The Evolution of Political Marketing in North America
The Political
Marketing Moment
Politics Now in Canada and the USA
What It Is: Political
Marketing
Market orientation
Product development
Branding/position/segmentation
Voter as consumer
Why Political Marketing ?
Explains the way in which parties and other
political entities behave
In response to social and technological change.
It fits the consumerist values we have
It fits the lifestyles people have
And
It is easier to figure out how to reach the right
people and what those people are concerned about
than it has been
Reaching the right people is the trick
The current moment is one of niche narrowcasting,
lifestyle communities and discussions within
segments
To Be Clear
Advertising is a key part of marketing but not all of
it.
Marketing includes the overall strategy to design
and sell the product.
Including paid and earned media but a lot more.
Meaning
The product or offering is the party’s candidates,
manifesto and emotions
The position is the space that the product holds in
the customer’s mind
The brand is the visual and emotive representation
of the product to the audience
Providing an Incentive
For political entities to market themselves and their
wares much as do other entities.
In this, they reflect the society, the technology and
the politics in which they exist as much as they
shape that.
This is a global phenomenon, not just happening in
North America or the United States. See for
Example Lees-Marshment 2011.
Consultants and partisans learn from each other on
a cross-national basis
Examples
John Howard’s “Aussie Battlers” used in Canada by
the Conservative Party to describe some of its
audiences
The third way used in the USA, Canada and the UK
by Clinton, Chretien and Blair respectively.
“Hope and Change” became very popular globally
after 2008.
The Commonsense Revolution has been launched in
multiple places around the globe.
Thus
Understanding the audience and the marketplace
become vital to building an effective political
marketing campaign.
A great deal of emphasis on polls and focus
groups.
To determine effective visuals, language, narrative
and policy priorities
And what works with which audiences.
Because
Much more noise than in the past . Reaching the
right audience is more difficult than it once was.
Many more channels. The proliferation of new
distribution channels makes hitting the right
targets more difficult than in the past.
Citizens have longer commutes and work hours
than once was the case.
I can opt out of the political nation and join Leafs
nation or build my world around family/work more
easily than in the past. Less social connection
Social Disconnection
The party as a membership organization is in
trouble across North America
More independents pay less attention means that
marketing in general and branding in particular
increase in importance
They are key tools to build voter awareness of
candidates and platforms
CDN parties always have a marketing imperative
that their US counterparts don’t: they have to sell
memberships.
And
The dominant values of the age are consumerist.
The public expects packages, promotion and significant
choice in everything else.
When did consumerism become our values ? Gradually,
during the last century.
As Nimijean has argued, the politics of the age are neo-
liberal meaning that fights are over means not ends.
Brand battles sharpen distinctions and generate
interest.
One Way To Think of All
This
An ongoing conversation between an organization
and its audience targets that includes a campaign
and beyond.
Loyalty isn’t build all at once. It can take a while of
showing people why what was promised works as
advertised, that those promises made were kept
and that taking a next step would be a good thing
to do.
The idea of a campaign is to have a plan about that
conversation
That Includes
Products
Personality
Positioning
Brand
Communications Plan
Audience Targets
Product Definition
Politics is about definition in a couple of ways
Define yourself
Define your opponent
Personality
Both in terms of the party leader and
In terms of the brand
Party Leader/Face
Inextricably linked with the brand in Canada.
This is the same in the USA when a party occupies
the White House but is more nebulous for the
opposition party.
Personality
Can also sell the leader as being like average
people
Both CDN and USA political parties sometimes do
this and they sometimes sell other personal traits
about the leader like attending an Ivy League
University or being a business owner.
Or sell values such as empathy or strength.
Meaning
Campaigns talk about themselves
Campaigns talk about their opponents
Opponents talk about themselves
Opponents talk about their rivals.
In the USA, this strategic grid has four spaces and
in Canada it can have four but also up to ten.
The Political Equivalent
Of educating the consumer about what the offering
is on a given party’s side
Versus the offerings of rivals.
One difference is that the battle is more existential
than over market share a lot of the time in politics
but
In a multi-party system like Canada’s, it can be over
market share as well.
Positioning
What space do you want occupy in the mind of the
consumer ?
Generally, somewhere nearer the center is better in
politics but the marketing challenge is
The center can shift and political types can’t shift
with it all the time if they want to retain overall
authenticity.
Authenticity – the perception of being what one
says one is in marketing.
The Brand
The total user experience with the product
according to Zyman
The image, slogan, music and values supporting a
product.
The brand needs to fit the product’s features and
benefits but also resonate with its target audience.
In The USA
USA Republicans have used the
Reagan/Conservative brand since 1980 as one
Plus the Lincoln heritage has merged with the
Reagan/Conservative one
And the elephant is still around
As is an emphasis on tradition
Reagan Heritage
The Elephant
Tea Party Flag
All of which
More or less work together to build a narrative that
is visually and emotively coherent
Put the Republican Party in a specific place in the
mind of the prospect
Provide a specific set of emotions and
understandings to the audience targets
The Democrats
The Dems are much more muddied. Sometimes it
is Obama, sometimes it has been the
Congressional leadership but it isn’t consistent and
this is why their messaging isn’t consistent.
Either
Or The Kicking Donkey
The First One
Clearly ties to Obama
But also looks like a target as one wag put it and
What happens if Obama loses ?
The Second One
Ties to the Democrats’ heritage.
They’re called the Donkeys
The donkey logo has serious equity
Changing to the newer logo visually throws all this
away but it clarifies that the D’s are the party of
Obama
And
There are still individual Obama logos selling him
not the party
This is far less coherent narratively and visually
than what the Republicans have done but they’ve
also been doing it for longer
Thus, the muddling of the Democratic Brand
continues
The 2012 Version
Canadian Parties
Use the logo as a key part of the brand
And are aware that they are doing so.
Conservative
Electoral
Promise/Positioning
New Democrats
Liberal
Colors
Absolutely own their colors consciously.
This is different from the USA in which the media
imposes more color discipline than do the parties.
Fonts can also send messages but the fonts have
changed over time here.
Visuals
A picture really is worth a thousand words
The visuals associated with a brand can be the key
vehicle through which its contents get distributed.
Example I
Example II
Example III
Example IV
Slogans
Can be a key conduit to transfer the brand value
proposition
Two Canadian examples: “Forward Together”
Ontario Liberals and “Here For Canada”
Conservative Party of Canada
Two US: “ Change We Can Believe In” and
“Together We Can”
Key US/Canada Difference
Canadian Parties are more limited in the heat they
can put in their brand/ads
They cover this in other parts of the ads
US parties can be much hotter visually and in the
verbiage than can their Canadian counterparts
because
Emotions
As Westin has shown in the US case, much of the
way people experience politics is emotional not
analytically.
The emotions that similar ideological parties work
with around the globe seem the same.
Thus, the emotions that a party can work with in a
specific setting are limited by what the audience
will respond to.
Audiences
Things that might work well in a federal election
might not work so well in a provincial one because
the audience demography is different.
In the era of niche narrowcasting, the emotions
that might activate one group could outrage
another.
Examples
Ontario Provincial Election 2011
Conservative Party of Canada campaign 2011
New Democratic Party campaign 2011
Channels
Both USA and CDN parties freight train their paid
and earned media
The USA parties have a less regulated electronic
media that they can use as well.
For Republicans: Fox News and talk radio
For Democrats MSNBC, a smaller talk radio
segment and social media
Canada
Prominence is given to TV coverage and paid electronic
media
The talk radio is more regulated
The value of social media was debated within parties.
There is Sun TV but that’s as much branded
infotainment as it is a part of a partisan distribution
system.
The distribution system seems smaller and more diffuse
here.
Audience Targets
The goal is to reach the right audience and turn it
out for both USA parties for example.
This is called segmentation and it is possible
because of the proliferation of instruments that
collect data about us.
And digging deeper than that, by looking at all of
the things that a consumer purchases a political
marketer can build a profile of the most likely
consumers for the product.
EG: For Both USA Parties
The goal is to turn out specific audience segments
in big numbers.
Dems- visible minorities, younger voters, blue collar
workers
Repubs-evangelicals, marrieds, and professionals
This means there’s no point for these parties
spending a lot of time chasing voters they won’t
probably win or campaigning in places that won’t
produce wins
Segmentation Gets A Bad
Name
Because it doesn’t seem inclusive. Hint: It isn’t but
it is really efficient in terms of voter targeting
And from the marketing and rational actor
perspectives the goal is to win not just to engage in
civic education
With limited resources and the rich veins of data,
targeting becomes a logical thing to do.
Combined With
Targeting – spending a lot of time try to court
specific segments of the electorate.
Audience targets will see and hear a lot from a
political marketer. Other audiences will see and
hear almost nothing.
Targeting also means a marketer can have a
customer hierarchy in which better customers get
more attention, lesser get less and the worst get
fired.
Political Parties
In the USA clearly do this things and
The R’s started doing them earlier meaning they
received an advantage for early adoption and
The R’s did them more accurately for a longer
period of time meaning that they had better
identified the audience and received an advantage
as a result of that as well.
The D’s were later and less accurate and lost as a
result. Only when they got better did they start to
win again.
Audience Participation
Which parties in Canada do you think are
segmenting and targeting most effectively and why
?
Marketed Politics makes
parties
Seek to converse with the audience
Seek to find new databases, metrics and analytical
techniques to understand the audience
Seek to test everything before scaling it
All of This Means
Political Marketing’s negative impact on civic
disengagement is probably overstated
It can be a key tool to encourage people to take an
interest in the world in which we have now
A lot of what goes on in the USA and Canada is
similar but it is also market specific.
Thank You
For a wonderful semester
For letting me into a great department and a
wonderful new program in political management
For letting me ask a ton of questions
For giving me your help and your insights.
Questions ?
Political marketing plays a vital role in shaping modern politics, blending consumerist values with social and technological changes. Parties and entities strategically position themselves to reach niche audiences through branding and segmentation. This global phenomenon influences societies, technologies, and political landscapes. Examples like Aussie Battlers and the Third Way demonstrate the effectiveness of political marketing in Canada, the USA, and the UK, using emotional appeals like Hope and Change to engage audiences worldwide.
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Presentation Transcript
The Political Marketing Moment Politics Now in Canada and the USA
What It Is: Political Marketing Market orientation Product development Branding/position/segmentation Voter as consumer
Why Political Marketing ? Explains the way in which parties and other political entities behave In response to social and technological change. It fits the consumerist values we have It fits the lifestyles people have
And It is easier to figure out how to reach the right people and what those people are concerned about than it has been Reaching the right people is the trick The current moment is one of niche narrowcasting, lifestyle communities and discussions within segments
To Be Clear Advertising is a key part of marketing but not all of it. Marketing includes the overall strategy to design and sell the product. Including paid and earned media but a lot more.
Meaning The product or offering is the party s candidates, manifesto and emotions The position is the space that the product holds in the customer s mind The brand is the visual and emotive representation of the product to the audience
Providing an Incentive For political entities to market themselves and their wares much as do other entities. In this, they reflect the society, the technology and the politics in which they exist as much as they shape that. This is a global phenomenon, not just happening in North America or the United States. See for Example Lees-Marshment 2011. Consultants and partisans learn from each other on a cross-national basis
Examples John Howard s Aussie Battlers used in Canada by the Conservative Party to describe some of its audiences The third way used in the USA, Canada and the UK by Clinton, Chretien and Blair respectively. Hope and Change became very popular globally after 2008. The Commonsense Revolution has been launched in multiple places around the globe.
Thus Understanding the audience and the marketplace become vital to building an effective political marketing campaign. A great deal of emphasis on polls and focus groups. To determine effective visuals, language, narrative and policy priorities And what works with which audiences.
Because Much more noise than in the past . Reaching the right audience is more difficult than it once was. Many more channels. The proliferation of new distribution channels makes hitting the right targets more difficult than in the past. Citizens have longer commutes and work hours than once was the case. I can opt out of the political nation and join Leafs nation or build my world around family/work more easily than in the past. Less social connection
Social Disconnection The party as a membership organization is in trouble across North America More independents pay less attention means that marketing in general and branding in particular increase in importance They are key tools to build voter awareness of candidates and platforms CDN parties always have a marketing imperative that their US counterparts don t: they have to sell memberships.
And The dominant values of the age are consumerist. The public expects packages, promotion and significant choice in everything else. When did consumerism become our values ? Gradually, during the last century. As Nimijean has argued, the politics of the age are neo- liberal meaning that fights are over means not ends. Brand battles sharpen distinctions and generate interest.
One Way To Think of All This An ongoing conversation between an organization and its audience targets that includes a campaign and beyond. Loyalty isn t build all at once. It can take a while of showing people why what was promised works as advertised, that those promises made were kept and that taking a next step would be a good thing to do. The idea of a campaign is to have a plan about that conversation
That Includes Products Personality Positioning Brand Communications Plan Audience Targets
Product Definition Politics is about definition in a couple of ways Define yourself Define your opponent
Personality Both in terms of the party leader and In terms of the brand
Party Leader/Face Inextricably linked with the brand in Canada. This is the same in the USA when a party occupies the White House but is more nebulous for the opposition party.
Personality Can also sell the leader as being like average people Both CDN and USA political parties sometimes do this and they sometimes sell other personal traits about the leader like attending an Ivy League University or being a business owner. Or sell values such as empathy or strength.
Meaning Campaigns talk about themselves Campaigns talk about their opponents Opponents talk about themselves Opponents talk about their rivals. In the USA, this strategic grid has four spaces and in Canada it can have four but also up to ten.
The Political Equivalent Of educating the consumer about what the offering is on a given party s side Versus the offerings of rivals. One difference is that the battle is more existential than over market share a lot of the time in politics but In a multi-party system like Canada s, it can be over market share as well.
Positioning What space do you want occupy in the mind of the consumer ? Generally, somewhere nearer the center is better in politics but the marketing challenge is The center can shift and political types can t shift with it all the time if they want to retain overall authenticity. Authenticity the perception of being what one says one is in marketing.
The Brand The total user experience with the product according to Zyman The image, slogan, music and values supporting a product. The brand needs to fit the product s features and benefits but also resonate with its target audience.
In The USA USA Republicans have used the Reagan/Conservative brand since 1980 as one Plus the Lincoln heritage has merged with the Reagan/Conservative one And the elephant is still around As is an emphasis on tradition
All of which More or less work together to build a narrative that is visually and emotively coherent Put the Republican Party in a specific place in the mind of the prospect Provide a specific set of emotions and understandings to the audience targets
The Democrats The Dems are much more muddied. Sometimes it is Obama, sometimes it has been the Congressional leadership but it isn t consistent and this is why their messaging isn t consistent.
The First One Clearly ties to Obama But also looks like a target as one wag put it and What happens if Obama loses ?
The Second One Ties to the Democrats heritage. They re called the Donkeys The donkey logo has serious equity Changing to the newer logo visually throws all this away but it clarifies that the D s are the party of Obama
And There are still individual Obama logos selling him not the party This is far less coherent narratively and visually than what the Republicans have done but they ve also been doing it for longer Thus, the muddling of the Democratic Brand continues
Canadian Parties Use the logo as a key part of the brand And are aware that they are doing so.
Electoral Promise/Positioning
Colors Absolutely own their colors consciously. This is different from the USA in which the media imposes more color discipline than do the parties. Fonts can also send messages but the fonts have changed over time here.
Visuals A picture really is worth a thousand words The visuals associated with a brand can be the key vehicle through which its contents get distributed.
Slogans Can be a key conduit to transfer the brand value proposition Two Canadian examples: Forward Together Ontario Liberals and Here For Canada Conservative Party of Canada Two US: Change We Can Believe In and Together We Can
Key US/Canada Difference Canadian Parties are more limited in the heat they can put in their brand/ads They cover this in other parts of the ads US parties can be much hotter visually and in the verbiage than can their Canadian counterparts because
Emotions As Westin has shown in the US case, much of the way people experience politics is emotional not analytically. The emotions that similar ideological parties work with around the globe seem the same. Thus, the emotions that a party can work with in a specific setting are limited by what the audience will respond to.
Audiences Things that might work well in a federal election might not work so well in a provincial one because the audience demography is different. In the era of niche narrowcasting, the emotions that might activate one group could outrage another.
