Presidential Election and Political Marketing for Sri Lanka
View(s):
Professor Nalin Abeysekara
As the presidential election is emerging people start to discuss some “Hot topics”. We can see many “breaking news” in the media. If you go to workplaces, you can see how many hours are being wasted talking about politics and it is worth having a separate study on “talking politics in office and productivity”. The middle class in Sri Lanka always has “entertainment” by watching “debates” on TV with unnecessary discussions by just criticizing each other ! But again we have to study the male-female TV watching ratio as I have witnessed it is husbands who watch political debates than their wives.
History
Anyway, political parties work really hard to “Market” their candidates and policies, In this context it is important to discuss the concept of “Political Marketing”. As in other subjects we have the “history” of political marketing. Kelly(1956) first defined the term “political Marketing” to refer to the same domain of activity. This has been further developed by Rothschild’s (1978) who has his research work on the effectiveness of political advertising and segmentation . Then the area of political marketing has been developed by many experts and the work of Newman and Sheth (1985) and O’Shaughnessy (1990) on the pivotal work “Phenomenon of Political Marketing” can be considered as important in this context, Further Handbook of Political Marketing (Newman, 1999) , Harris and Lock’s “review of political lobbying in the UK” and Butler and Harris’ (2009) “review of political marketing theory” also should be mentioned as significant contributions for the subject
Political Marketing with Social Media
What is political marketing? It is important to understand the concept. Political marketing is a fundamental part of political life. Presidents and prime ministers; politicians and parties; government departments and councils all use marketing in their pursuit of political goals. So this is common for all. And also now we can see that social media has emerged as one of the effective strategies in Political marketing. According to Okan and Akyuz (2015) Social media campaigns should be used in an efficient way through reaching volunteers and increasing their shares on the platforms for the multiplier effect. They were in the view that the campaigns created by political candidates and parties are easily accessible to the target audience through social media platforms, thus, marketing activities can be managed with voters’ reviews in a more interactive way. The following figure really showcases how Barack Obama has used social and digital media to win the masses in the US.
What is “product” in Political Marketing?
‘Core product’ is the main and central pillar of the product. This has been described by Brassington and Pettitt (1997 ) as ‘the heart of the product, the main reason for its existence . . .’ In terms of political marketing, this may be viewed as the basic ideology upon which all aspects of a political party are grounded and is central to its very being (Lloyd,2005). This is in line with the main themes of political parties and their vision ,mission etc. Assume one party started with protecting one segment of voters(Say Sinhala Buddhist) and then they deviated from their main objectives then we can see the myopic situation which is deviating from their main “Product”.
Ranil, Sajith and Anura
It can be observed that potential presidential candidates in Sri Lanka display their photos with their campaigns. According to Harris(2001)‘personalisation’ of politics has led to a situation in which ‘the party leader is at the center of its brand image’ (Lock and Harris 1996).This is really interesting to study for Sri Lankan political parties and leaders with different perspectives.
Political Marketing Mix
Usually in Marketing, we discuss about marketing mix. This is all about “strategies to satisfy customers”. That consists of 4Ps(or 7ps) . Interestingly Lloyd(2005) has created a “Political Marketing Mix” by incorporating the research work done by scholars such as Borden (1962), Booms and Bitner (1981) and Beaven and Scotti (1990). Refer below for the components that are important for all political parties in Sri Lanka for a thorough investigation.
1. Services Offering(Policy on security, stability, economic growth.Project management roles for government initiatives. Electors judge based on policies and capabilities.
2. Representation(Representation goes beyond communication and promotion,Electors match expectations to political representation, “Integrity, realism, and response to misrepresentation”)
3. Accommodation(Understand and respond to electorate needs.,Not just focus-group led strategies.,Accessibility and participation for electors.
4. Investment(Stakeholder relationship with political representatives,Financial and non-financial investments by electors,Expect tangible or intangible returns.
5. Outcome(Deliver on policy issues and promises,Effective, efficient, and ethical delivery matters,Achievement process is as important as outcome)
Conclusion
One might argue that the presidential candidate who can really utilise the concept of political marketing can win the hearts of the people. Anyway, again it can be questioned how effectively we can use concepts such as “Political marketing mix” in the Sri Lankan context with different socio-economic and cultural influencers in the country. All Sri Lankan citizens need to be concerned about ethical practices with political marketing with better strategic perspective for sustainable development .
Selected References
Butler, P. and Harris, P. (2009), “Considerations on the evolution of political marketing theory”, Marketing Theory, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 149-64.
Harris, P. and Lock, A. (2002), “Sleaze or clear blue water? The evolution of corporate and pressure group representation at the major UK party conferences”, Journal of Public Affairs, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp.136-51
Kelley, S. Jr (1956), Professional Public Relations and Political Power, John Hopkins University Press,Baltimore, MD
Lloyd J.(2005) Square Peg, Round Hole? Can Marketing-Based Concepts Such as the ‘Product’ and the ‘Marketing Mix’ Have a Useful Role in the Political Arena?, Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 14:1-2, 27-46
Newman, B.I. (Ed.) (1999), Handbook of Political Marketing, Sage, London
Newman, B.I. and Sheth, J.N. (1985), “A model of primary voter behaviour”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 178-87.
O’Shaughnessy, N.J. (1990), Phenomenon of Political Marketing, Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Rothschild, M.L. (1978), “Political advertising: a neglected policy issue in marketing”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 59-71
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