Wring 1997
Wring 1997
To cite this article: Dominic Wring (1997): Reconciling marketing with political science: Theories of political marketing,
Journal of Marketing Management, 13:7, 651-663
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic
reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to
anyone is expressly forbidden.
The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents
will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should
be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims,
proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in
connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
                                                            Journal of Marketing Management, 1997, 13, 651-663
                                                            In their seminal article, Kotier and Levy (1969) argued that elections should be one
                                                            of the new arenas of marketing interest: "Political contests remind us that candidates
                                                            are marketed as well as soap/'However, the earliest recorded use of the term
                                                            "political marketing" did not appear in a formal management study but in the
                                                            pioneering work of political scientist Stanley Kelley which charted the emergence of
                                                            the professional campaign industry in the United States. Commenting on the
                                                            activities of the first election consultancies, Kelley wrote:
                                                                            'The team relies heavily but not entirely upon their own
                                                                            intuitive feel for providing political marketing condi-
                                                                            tions. They pride themselves on having "good average
                                                                            minds" that help them to see things as the average man
                                                                            sees them.' (Kelley 1956, p. 53)
                                                            In spite of the opposition from marketing purists, those in sympathy with the
                                                            "broadening" thesis began to attempt to clarify, refine and establish the sub-field of
                                                            political marketing. By the mid-1970s American scholars such as Avraham Shama
                                                            (1974; 1976) and the prolific Philip Kotier (1975) were to the fore in developing
                                                            theoretical foundations for the subject. Similarly, experts in Europe began to consider
                                                            the political dimension to marketing, positing the view that an exchange
                                                            relationship existed between democratic elites and their voters (O'Leary and Iredale
                                                            1976). By the mid-1980s a steady stream of research discussing the emergence of the
                                                            phenomenon helped confirm its importance (Mauser 1983; Newman and Sheth
                                                            1985). Writing in 1988 David Reid concluded that:
                                                            Seymour Fine identifies the 1985 decision of the American Marketing Association
                                                            (AMA) to redefine its central concern as a milestone in the integration of social (and
                                                            political) issues into mainstream marketing thinking. New phraseology added the
Downloaded by [University of Guelph] at 03:51 10 May 2013
                                                            to win support with its desire to maintain some degree of programmatic consistency
                                                            between elections.
                                                               Due to the peculiar nature of the environment in which they operate and despite
                                                            the existence of "voter sovereignty", parties rather than firms are perhaps more
                                                            adequately equipped to influence the deliberations of their market. Thus for
                                                            Schattschneider elections are based around the organising principle that:
                                                                          Democracy is a competitive political system in which
                                                                          competing leaders and organizations define the alter-
                                                                          natives of public policy in such a way that the public can
                                                                          participate in the decision-making process. (Schattsch-
                                                                          neider 1960, p.141).
                                                              This "realist" concept of democracy underpins Andrew Gamble's isolation of the
Downloaded by [University of Guelph] at 03:51 10 May 2013
                                                            The political marketing process as outlined in Figure 1 consists of four parts, namely
                                                            the party (or candidate) organisation, the environment which conditions its
Downloaded by [University of Guelph] at 03:51 10 May 2013
                                                            development, the strategic mix it deploys, and ultimately the market it must operate
                                                            in.
                                                                  Promotion       Advertising
                                                                                  Broadcasts
                                                                                  PR
                                                                                  Direct Mail
                                                                                                  Strategy p>   Floating voters
                                                                  Place           Local Work
                                                                                  Canvassing
                                                                                  Leader Tour
                                                                                                                Opponents
                                                                  Price           Economic
                                                                                  Psychological
                                                                                  National
                                                                                                        Market Research
                                                                          Party
ORGANISATION
                                                            electoral system run on the grounds of proportionality as opposed to "first past the
                                                            post". This is not to argue that market criteria cannot be applied to a political
                                                            situation such as that in Britain where purely majoritarian rules of voting operate.
                                                            Indeed the need for the parries to maintain vote share as well as court new groups
                                                            of "swing" voters is as relevant to participants in this system as it is to those
                                                            operating under conditions of proportional representation.
Product
                                                            The product is central to a marketing mix. In electoral terms the product, a "mix" of
                                                            variables in its own right, combines three key aspects: "party image", "leader
                                                            image" and "policy commitments". This configuration has been popularised by
                                                            several analysts including Bob Worcester, head of the MORI polling organisation
                                                            (Farrell and Wortmann 1987; Worcester 1987,1991; Shaw 1994). Using survey data,
                                                            Worcester points out the extent to which each element of the product influences
                                                            opinion amongst different groups of voters. Thus, where one segment might be
                                                            susceptible to primarily issue-based appeals, others will display a pre-occupation
                                                            656                                 Dominic Wring
                                                            substance underpinning the concept is more likely contained within the policy
                                                            platform on which an election manifesto is based. In the last 20 years psephological
                                                            research has begun to place greater emphasis on the rational choice notion of the
                                                            elector as a consumer evaluating the issues and voting for the party most in tune
                                                            with individual policy preferences (Himmelweit et al. 1985; Harrop 1986). However,
                                                            the overall picture is not simply one of a shift from party image to issue-based
                                                            explanations of voter choice because the situation has been complicated by another
                                                            factor, that of leader image, which forms the third constituent in the political product
                                                            mix.
                                                               Once a largely ignored factor in electoral research, the growing and potential
                                                            future importance of leader image has been recognised in several studies into the
                                                            increasing presidentialisation of British politics (Foley 1993; Mughan 1993; Crewe
                                                            and King 1994). Media coverage of current affairs has helped extenuate this trend; as
                                                            Philip Kotier comments: "Voters rarely know or meet the candidates; they only have
                                                            mediated images of them. They vote on the basis of their images" (Kotier 1982).
Promotion
                                                            same category as other forms of political advertising. Paid media also covers the
                                                            burgeoning sector of telephone and direct mail marketing, an increasingly common
                                                            feature of contemporary election campaigning. Party colours, designs, slogan copy
                                                            and symbols provide an additional dimension to the overall communications mix.
                                                               Free media refers to the publicity which parties receive but do not buy. In contrast
                                                            to purchased advertising campaigns, organisations have less control over their
                                                            product's exposure in the mass media. Consequently, political strategists, not to
                                                            mention the voting public, tend to view this kind of coverage as being of greater
                                                            importance. Electoral organisations are becoming increasingly reliant on the
                                                            techniques of news management. In recent years the American term "spin doctor"
                                                            has entered the political lexicon in recognition of the increasing role that press,
                                                            publicity and broadcasting officers can and do play in the British electoral and
                                                            parliamentary process Cones 1995). This aspect of campaigning provides perhaps
Downloaded by [University of Guelph] at 03:51 10 May 2013
                                                            one of the most striking contrasts between commercial and electoral marketing
                                                            strategies: unlike their political counterparts, communications staff working for even
                                                            the most senior corporate executives are unlikely to be deluged on a daily basis by
                                                            some of the most experienced journalists eager for information and answers to
                                                            highly sensitive questions.
                                                               Free media strategies are not solely concerned with defensive news management
                                                            activities. More common to commerce and increasingly a part of the political
                                                            process, public relations is a tool designed to attract favourable media attention for
                                                            the organisation concerned. It is now almost obligatory for senior British politicians
                                                            to participate in "photo-opportunities", news conferences and other scenarios
                                                            designed to enhance the status of themselves and their message (Cockerell 1988;
                                                            Franklin 1994). This is particularly true of the period in the run-up to an election.
Placement
                                                            computers, telephone canvass banks and direct mail initiatives became the norm in
                                                            British by-elections before later establishing themselves as standard general election
                                                            practice in most key marginal seats (Swaddle 1988).
Price
                                                            Pricing, the fourth part of a conventional marketing mix, enables a commercial firm
                                                            to develop a strategy which will help maintain competitiveness and profitability in
                                                            the marketplace. Some electoral commentators have discounted the pricing element
                                                            in the belief that it adds little to the analysis of campaign planning and
                                                            implementation (Farrell 1986; Farrell and Wortmann 1987). Wangen takes the
                                                            variable to mean the way an organisation raises campaign finance and attracts
                                                            members (Wangen 1983). By contrast, the theoretical basis of this paper is built on a
                                                            conception of the political marketing process defined by Philip Niffenegger (1990)
                                                            and which includes all the central tenets of conventional theory (see Figure 1).
                                                            Niffenegger justifies the relevance of the pricing mix by outlining its constituent
                                                            parts. These elements, relating to environmental phenomena as interpreted by the
                                                            electorate, comprise voter feelings of national, economic and psychological hope or
                                                            insecurity. This notion of the political "price" reflects Reid's observation that a vote
                                                            is a "psychological purchase" (Reid 1988). The parallels between electoral and
                                                            consumer behaviour have been more comprehensively analysed by Lane (1993).
                                                               There are always problems inherent in designing campaigns according to market
                                                            research findings. These pitfalls are augmented when candidates seek to capitalise
                                                            on the reported anxieties or aspirations of a given electoral group. One public sign
                                                            of the importance attached« to this kind of strategy is the growth in "negative
                                                            campaigning". This type of electioneering, most commonly associated with
                                                            American politics, involves attempts by party or candidates' organisations to
                                                            frighten voters with robust and often startling denunciations of opponents. The
                                                            frequency with which many leading national candidates in the United States have
                                                            used this type of campaign has offended even David Ogilvy, a staunch defender and
                                                            senior member of the marketing industry: "There is one category of advertising
                                                            which is totally uncontrolled and flagrantly dishonest: the television commercials
                                                            for candidates in Presidential elections" (Ogilvy 1983, p.209).
                                                                                   Reconciling Marketing with Political Science                        659
                                                               Negative "appeals" usually focus on only one aspect of the pricing mix at a time.
                                                            Depending on the audience being targeted, common economic themes include an
                                                            opponents' intention to either raise tax and spending or else make sweeping budget
                                                            cuts. In times of international insecurity or domestic uncertainty politicians,
                                                            particularly incumbents, often stress their rivals' apparent lack of diplomacy or
                                                            administrative competence. Such appeals are often couched in images which stress
                                                            the need to counter what is posed as a threat to the "national interest" from
                                                            "undesirable elements" be they at home or abroad. Perhaps the least tangential
                                                            element of the pricing mix relates to the psychological cost implicit in voting. A
                                                            popular feature in negative campaigns, such strategies tap into often deep seated
                                                            and unspoken prejudices about a given politician's lack of ability, judgement and
                                                            trustworthiness. As O'Keefe notes: "...in no other campaign situation are target
Downloaded by [University of Guelph] at 03:51 10 May 2013
                                                            audiences required to take into account not only ideas, issues, and policies, but also
                                                            such human traits as honesty, professional expertise, and managerial style" (O'Keefe
                                                            1989). Famous victims of this type of attack advertising have included American
                                                            presidential and vice-presidential hopefuls such as Barry Goldwater, Spiro Agnew,
                                                            Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton (Jamieson 1992). "Pricing" policy need not
                                                            necessarily form a wholly negative part of the political marketing mix. It is possible
                                                            to conceive of a campaign strategy which promotes the idea of a domestic "feelgood
                                                            factor" or boasts a perceived increase in the country's international standing in a
                                                            order to make political capital and win votes. Similarly incumbent politicians often
                                                            allude to psychological notions of "a nation at ease with itself" in their attempt to
                                                            secure re-election. Despite the fact that pricing is the least tangible aspect of a
                                                            marketing strategy, it is nevertheless a useful concept which complements the other
                                                            variables. Precisely because it is a "mix", pricing can be seen to interlock and overlap
                                                            with the other strategic tools, particularly those concerned with communications
                                                            and product management. Marketing can be analysed in its constituent parts but
                                                            should ultimately be seen in its totality.
                                                            Market research plays an important role in modern electoral politics. Since its first
                                                            recorded use by an American candidate in the 1930s, private polling has
                                                            mushroomed both in terms of its expense and importance (Hodder-Williams 1970;
                                                            Teer and Spence 1973; Kavanagh 1992). The rise of opinion research offers party
                                                            leaderships potential enlightenment but also a challenge. Political elites who were
                                                            once able to rely on channels of mass communication to influence a captive public
                                                            are now faced with commissioning often unedifying polling findings in order to help
                                                            sharpen strategy and sustain their electoral good fortune (Wring 1996). In the past
                                                            opinion research has commonly taken the form of quantitatively based surveys of
                                                            key demographic groups. More recently politicians have begun to employ
                                                            consultants who specialise in the "psychographic" forms of private polling designed
                                                            to explore voters' more deep seated values and attitudes (Kleinman 1987; Worcester
                                                            1991). Increasingly campaign research studies are beginning to combine traditional
                                                            quantitative research with focus groups and other types of qualitative methods.
                                                            660                                Dominic Wring
Conclusions
                                                            This paper has been concerned with demonstrating the usefulness of marketing
                                                            analysis in the study of political campaigning. Having shown how the writings of
                                                            democratic theorists might be reconciled with those of management scholars, a
                                                            framework based on the basic "4Ps" marketing model was used in order to identify
                                                            and explore the various elements that constitute an election campaign. Such an
                                                            approach is arguably useful in analysing the increasingly marketing driven politics
                                                            evident in many of the major western democracies.
                                                                                   Reconciling Marketing with Political Science                   661
References
                                                            Lane, R. (1993), "Voting and Buying: Political Economy on the Small Stage". paper
                                                              presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-
                                                              economics. New York School for Social Research, New York, March.
                                                            Mauser, G. (1983), Political Marketing: an approach to campaign strategy, New York:
                                                              Praegar.
                                                            McCarthy, E.J. (1960), Basic Marketing, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin.
                                                            Miller, W. et al. (1990), How Voters Change: the 1987 British election campaign in
                                                              perspective, Oxford: Clarendon.
                                                            Mughan, A. (1993), "Party Leaders and Presidentialism in the 1992 election", In
                                                              British Parties and Elections Yearbook, (Ed) Denver, D. et al., London: Harvester
                                                              Wheatsheaf.
                                                            Newman, B. and Sheth, J. (Eds) (1985), Political Marketing: Readings and Annotated
                                                              Bibliography, Chicago: American Marketing Association.
                                                            Newman, B. (1994), Marketing the President, London: Sage.
                                                            Niffenegger, P. (1989), "Strategies for success from the political marketers", Journal of
                                                              Consumer Marketing, 6, pp.45-51.
                                                            O'Cass, A. (1996), "Political Marketing and the marketing concept", European Journal
                                                              of Marketing, 30, pp.45-61.
                                                            Ogilvy, D. (1983), Ogilvy on Advertising, London: Pan.
                                                            O'Keefe, G.J. (1989), "Political Campaigns: Strategies and Tactics", In Information
                                                              Campaigns, (Ed) Salmon, C.T., Newbury Park: Sage.
                                                            O'Leary, R. and Iredale, I. (1976), "The Marketing Concept: Quo Vadis?", European
                                                              Journal of Marketing, 10, pp.146-157.
                                                            O'Shaughnessy, N.J. (1990), The Phenomenon of Political Marketing, Hampshire:
                                                              Macmillan.
                                                            Qualter, T. (1985), Opinion Control in the Democracies, Hampshire: Macmillan.
                                                            Reid, D. (1988), "Marketing the Political Product", European Journal of Marketing, 22,
                                                              pp.34-17.
                                                            Sackman, A. (1992), "The Marketing Organisation Model: Making Sense of Modern
                                                              Campaigning in Britain", paper presented at the UK Political Studies Association
                                                              Annual Conference, Belfast, April.
                                                            Scammell, M. and Semetko, H. (1995), "Political Advertising in Television: The
                                                              British Experience", In Political Advertising in Western Democracies, (Eds) Kaid, L.L.
                                                              and Holtz-Bacha, C., London: Sage.
                                                            Schattschneider, W. (1960), The Semi-Sovreign People, New York: Holt Rinehart
                                                              Winston.
                                                                                 Reconciling Marketing with Political Science              663
                                                              Routledge.
                                                            Smith, G. and Saunders, J. (1990), "The Application of Marketing to British Politics",
                                                              Journal of Marketing Management, 5, pp.295-306.
                                                            Swaddle, K. (1988), "Hi-Tech Elections: Technology and the Development of
                                                              Electioneering since 1945", Contemporary Record, Spring, pp.32-35.
                                                            Teer, F. and Spence, J.D. (1973), Political Opinion Polls, London: Hutchinson.
                                                            Tyler, R. (1987), Campaign! The Selling of a Prime Minister, London: Grafton.
                                                            Wangen, E. (1983), Polit-Marketing: Das Marketing-Management der Politschein Partein,
                                                              Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.
                                                            Ware, A. (1985), The Breakdown of Democratic Party Organization 1940-80, Oxford:
                                                              Clarendon Press.
                                                            Whyte, J. (1988), "Organization, Person and Idea Marketing Exchanges", In The
                                                              Marketing Digest, (Eds) Thomas, M. and Waite, N., London: Heinemann.
                                                            Worcester, R. (1987), "The Triangular Equation Behind the Tory Victory", The Times,
                                                              13th June.
                                                            Worcester, R. (1991), British Public Opinion, Oxford: Blackwell.
                                                            Wring, D. (1996), "From Mass Propaganda to Political Marketing: the Transforma-
                                                              tion of Labour Party Election Campaigning", In British Parties and Elections
                                                              Yearbook, (Ed) Railings, C. et al., London: Frank Cass.
                                                            Yorke, D.A. and Meehan, N. (1986), "Acorn in the Political Marketplace", European
                                                              Journal of Marketing, 20, pp.63-76.