the history of marketing during the twentieth century to see if any lessons or indeed patterns can be distinguished for the new millennium marketers. While there is always a danger that much of what we each perceive as history is post-hoc rationalisation, there is value in looking back at how and what we have achieved, the perceived expectations along the way and (crucially) whether these have changed. The paper seeks to explore the apparent links between each generation of marketing thought in an attempt to understand, clarify current developments and raise possible research issues. It concludes that marketing thinking is dominated by its time and place and that the fruitless quest for the next new paradigm is more paralysing than stimulating in the marketing debate.

Long-Term Performance of Political Parties

Abstract Whilst politicians can “buy” votes in the short-term, most political parties are more interested in maintaining power over a period of years in order to implement their policies. This paper explores whether political parties can be considered to possess long-term competitive resources that sustain their competitive advantages. It employs the well-established strategic management concept of the Resource-Based View of strategy development for this purpose. Because such a concept has not previously been applied to political parties, the paper begins by considering the nature of the competition that exists between political parties and the role of resources in developing superior political performance. A series of theoretical propositions about why some parties maintain political power and influence for lengthy periods is then developed. We argue that the competitive resources of a political party such as its policies, leadership, organisational and communications skills require long-term investment and development, rejecting the notion that long-term electoral success is based primarily on the promises and resources deployed in the final election campaign.

Academy of Marketing Conference 2006 "Marketing Excellence"

Daragh O’Reilly – University of Sheffield Stuart Roper – Manchester Business School Jim Blythe – University of Glamorgan Darach Turley – Dublin City University Heidi Winklhofer – University of Nottingham Mairead Brady – Trinity College, Dublin Ian Fillis – University of Stirling Geri Clarke – International Business School Patrick de Pelsmacker – University of Antwerp Paul Gibbs – Middlesex University David Jobber – University of Bradford Debra Riley – Kingston University Roger Bennett – London Metropolitan University Michael J. Harker – University of Strathclyde Andrew Paddison – University of Stirling Bill Donaldson – Robert Gordon University Angus Laing – University of Glasgow Janine Dermody – University of Gloucestershire Fiona Ellis-Chadwick – Loughborough University