Marketing Strategies Used by Political Parties to Win Elections

7/27/2019 Marketing Strategies Used by Political Parties to Win Elections

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POLITICAL MARKETING

Before learning the facts about political marketing it is mandatory to learn what

marketing is and what its scope is.

1. Marketing

Marketing is about identifying and meeting human and social needs. One of the

shortest good definitions is meeting needsprofitably.

The American Marketing Association offers the following formal definition:

Marketing is an organizational function and a set of process for creating,

communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing

customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its

stakeholders.Coping with these exchange process calls for a considerable amount

of work and skill.

The definition presented above reflects the managerial side of marketing. We can

distinguish between a social and a managerial definition of marketing. A social

definition shows the role marketing plays in society. Here is a social definition that

serves our purpose:

Marketing is a societal process by which individuals and groups obtain what they

need and want through creating, offering and freely exchanging products

and services of value with others.

Aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know

and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells

itself. Now the question arises what all things can be marketed. Marketing people

market several types of entities such as goods, services, events, experiences,

persons, places, properties, organizations, information and ideas. Now days in

various democratic countries, political parties have started adopting marketing


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concepts and strategies. Political parties try to market persons (contestants),

organizations (their own parties) and ideas (their philosophies).Let us discuss what

is political marketing, its scope, characteristics, relevance etc.

2.1 Political Marketing: a definition

Harrop (1990) perceives political marketing as being not just about Political

advertising, party political broadcasts and electoral speeches but covering the

whole area of party positioning in the electoral market. Kavanagh (1995, 1996)

sees political marketing as electioneering, i.e. as a set of strategies and tools to

trace and study public opinion before and during an election campaign, to develop

campaign communications and to assess their impact. A similar view is expressed

by Scammell(1995).

Maarek (1995), Conceptualizes political marketing as a complex process, the

outcome of a more global effort implicating all the factors of the politicians

political communication and emphasizes that political marketing is the general

method ofpolitical communication, one of its means. He considers the

introduction of marketing in politics as an outcome of the elaboration of a policy

of political communicationa global strategy of design, rationalization and

conveyance of modern political communication

2.4 Political Communication: a definition

In an overview of the field of political communication in the UK, Franklin (1995)

points out the broadness of character, the range and the lack of clarity of what falls

into the concept of political communication. Franklin, in an effort, to operational

this vast field, provides the following, very comprehensive and detailed, definition:


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The field of political communication studies the interactions between media and

political systems, locally, nationally, and internationally. Franklin argues that

political communication focuses on the analysis of:

a) The political content of the media

b) The actors and agencies involved in the production of that content

c) The impact of political media content on the audience and/or on policy

development

d) The impact of the political system on the media system

e) The impact of the media system on the political system

Commenting on that definition, Franklin (1995) emphasizes that it will need to

accommodate even further diversity, expressing the varied analytical approaches,

assumptions, and disciplinarybackgrounds of communication scholars. These

backgrounds range from political science to history, from cultural theory to

sociology and to social psychology.

2.5 Political Marketing and Political Communication

Scammell (1999) notes that the political communications literature tends to treat

political marketing as only one aspect of broader processes. According to her,

political communicators perceive political marketing as a response to

developments in media and communication technologies and tend to view modern

politics as intertwined with the media. The emergence of non ideological catch-

all parties and the role ofthe media as an autonomous major actor in the political

process trouble political communication scholars who emphasize the potential

consequences for civic engagement with politics and voice concerns over the

quality of communication output and its influence on the democratic system as a

whole.


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In Scammells (1995, 1999) view, marketings unique contribution is the

introduction of strategic concern regarding the electorates wants and needs. The

incorporation of strategy in election campaigning influences goals, priorities,

policies and party behavior. At the same time, this strategy element is a very

serious threat to democratic processes. Scammell (1995) notes though that political

marketing should be discerned from propaganda as the former involves reciprocity

which the latter lacks.

Emphasis on strategy introduces a new focus, which shifts away from the use of

promotional techniques and deals with the overall strategic objectives of parties

and candidates. According to Scammell (1999), this new focus effectively

reverses the perspective offered by campaign studies/political communications

approaches. Political marketing is no longer a subset of broader processes: political

communications becomes a subset of political marketing, tools of promotion

within the overall marketing mix.

Lees-Marshment (2001) argues that political communication focuses on the role of

long-term communication while political marketing is more comprehensive

binding together campaigning, political communication, market intelligence,

and product design and product promotion.

Butler and Collins (1994) present the structural characteristics of political

marketing as follows (figure 2):


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The Structural characteristics of political marketing

Through the prism of the aforementioned arguments it can be claimed that political

communication can offer guidance to political marketing on how to improve its

negative perception, on how to make its outcomes more substantial to voters, on

how to improve its standards and on how to attract media attention.

The aforementioned analysis shows quite clearly the shift in the focus and range

of the concept of political marketing, which has taken place in the past decade.


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From being a set of theoretical and practical tools for the successful conduct

of election campaigns, political marketing has expanded to a permanent strategic

element of governance. Thus, from being a subset of a partys electoral

communication, it has now grown so much that it hasannexed political

communication as one of its components.

Of course that is how political marketers perceive it. Political communication

scholars clearly have a much different perception of the field. According to them,

political communication is much wider in scope, focusing on the totality of

communications and interactions taking place within the political process and is

not just interested in voter behavior and campaign studies.

2.6 Functions of Political marketing

Functions of political marketing are pre- requisites for successful political

marketing management. According to political marketing theorist, there 8 generic

functions of a successful political marketing which includes the following:

1. Product Function:

In political marketing practice, there should be an exchange between political

parties and electorate in the electoral market. Like mainstream marketing each

political party has to offer some product which they wanted to sell in the market.

Here party wants to market its product which is the promise of a good government.

In some cases, the product may be image of the candidate, an ideology or certain

specific foreign policies. Hence the entire marketing process is designed to market

the product. In USA, the main product function of Democratic Party was to sell

Obama Brand and good governance based on change.


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2. Distribution Function:

The distribution function refers to the conditions regarding the availability of

exchange offer to the exchange partner. The function has two aspects campaign

delivery and offering delivery. The campaign delivery function provides the

primary exchange partner- the electorate-with access to all relevant information

about the political product. This includes the dissemination of information

regarding crucial party policies and programs, placing the candidates in right

channels, making sure that medium of distribution fit the ideology of the party etc.

3. Cost Function:

One of the main functions of main stream marketing is to sell a product which is

cost effective compared to other products in the market so that customer gets

greater monetary satisfaction. In political marketing, cost function refers to the

management of attitudinal and behavioral barriers of voters through calculated

campaign strategies. The voter should receive all the information regarding the

product without spending money for it.

4. Communication Function:

Communication involves the function of informing the primary exchange partner

of the offer and its availability. It is often seen as the heart of political marketing.

For a political party, it implies, providing political content, political ideas and

future and sense making of a complex political world programs but also aiding the

interpretation Often the communication function involves simplification of

political messages, concise political stand etc. The communication function

interacts with the campaign delivery aspects of the distribution function-the latter

provides the medium while the former defines the content. The communication


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function prescribes a dialogue with the exchange partnersa multidirectional flow

of information and shared agenda setting.

5. News Management Function:

This function is closely linked to communication function. But news management

function is targeted to secondary exchange partners or intermediaries of which

media is an important part. In other words it is the management of publicity of the

candidate and party. Public relation activities, media management, online

advertising campaign management etc are news management functions. In the era

of communication revolution news management plays a vital role in success of

political marketing.

6. Fund Raising Function:

In mainstream marketing fundraising is not an issue. But political marketing

management cannot survive without fund raising. In fact the success of

other functions largely depends on fund raising function. In order to provide the

political actor with appropriate resources, a distinct fund raising function needs to

be addressed. A political party depends to a varying extent on membership fee,

donations, etc.

7. Parallel Campaign Management Function:

This function describes the requirement of co-coordinating the campaign

management activities of a political party with those of parallel organizations.

Coordinated and synergic use of managerial activities allows for a more efficient

deployment of campaign resources. Furthermore, the use of parallel campaigns and

the endorsements by other organizations can increase the trustworthiness of the

political messages.


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8. Internal Cohesion Management Functions:

Besides the external management aspects, internal structure and functions of the

political party also needs to be managed professionally. The function is concerned

with relationship with party members and activists as well as the spoke persons.

The internal marketing functions play a critical role in creating internal stability

and therefore the credibility of the party regarding its outside image.

During the past decade even the Indian political parties realized the importance of

marketing and advertising in elections. Parties started hiring political consultants

and ad agencies, to develop their positioning strategy among different

socioeconomic classes of Indian public. Before understanding the whole strategies

and view point of political parties we must learn what political campaigning is and

its various techniques.

3.1 Political campaign

A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision

making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often

refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referenda are

decided. Political campaigns also include organized efforts to alter policy within

any institution or organization. Politics is as old as humankind and is not limited to

democratic or governmental institutions. Some examples of political campaigns

are: the effort to execute or banish Socrates from Athens in the 5th century BC, the

uprising of petty nobility against John of England in the 13th century, or the 2005

push to remove Michael Eisner from the helm of The Walt Disney Company.

3.2 Techniques

A campaign team (which may be as small as one inspired individual, or a heavily-

resourced group of professionals) must consider how to communicate the message


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of the campaign, recruit volunteers, and raise money. Campaign advertising draws

on techniques from commercial advertising and propaganda. The avenues available

to political campaigns when distributing their messages is limited by the law,

available resources, and the imagination of the campaigns' participants. These

techniques are often combined into a formal strategy known as the campaign plan.

The plan takes account of a campaign's goal, message, target audience, and

resources available. The campaign will typically seek to identify supporters at the

same time as getting its message across.

Campaign advertising

Campaign advertising is the use of paid media (newspapers, radio, television, etc.)

to influence the decisions made for and by groups. These ads are designed by

political consultants and the campaign's staff.

Media management

The public media (in 'free media' or 'earned media')may run the story that someone

is trying to get elected or to do something about such and such.

Mass meetings, rallies and protests

Holding protests, rallies and other similar public events (if enough people can be

persuaded to come) may be a very effective campaign tool. Holding mass meetings

with speakers is powerful as it shows visually, through the number of people in

attendance, the support that the campaign has.

Modern technology and the internet

The internet is now a core element of modern political campaigns. Communication

technologies such as e-mail, websites and pod casts for various forms of activism

to enable faster communications by citizen movements and deliver a message to a

large audience. These Internet technologies are used for cause-related fundraising,

lobbying, volunteering, and community building, and organizing.


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Other techniques

Writing directly to members of the public (either via a professional

marketing firm or, particularly on a small scale, by volunteers)

By distributing leaflets or selling newspapers

Through websites, online communities, and solicited or unsolicited bulk

email

Through a new technique known as Micro targeting that helps identify and

target small demographic slices of voters.

Through a whistle stop tour - a series of brief appearances in several small

towns. Hampering the ability of political competitors to campaign, by such

techniques as counter-rallies,picketing of rival parties meetings, or

overwhelming rival candidates offices with mischievous phone calls (most

political parties in representative democracies publicly distance themselves

from such disruptive and morale-affecting tactics, with the exception of

those parties self-identifying as activist).

Organizing political house parties.

Using endorsements of other celebrated party members to boost support.

Remaining close to or at home to make speeches to supporters who come to

visit as part of a front porch campaign.

Vote-by-mail, previously known as 'absentee ballots' have grown

significantly in importance as an election tool. Today, campaigns in most

states must have a strategy in place to impact early voting.

Parties want to reach to the maximum number of voters and earn largest share of

their minds and hearts. Political parties indulge themselves into political

communication to influence masses. The political campaigns though have existed


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since post independence era but it is only the recent times when parties have

adopted modern techniques to reach maximum number of people .The various

innovative techniques would be dealt in latter sections.

4. History of Indian politics

Since the first elections held in 1952, there had been 14 Lok Sabha elections in

India, including that held in 2004.The Congress has been a major political party

and had formed the government maximum number of times. In 1977, the Congress

was defeated by the Janata Party. Morarji Desai(Desai) became the first non-

congress PM of India. However, his government did not last long and the Congress

regained power in 1980 under the leadership of Indira Gandhi (Indira).

Indira was the daughter of India's first PM, Jawaharlal Lal Nehru. Indira remained

as PM till October 31, 1984 when she was assassinated by her personal bodyguard.

Following her death, the Congress fielded Indira's son Rajiv Gandhi (Rajiv) as the

Prime Ministerial candidate. Riding on the sympathy wave generated by Indira's

assassination, the party won by a huge margin, bagging 415 of the 542 seats in the

1984 elections. In 1984, the BJP got only two seats in the Lok Sabha.

The BJP consolidated its position in the 1989 elections and won86 seats. In 1989,

though the Congress was the single largest party with 197 seats, the Janata Dal,

which had won 142 seats, formed the government with the support of the BJP. The

coalition government lasted for 15 months, after which mid-term elections were

announced. During the election campaign, Rajiv was assassinated at an election

rally in Sriperumbudur,Tamil Nadu. Again, a sympathy wave swept the country

and the Congress returned to power with P V Narasimha Rao (Rao) as PM. The

new government served its full term. However, the BJP had emerged stronger,

winning 120 seats.


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5. Emergence of political advertising in India

In India the major credit of introducing political advertising on large and

programmed way goes to BJP which had launched an ad campaign on television.

The 'India Shining' campaign that marked the beginning of a new age of political

advertising in India. It discusses in depth the political advertising strategy of the

erstwhile NDA government and examines how the campaign was aimed as a tool

to win votes.

The case also discusses the political advertising campaign of the present ruling

party - Congress that mainly targeted the masses. The case ends with a debate on

the efficacy of political advertising campaign in general, and explores reasons why

the' India Shining' campaign was unsuccessful.

5.1 Introduction

In mid January 2004, the former Prime Minister (PM) of India -Atal Bihari

Vajpayee (Vajpayee) announced plans to dissolve the 13th Lok Sabha and go for

early elections in April-May2004. The term of the Vajpayee government was

scheduled to end in October 2004. The announcement of early dissolution did not

surprise political analysts in the country.

Analysts felt that the decision to go for early elections was maiden view of the

booming Indian economy, encouraging state assembly election results, peaceful

relationship with India's neighboring countries and the major opposition partythe

Indian National Congress (Congress) being in a demoralized state.

They felt the popularity of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National

Democratic Alliance (NDA) was at its peak.

A leading newspaper of India reported, "The popularity of the National Democratic

Alliance and the standing of the PM himself have never been as high as they are

currently."


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The BJP decided to leverage its popularity and initiated a major poll campaign

with the slogan 'India Shining.'

The campaign was aimed at highlighting the progress India had made during the

tenure of Vajpayee as PM. The campaign was supported by another catch phrase

'Feel Good Factor.'

By the end of January 2004, almost all leading television channels, newspapers and

magazines in India had carried advertisements as part of the campaign. Reportedly,

the BJP spent close to Rs 5 billion on the campaign. As the polls neared, the BJP

gained more confidence. Several opinion polls conducted before the elections and

exit polls on election days predicted that the NDA was coming back to power. The

BJP's President, Venkaiah Naidu (Naidu) claimed the alliance would get more than

300 Lok Sabha seats.

On the other hand, the Congress hoped it would win more than the 112 seats it had

won in the last elections. Party leaders expressed the opinion that the maximum

they could win was 135 seats.

5.2 The Campaign and its Response

The genesis of the 'India Shining' campaign began in July 2003.The NDA

government approached 20 advertising agencies in its efforts to get an

advertisement campaign developed that would highlight India as a fast developing

country.

The campaign was aimed at highlighting India's achievements under the NDA

government. The government reviewed all the proposals submitted by the agencies

but was not satisfied. It then approached 11 other agencies in October 2003.

Finally, Grey Worldwide-India (GWI), a part of the Grey Global Group, bagged

the contract.


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During the conceptualization stage of the campaign, the government told GWI that

the campaign should focus on the improving economic conditions and the rapid

progress made by India in recent years. The 'India Shining' slogan was created by

Prathap Suthan (Suthan), national creative director, GWI

Before selecting this slogan, Suthan also considered some other lines such as 'India

Alive,' 'India Rising' and 'India Dazzling.' However, he felt that none of these were

as appropriate as 'India Shining.' Suthan said, "Each of them were wrong in certain

ways. India Alive carries with it the implication of death or sickness.

India Rising takes you back to the Independence era when we were just

formulating an identity. India Dazzling was an over-claim." According to him,

'India Shining' conveyed a sense of health, prosperity and radiance.

After finalizing the slogan, GWI's planning department gathered preliminary

information including key statistics and information on Indian economy. The

Ministry of Finance also provided the company with some relevant facts and

figures to use in the campaign. Further, a search was done on the Internet to

gather useful information.

5.3 The Debate

The Congress, under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi (Sonia), the wife of the late

Rajiv, vehemently opposed the claims made in the 'India Shining' campaign. In the

initial days of the campaign, Congress opposed the campaign by terming it as

'India Cheated.' The party leaders said that in reality, the Indian economy was not

booming and there was no reason for the country to feel good. It also ridiculed

Advani's catch phrase by terming it as' Fail Good.'

The campaign showed 10.4% growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of

India in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2003-04, compared to the third quarter


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in the fiscal year 2002-03. However, the Congress- insisted that the increase in

GDP was largely due to better monsoon.

Jairam Ramesh (Ramesh), a senior leader of the Congress commented, "The large

picture looks good only because the monsoon has been good in 2003. Otherwise,

the Vajpayee era could have been written off." The Congress also said that the

GDP growth for 2003-04 was high as it had been compared with a dismal growth

of 4.2% during 2002-03.

It also claimed that during the five years of the NDA government, the Indian

economy had grown only by 5.7%.The 'India Shining' campaign claimed that 8.4

million new jobs were created every year... The Campaign of the Congress

The Congress also took professional help to counter the "India Shining" campaign.

It hired Orchard Advertising, an Indian subsidiary of Leo Burnett; a US- based

advertising company. The company structured its campaign in the form of a

question, which asked 'Aam Aadmi Ko Kya Mila?' (What did the common man

get?).

The campaign argued that the masses were not benefited by the' feel good' factor

that the NDA was stressing. Orchard's advertisement strategy was to counter the

mood set by the "India Shining" campaign.

Most advertisements by the Congress did not use colors and concentrated more on

the poor. One advertisement showed anold, poor man.The punch line said, "Woh

hukumat kis kaam ki jisme gareeb ki zindgi mein sukh chain nahi hai? Sochiye!

Congress ka haath,Gareeb ke Saath" ("What is a use of that government which

cannot bring peace and prosperity in the lives of the poor. Think! "The hand of

Congress is with the poor.


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5.4 The Result

Various opinion polls and exit polls too suggested that the NDA government

would be re-elected. However, the election results stunned all political parties in

India as well as leading psychologists and political experts.

The NDA managed to get only 188 seats with the leading party -the BJP getting

138 seats. The Congress and its allies got 219seats of which the Congress on its

own bagged 145 seats. With the support of the Left parties, who bagged 53 seats,

the Congress formed the next government. The defeat of the NDA's major allies -

the TDP and the AIADMK, meant that the NDA did not have any support to draw

on.

The defeat of the NDA in the Lok Sabha elections ignited a debate not only among

its leaders but also among psychologists and other experts. They tried to draw

conclusions on why the NDA had lost despite a major advertising campaign. A few

analysts felt that the "India Shining" campaign made false claims since the whole

of India was not shining. They said that the campaign alienated the common man

for whom India was not shining at all. Salman Rushdie, a well-known writer in

India, commented, "The gulf between India's rich and poor has never looked wider

than it does today, and the government has fallen into that chasm."

In India, political parties have to follow a certain code of conduct during the whole

election campaign.


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6. MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT FOR THE GUIDANCE OF

POLITICAL PARTIES AND CANDIDATES

1. General Conduct(1) No party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate

existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between

different castes and communities, religious or linguistic.

(2) Criticism of other political parties, when made, shall be confined to their

policies and program, past record and work. Parties and Candidates shall

refrain from criticism of all aspects of private life, not connected with the

public activities of the leaders or workers of other parties. Criticism of other

parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be

avoided.

(3) There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes.

Mosques, Churches, Temples or other places of worship shall not be used as

forum for election propaganda.

(4) All parties and candidates shall avoid scrupulously all activities which are

corrupt practices and offences under the election law, such as bribing of

voters, intimidation of voters, impersonation of voters, canvassing within

100 meters of polling stations, holding public meetings during the period of


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48hours ending with the hour fixed for the close of the poll, and the transport

and conveyance of voters to and from polling station.

(5) The right of every individual for peaceful and undisturbed home-life shall be

respected, however much the political parties or candidates may resent his

political opinions or activities. Organizing demonstrations or picketing

before the houses of individuals by way of protesting against their opinions

or activities shall not be resorted to under any circumstances.

(6) No political party or candidate shall permit its or his followers to make use

of any individuals land, building, compound wall etc., without his

permission for erecting flag-staffs, suspending banners, pasting notices,

writing slogans etc.

(7) Political parties and candidates shall ensure that their supporters do not

create obstructions in or break up meetings and processions organized by

other parties. Workers or sympathizers of one political party shall not create

disturbances at public meetings organized by another political party by

putting questions orally or in writing or by distributing leaflets of their own

party. Processions shall not be taken out by one party along places at which

meetings are held by another party. Posters issued by one party shall not be

removed by workers of another party.

II. Meetings

(1) The party or candidate shall inform the local police authorities of the venue

and time any proposed meeting well in time so as to enable the police to

make necessary arrangements for controlling traffic and maintaining peace

and order.

(2) A Party or candidate shall ascertain in advance if there is any restrictive or

prohibitory order in force in the place proposed for the meeting if such


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orders exist, they shall be followed strictly. If any exemption is required

from such orders, it shall be applied for and obtained well in time.

(3) If permission or license is to be obtained for the use of loudspeakers or any

other facility in connection with any proposed meeting, the party or

candidate shall apply to the authority concerned well in advance and obtain

such permission or license.

(4) Organizers of a meeting shall invariably seek the assistance of the police on

duty for dealing with persons disturbing a meeting or otherwise attempting

to create disorder. Organizers themselves shall not take action against such

persons.

III. Procession

(1) A Party or candidate organizing a procession shall decide before hand the

time and place of the starting of the procession, the route to be followed and

the time and place at which the procession will terminate. There shall

ordinary be on deviation from the program.

(2) The organizers shall give advance intimation to the local police authorities

of the program so as to enable the letter to make necessary arrangement.

(3) The organizers shall ascertain if any restrictive orders are in force in the

localities through which the procession has to pass, and shall comply with

the restrictions unless exempted specially by the competent authority. Any

traffic regulations or restrictions shall also be carefully adhered to.

(4) The organizers shall take steps in advance to arrange for passage of the

procession so that there is no block or hindrance to traffic. If the procession

is very long, it shall be organized in segments of suitable lengths, so that at

convenient intervals, especially at points where the procession has to pass


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road junctions, the passage of held up traffic could be allowed by stages thus

avoiding heavy traffic congestion.

(5) Processions shall be so regulated as to keep as much to the right of the road

as possible and the direction and advice of the police on duty shall be strictly

complied with.

(6) If two or more political parties or candidates propose to take processions

over the same route or parts thereof at about the same time, the organizers

shall establish contact well in advance and decide upon the measures to be

taken to see that the processions do not clash or cause hindrance to traffic.

The assistance of the local police shall be availed of for arriving at a

satisfactory arrangement. For this purpose the parties shall contact the police

at the earliest opportunity.

(7) The political parties or candidates shall exercise control to the maximum

extent possible in the matter of precisionists carrying articles which may be

put to misuse by undesirable elements especially in moments of excitement.

(8) The carrying of effigies purporting to represent member of other political

parties or their leaders, burning such effigies in public and such other forms

demonstration shall not be countenanced by any political party or candidate.

IV. Polling Day

All Political parties and candidates shall

(i) Co-operate with the officers on election duty to ensure peaceful and orderly

polling and complete freedom to the voters to exercise their franchise

without being subjected to any annoyance or obstruction.

(ii) Supply to their authorized workers suitable badges or identity cards.

(iii) Agree that the identity slip supplied by them to voter shall be on plain

(white) paper and shall not contain any symbol, name of the candidate or the

name of the party;


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(iv) Refrain from serving or distributing liquor on polling day and during the

forty eight hours preceding it

(v) Not allow unnecessary crowd to be collected near the camps set up by the

political parties and candidates near the polling booths so as to avoid

Confrontation and tension among workers and sympathizers of the parties

and the candidate.

(vi) Ensure that the candidates camps shall be simple .The shall not display any

posters, flags, symbols or any other propaganda material. No eatable shall be

served or crowd allowed at the camps and

(vii) Co-operate with the authorities in complying with the restrictions to

be imposed on the plying of vehicles on the polling day and obtain permits

for them which should be displayed prominently on those vehicles.

VI. Observers

The Election Commission is appointing Observers. If the candidates or their agents

have any specific complaint or problem regarding the conduct of elections they

may bring the same to the notice of the Observer.

VII. Party in Power

The party in power whether at the Centre or in the State or States concerned, shall

ensure that no cause is given for any complaint that it has used its official position

for the purposes of its election campaign and in particular

(i) (a) The Ministers shall not combine their official visit with electioneering

work and shall not also make use of official machinery or personnel during

the electioneering work.


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(b) Government transport including official air-crafts, vehicles, machinery and

personnel shall not be used for furtherance of the interest of the party in

power;

(ii) Public places such as maidans etc., for holding election meetings, and use of

helipads for air-flights in connection with elections shall not be monopolized

by itself. Other parties and candidates shall be allowed the use of such places

and facilities on the same terms and conditions on which they are used by

the party in power;

(iii) Rest houses, dark bungalows or other Government accommodation shall not

be monopolized by the party in power or its candidates and such

accommodation shall be allowed to be used by other parties and candidates

in a fair manner but no party or candidate shall use or be allowed to use such

accommodation (including premises appertaining thereto) as a campaign

office or for holding any public meeting for the purposes of election

propaganda;

(iv) Issue of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer in the newspapers and

other media and the misuse of official mass media during the election period

for partisan coverage of political news and publicity regarding achievements

with a view to furthering the prospects of the party in power shall be

scrupulously avoided.

(v) Ministers and other authorities shall not sanction grants/payments out of

discretionary funds from the time elections are announced by the

Commission; and

(vi) From the time elections are announced by Commission, Ministers and other

authorities shall not

(a) announce any financial grants in any form or promises there of; or


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(b) (except civil servants) lay foundation stones etc. of projects or schemes of

any kind; or

(c) make any promise of construction of roads, provision of drinking water

facilities etc.; or

(d) make any ad-hoc appointments in Government, Public Undertakings etc.

which may have the effect of influencing the voters in favor of the party in

power.

Note: The Commission shall announce the date of any election which shall be a

date ordinarily not more than three weeks prior to the date on which the

notification is likely to be issued in respect of such elections.(vii) Ministers of

Central or State Government shall not enter any polling station or place of

counting except in their capacity as a candidate or voter or authorized agent.

7. Different media strategies used for advertisements in recent elections.

During the recent assembly elections and ongoing Lok sabha elections many

conventional and non-conventional mediaare used by various political parties. The

biggest difference in recent and past elections is that all the parties hired

their consultant ad agencies, planned a framework and laid aggressive ad

campaigns.

With political advertising crossing over Rs 600 crore in ad spends this year, all

kinds of advertising agencies, big and small, shoved and pushed for a slice of the

pie. For some like the JWT, advertising in the political arena is a first. The agency,

that tasted success with its campaigns for Pepsi and Nike, now has the challenge

of selling a party as old and as varied as the Congress to as complex a market as

Electorate India.

Let us discuss all those media types and their advantages.


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7.1 Television

Only 15% of the total campaign budgets are spent on TV ads. Advertising experts

believe it is because TV does not give political parties enough bang for the buck.

A 10 second spot can sell for anywhere between Rs. 5,000 on a regional

language channel to at least Rs. 1.5 lakh on a popular channel during prime time,

say media buyers, while other platforms such as radio and outdoor are as effective

and cheaper.

Voter banks are not in big cities but in rural areas where posters, meetings and

mobile vans reach out to more potential voters than a TV ad which costs 10 times

the amount, says Sumira Roy, founder of Mumbai-based advertising agency

Postscript. And spending so much on a political campaign like the BJP did with

the India Shining campaign last elections, can actually backfire and work against

the party.

At a time when Indian advertising has become so creative and has set standards

internationally, the quality of political campaigns on TV remains poor and reflects

badly on the industry, says a senior advertising agency executive who didn't want

to be named. Especially the BJP ads that featured politicians using the attacks in

Mumbai to gain votes on TV and print was atrocious and will make them lose

supporters.

Adds Emmanuel Upputuru, National Creative Director, Public is India, Earlier,

political ads on TV looked like an A/V (audio-visual), so at least now they look

like an advertisement as the production has improved after advertising agencies

were hired, but at the end of the day, the advertising will be just as good or bad as

the product, so maybe product is bad.

However with 400-Plus TV channels, 60-70% of which are regional language

channels, the media does hold potentialif used intelligently.


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7.2 Outdoor advertisements

While door-to-door campaigning and political rallies continue to be the mainstay

of election campaigns, political parties in India are looking at advertising

campaigns across media platforms to reach the elusive voter, especially in urban

areas.

Political parties are now more focused in their marketing strategies, and

communication campaigns are going beyond reinforcing the party symbol. The

proportion of poll budgets allocated to advertising has gone up and professional

advertising agencies are being used.

For advertising agencies, too, it has been a learning curvethe target group is

diffused and most ads take the regional language route.

Outdoor media, with its banners, hoardings and pamphlets, is the most obvious

choice in political campaigns, with print ads a close second. The digital media has

gained significance because of its ability to interact with urban voters; radio ads

made their debut in the ongoing assembly elections. Television, despite its

potential, has failed to click with parties and voters alike, mainly due to the poor

quality of the ads.

Campaign looks at how political parties are using these mediums to spread the

word-and how effective each is.

Hoarding, bus stands, mobile vans and floats have proved to be most effective

forms of communication and are used extensively by political parties. In fact, the

outdoor medium gets a higher budget than television. According to a

media buyers, 20% of the Rs. 400 crore advertising budget was spent on outdoor,

while 15% was spent on television.Outdoor advertising is the first indication that

elections are coming up because all of a sudden, streets and parks in cities and

villages across the country are filled with banners and hoardings of politicians,

says Sumira Roy of Postscript.


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This platform connects with the rural populations on the best because it talks to

them in the language they understand and is effective in delivering results.

Adds Gullu Sen of Dentsu India, We know the leaders ofpolitical parties such as

Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh but how many of us know the other politicians

standing for elections in the states? So outdoor advertising helps spread awareness

and educate people on who is who. Apart from effectiveness and recall, outdoor

media is more cost-effective than advertising in the main stream media.

According to a leading outdoor advertising agency in Delhi, hoardings in a city

such as Delhi cost political parties Rs.2.5-5 lakh for a month depending on the

location and can be as low as Rs. 50,000 a month in smaller towns. The cost

of advertising in bus shelters for a month can be between Rs.80, 000 and Rs. 1.5

lakh for digital print banners. Compare this to approximately Rs. 1.5 lakh for a 10-

second TV spot ad during prime time on a general entertainment channel or a full-

page advertisement across all editions of a national newspaper that can cost up to

Rs. 1.7 crore a day.

7.3 Print

The lions share has traditionally gone to newspapers, and even though platforms

such as digital and radio have gained significance, loyalties have not shifted yet.

According to a media buying agency, print accounts for 4050% of the Rs.400

crore budget in the latest assembly elections.Newspapers account for 50% of our

spends because it reaches out to the masses, yet it is a very localized form

of advertising that gets the message across to the lowest loca denominator, says

Ranjan Bargotra, President of Crayons Advertising Ltd., the agency handling the

Congress account.

According to the latest figures of the Registrar of Newspapers in India, or RNI,

India had 64,998 registered newspapers as of March 2007, with a total circulation


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of 190 million. A political party can pay anywhere between Rs. 5 lakh andRs. 45

lakh for one full-page advertisement in a newspaper, depending on the reach it

has, says a senior media buyer who did not want to be identified.

Print ads also allow parties to respond to unexpected situations.Yes, print is a

localized from of advertising but the main reason for using so much of this media

is because these political campaigns are all developed (at the) last minute and print

is the fastest way to do it. All it needs is some script, party symbol and mug shots

of the politicians, says Gullu Sen, Executive Vice Chairman and Creative

Director of advertising agency Dentsu, India.

Despite all this, experts believe the entire efforts may be a waste. The Quality of

print Advertisements is still very tacky and seem like a big sham to me, says Anil

Madan, founder and creative director, Aqua Communications.

Adds Sen, They are bad leaflets, not advertisements-all it does is familiarize

voters to their faces, so when someone does go to the poll booth, they might just

recall the face and make a connection."

7.4 Radio

On 21 November, The Election Commission allowed political campaigns on

airwaves. From the very next day, radio stations in Delhi and other states going to

the polls aired political advertisements, mainly from the BJP and Congress.

Analysts say the speed with which parties integrated radio into their campaigns is

indicative of the potential it has to reach out locally. Radio is a localized medium

that reaches out to19 crore listeners (above the age of 12) and unlike print and TV,

where there are time and space restrictions, radio allows parties to actually

communicate to listeners in theirlanguage says Sunil Kumar, Managing Director

at Radio Business Consultancy Big River Radio (India) Pvt. Ltd.


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With the poll panel putting restrictions on the expenditure forcampaigns, parties

are looking at less expensive outlets. It isnatural for political parties to use radio

channels which arepopular among youngsters, says BJP spokesperson

RajivPratap Rudy.

According to a senior executive from a media buying agency, who did not want to

be identified, radio accounted for Rs.20 crore of the Rs. 400 crore political

advertising budget.

The Congress took six radio spots, the BJP took three. The ads ranged from 1050

seconds and cost the parties between Rs. 250 and Rs. 1,200.

Reaching out to 23% of the population, radio may be a more effective and cheaper

medium, but experts say political parties will have to learn how to use it to debate

and discus opposing viewpoints instead of using it as a platform for mud-slinging.

In Delhi where Congress is the ruling party, radio ads highlighted the work done

so farno promises were made. But in Rajasthan, where the Congress is in the

opposition, the ads looked at the inefficiency of the government and pointed out

what could have been done better. Similarly, BJP's campaign warned voters about

the shortcomings of the government and rhetorically asked voters if they would

make the same mistake.

These ads were not fancy and did not need much production work as they

basically had voice-overs communicating to voters. So the ads were probably

developed in a span of two days and were all set to air as soon as the government

gave the green light," says Prathap Suthan, Creative Director of Cheil

Communications. Confirms Ashit Kukian, Executive Vice President of Radio

city91.1FM, The commercials were ready. We were waiting for the Election

Commission For the broadcast certificate and as soon as the formality was met,

the ads were aired on our station.


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The growing reach of private FM radio is expected to find political expression for

the first time in India as parties tap it for their campaigns, bringing in welcome

revenue to the Rs.8.3 billion/$165 million radio industry in the country.

Many political parties realize the reach of the radio and the play that the ads

would get and are warming up to the idea of broadcasting their ads on radio,"

Panday, who is also senior vice president of the Association of Radio Operators

for India (AROI), told IANS.

Broadcasting of political ads was not allowed on private radio stations until 2005

when the second phase of FM radio privatization was rolled out. This is the first

time general elections will be held after that.

Prior to this, only stations like the All India Radio (AIR) or BBC's Hindi station

used to air such campaigns.

Taking advantage of the new development, most major parties like the Bharatiya

Janata Party (BJP), Congress, SamajwadiParty and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as

well as a few regional parties are already making use of the facility.

While the Congress has roped in three known ad agencies -Percept, Crayons and

James Walter Thompson (JWT) - to prepare the party's campaign strategy, the BJP

has hired the services of Frank Simoes-Tag and Utopia Consulting. Nisheeth

Sharan of Utopia Consulting told IANS: "We have placed BJP campaigns on all

private FM channels as well as on All India Radio because any means of

communication during the elections only helps. There is no debating that the radio

is the best local media available to connect with people even in far-flung areas.

And it makes more sense to campaign through it rather than print because it is cost

effective and is a mass medium; it cuts across all literacy levels. According to

report compiled jointly by global consultancy KPMG and the Federation of Indian

Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the country's radio industry is set

to grow at 14.2 percent per annum and reach the size of Rs.16.3 billion by


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2013.NEW DELHI: The growing reach of private FM radio is expected to

find political expression for the first time in India as parties tap it for their

campaigns, bringing in welcome revenue to theRs.8.3 billion/$165 million radio

industry in the country.

7.5 Internet

In 2004 the Internet accounted for less than 1% of the advertising budget of

political parties. Today however, the digital media makes up at least 10% of the

budget, says Atul Hegde, Chief Executive, Ignite India Pvt. Ltd., the agency

handling digital advertising for the Congress.

With 40 million Internet users and Internet penetration in urban India at around

9% the importance of digital media in political campaigns cannot be ignored. Add

to that the fact that 100 million youngsters, half of whom live in urban India are

expected to cast their voters for the first time in the Lok Sabha polls next Year,

and the Internet emerges as very useful tool to engage with young people.

The focus on digital and mobile media is to engage the urban youth in India who

make up a large voters base, says HirenPandit, managing partner of GroupM

ESP, the entertainment, sports and partnerships division of media buyer GroupM.

While they are involved in political affairs, they may not be interested or inclined

to vote, so these digital initiatives aim at interacting with them and getting the

message out

The BJP and congress have tracked US President-elect BarackObamas

successful online campaign-social networking sites such as Facebook, Orkut and

MySpace have communities built around the two parties and

individual politicians. On Facebook, for instance, a BJP group has 275members

who engage in discussions and post information on important dates and events

related to the elections, while Congress Leader Sonia Gandhi and Prime


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Minister Manmohan Singh have their own communities built on the site with 358

and 1,310 supporters respectively. It's the success of Obama's campaign we are

trying to replicate here, says Hegde.

The BJP has launched a website for its prime-ministerial candidate L.K Advani. It

had one, too, for V.K Malhotra, its chief ministerial candidate for Delhi. The

Congress opted for a dedicated Internet campaign for the Rajasthan assembly

elections.

In addition, the two parties have engaged voters through video-sharing sites such

as YouTube and video ads on popular websites such as MSN and Rediffmail.

The approximate cost for an extensive online campaign can be Rs.1 crore over a

month. 40% of a typical advertising campaign goes towards contextual search

and advertising networking and 60% is spent on popular websites such as Yahoo,

MSN and Rediff, among others, says Sidharth Rao, chief Executive and co-

founder of Web chutney, a leading digital marketing company.

7.6 Mobiles

Around 29 crore Indians use mobile phones. Therefore political parties are

targeting these voters through SMS and tele-calling voters directly. This way of

targeting people has all the advantages of Direct marketing. During these

Lok sabha elections all the parties have used this medium but definitely BJP raced

much ahead.

The attempt to reach voters who usually do not turn up at polling booths is driven

by an estimate that many of them might share BJPs vision for a strong Centre and

a "nationalist" approach to security that includes "hard" views on anti-terror laws

and illegal infiltration. These groups could motivate people to shed both their

cynicism and lethargy to actually go to the polling stations.


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Party sources said this would be accompanied by a massive SMS campaign which

hopes to ultimately reach 10 crore voters. BJP managers claim that with close to

half the voting population connected by mobiles, this campaign is now a must.

They agreed that the party was looking forward to a sustained effort by Sangh

organizations to reach and motive both the faithful and sympathizers.

The saffron party BJP used state-of-the-art campaigning, including the recorded

telephonic voice of its election candidates.

2. Political Marketing strategies in India.

A sound communications strategy could backfire without astute media planning.

Vajpaye led NDA government had lost elections due to bad media planning. In

fact there was nothing wrong with the communication strategy of India Shiningcampaign. Probably the segmentation was also done meticulously. The party

managers had faltered on establishing a correct level of advertising spend

believing that if they spend more on communication the result would be in their

favor. How could one assume that when most research indicate otherwise.

India shining campaign has been considered a flop show as the party lost

elections. A closer study would reveal that there was real merit in the

communication strategy adopted as election theme. Most experts also agreed that

the campaign was generally good and effective before the election results were

out. The devil did lie in the media planning. From political marketing viewpoint


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no one tried to look at the desired level of media reach for an incumbent party.

The overkill in media cost them elections.

The Samajwadi party in Uttar Pradesh used the most powerful brand endorser in

India combined with messages that had top grade production values, but that was

not enough to keep the party in power. Did the political advertising campaign

worked in this case?

There are major differences between the American and European way of

conducting advertising campaigns. In USA you have candidate centered,

repetitive, and short advertising messages as against the European way that

features party centric, longer duration, and single shot advertisements.

If the Labor party in UK could use professional help and successfully re-brand

itself as New Labor and go on to win successive elections. Why cant political

parties in India learn from their experience and seek professional help in place of

some in house experts who could be susceptible to the phenomenon of tunnel

vision.

If congress party in Punjab assembly elections 2007 had succeeded in reminding

the loyal voters of Shromani Akal Dal in towns about their differences with

hardcore Hindutva forces then the election results outcome would have been

different. If the media experts in congress party had targeted advertisements on the

basic differences within the loyal cadres and voters of SAD and BJP it may have

continued to rule Punjab.

The hardcore Akali and RSS/BJP do not seem to have resolved their ideological

differences over major issues like Punjabi language, river waters, Chandigarh, and

attitude towards religions etc. Therefore Congress party in Punjab had a cut out

task of reminding the core voters in both camps about their past.

It was that core Akali voters who for the first time polled votes in favor of BJP

that made the difference to the unprecedented BJP victory in the state. The credit


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went to the young leadership of SAD for engineering a shift in the voting behavior

of traditional Akali voter by very successfully mobilizing and convincing them to

cast the votes in favor of Akali BJP combine.

SAD & BJP are parties with a strong core. These kinds of parties can win an

election on the basis of a strong wave only. It is very important for these parties to

appeal to the floating voters to vote in their favor. In the last Punjab elections there

were other strong reasons for the victory of SAD BJP alliance.

Use of marketing instruments, concepts and techniques is on the rise in India with

every new election. Most political parties realizing the importance of political

communications have created in house teams, often named as media cell, to

establish, maintain and improve the image of their party and advise the party on

professional political communications. These media divisions within parties

generally consist of current and former journalists and a smattering of political

communications experts. Well-planned political marketing helps to influence the

election outcome by convincing the electorate about real effective issues.

Elections and political management remains under tight control of the in-party

specialists who claim to understand the political scenario better than the marketing

expert who generally gets involved in elections during election time only. The

politicians and parties in India have yet to get onto the perpetual political

marketing mode as undertaken in democracies in western world and the ASEAN

countries. The war room mentality remains the favorite style for leveraging the

political marketing process in developed world.

Punjab elections in 2007 featured high decibel advertising campaigns, public

election broadcasts, road shows, exit polls, news management and a more

organized campaign management to get the voters out to vote. The reverberations

continue to be felt in the form of daily dose of news coverage about the arrest &

trial of high profile previous chief minister and his associates.


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The role of media and the media advisors have never had attracted such attention

in election campaigns in particular and managing a political party in general. Can

we conclude that astute media handling and overall use of marketing tools has

become a necessary feature for the success of a political party? The application of

marketing techniques and strategies to the political marketplace is a paradigm shift

that will continue to change politics, as we know it today.

Media in Punjab, India too, has long been associated with social and political

movements. It has been considered as an instrument with the potential to usher in

a socio-political change in society. Till recently, major media in India could have

been identified with distinct religious, political, social and economic interest

groups having a definite agenda to promote without regard to the overall health of

our democratic nation. In the current democratic set up media openly seems to

side with political parties and other vested interest groups to sway the public

opinion in a particular direction. Therefore news management has become a full

time activity for the political players. Success in politics is measured by the ability

of a party to move the public opinion in a direction it wants it to move.

Since vast majority of Indians are religious and God fearing therefore it has

become a general practice amongst politicians of every hue to be seen to be

seeking blessings from religious leaders more during the time of elections so as to

impress upon their followers to vote in favor of their party and candidate. But for

the first time in Punjab, a Baba from the neighboring state of Haryana took out

series of advertisements impressing upon his followers to vote in favor of a

Congress party.

This cocktail of religion and politics seem to work all over India and has produced

enormous aftershocks long after the polls have gone. A professional approach in

handling such communications could reduce the unsavory aftershocks in the

country. The intensity of the competition could be gauged from the fact that socio-


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religious leaders are prompted to appeal to their followers to influence voting.

It is not the media companies alone who take recourse to the pre poll surveys to

assess the mood of the voters and pump up their TRP. The political parties also

resort to use of market research to fine-tune their campaign strategy. Since these

surveys make catchy headlines therefore their impact on the voters and the party

workers is powerful. A positive survey finding motivates the party worker to get

out work to get all the votes polled on the Election Day.

A pre poll survey predicting a negative outcome could de motivate the party rank

& file and also convince the floating undecided voter to form a negative opinion

about the projected looser party. These surveys provide new debating points to the

media and do seem to color their own news analysis also.

The Parties employed below the line media to reach out to the rural voter. Music

videos and election songs have become a major tool of communicating a political

message to the rural audience. Terrestrial television in the form of state owned

Doordarshan has an extensive reach in the rural areas and therefore used for the

purpose of public election broadcast to disseminate the message to the people who

otherwise depend upon vernacular print media.

The cap on election expenditure also restricts the political parties from involving

professional advertising organizations to execute a political campaign on their

behalf. Because the political party would not want to disclose their actual

advertising spend to the election commission.

Persuasion remains the main objective of the political players. The parties stop

short of finding out what the electorate wants from them; instead they claim to

know what people must expect from them. The parties have generally ignored the

need for marketing research to list the issues facing the public.

There has been an extensive use of negative advertising during the election

campaigning. Some of the advertisements do have advocacy tone also. But


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nothing that could be called a creative advertising campaign capable of producing

measurable effects. The media cells in parties continue to believe that voters

would buy everything that they have to tell them. When would these media

experts accept that we live in times when creating credibility of the messages is a

challenge.

There has been plethora of research suggesting that incumbent party does not gain

from higher share of voice. Though it gains remarkably from share of mind and

share of heart. This would require limited use advertising and leveraging the other

promotion vehicles. But most incumbent parties do not seem to take lessons and

keep on wasting resources on government advertising.

It is believed by many that there are no upper limits to the quantity of

communication to strengthen the appeal of a political party. More the merrier, but

thats certainly not true. Several studies in political marketing have established

beyond doubt that there is a non-linear relationship between the spending and net

marginal benefit to the advertiser. Particularly for the incumbent party it has been

generally accepted that low level of spending, than the challenger, may be better

for producing a positive effect for an incumbent party.

Most political pundits seem to have concluded that advertising and other

marketing devices have almost negligible effective role to play in Indian elections.

But several parties have tried to deploy sophisticated political marketing tools to

convince the voter to elect them to power. But the results may not have been

turned out in their favour.

While most political parties use sophisticated technology to get across their

message to the voters, they still rely on party old timers, journalists and

bureaucrats to work out a communications strategy. Professional advice in

election management is still not a very popular way. Therefore, most of the times,

the quantity and quality of communication is way off the mark. Some political


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parties in India have recently begun consulting outside professional marketing

experts to understand the mood of the electorate, plan communications

/advertising, & manage news media in order to mobilize public opinion in its

favor. Definitely they see wisdom in using marketing for victory in the elections

though political pundits may not agree with the effectiveness of the political

marketing process.


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OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

To study about the different strategies use by Political parties to win

elections.

To explore the political marketing strategies in India.

To examine the role of political marketing strategies upon the voting public,

and its ability to change the opinions and sway the allegiance of the public.

To explore the role of political marketing in usage of marketing tools,

techniques and methods in political process.

The need of political marketing is inevitable in Indian democracy given the

political competition at local, regional and national level to combat the game

of coalitions and mid-term crisis.


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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. Once can also

define research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a

specific topic. In fact, research is an art of scientific investigation. The Advanced

Learners Dictionary of Current English lays down the meaning of research as a

careful investigation or inquiry especially through search for new facts in any

branch of knowledge.

Research is regarded as systematic process of Identifying market problems and

then gathering, recording and analyzing data about the problems and ordered to get

a justify solution for the problems. The research methodology enumerates the

description of the sampling plan, research instruments used for the collection of

data, protesting questionnaire, the use of statistical tools and techniques for the

analysis of collectives data.

Research Methodology

Instrumentation

Primary: Primary data has been collected from questionnaire, Observation,

Interviews, analysis of records and case studies.

Secondary: the secondary data has been collected from following modes:

Newspapers

Articles

Books

Through internet sources

Journals


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Research plan :

For completing my study, I have used case studies, Internet sources, recent

marketing strategies used by political parties, Interviews with people related in

political world, various political marketing books and political websites. ( as

mentioned in the reference section ).

Sampling plan :

A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population.

It refers to the technique or the procedure that researcher would adopt in selecting

items from sample. Sampling plan may as well lay down the member of items tothe inched in the sample i.e. the size of sample. Sampling plan is determined before

data are collected.

Field work:

I have collected data through questionnaire, Interviews, Observation, case studies,

newspapers and articles. I started my project at very first educating the voters

about my entire project and some interviews. Most of the respondent and people

involve in political world were aware of this type of surveys. So I didnt face any

type of difficulty during my project.


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LIMITATIONS

1. Lack of professional approach, as the subject of the study is on political

marketing strategy.

2. It cannot be accepted as a piece of excellence and is limited to knowledge

and experience of student.

3. Have to rely upon the information given by respondents, which may not

be fully true.


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DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

The data that was delivered to and collected by the respondents had included four

parts relevant to this research study. The first part includes a loyalty and a time of

voting decision making question. The loyalty question was asked in order to

classify the respondents in the following four categories: 1) hard loyalists, 2) soft

loyalists, 3) swingers or floating voters and 4) non voters. In addition the time of

voting decision making question was asked in order that the respondents groups

would be further divided in: 1) those voters who decide which party to vote before

the beginning of the election period, 2) those who decide during the election period

and 3) those that make their voting decision at the last minute.


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1. The respondents have been asked to answer if they vote every time for

the same party and when is the time that they decide in favor of which

party to vote?

Loyalty No. of Respondents %age

Hard-loyalists 25 50%

Soft-loyalists 20 40%

Swingers 5 10%

Interpretation:

In regard with the loyalty question, 50% of the total sample consider themselves as

hard loyalists, since they vote the same party in every election, 40% are the soft

loyalists, while 10% are the swingers, which are people who vote for different

party in every election.

50%

40%

10%

Loyalty

Hard-loyalists

Soft-loyalists

Swingers


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2. What time do you decide your voting decision making?

Voting decision No. of Respondents %age

Before election period 30 60%

During election period 15 30%

Last moment 5 10%

Interpretation:

In regard with the time of voting decision making, 60% of the sample make their

voting decision before the beginning of the election period, 30% during it and 10%

at the last moments before voting.

60%

30%

10%

Time of voting decision making

Before election period

During election period

Last moment


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3. Analyzing, the final segment of voters criteria.

Voters criteria No. of Respondents %age

H- I before 15 30%H- I during 1 2%

H- I last minute 2 4%

S- I before 9 18%

S- I during 4 8%

S- I last minute 3 6%

Swingers before 6 12%

Swingers during 7 14%

Swingers last-min 3 6%

Interpretation

As it is mentioned above, the intention of this research is to separate each loyalty

group according to the time of voting decision making and to analyze their voting

behavior. Therefore, hard- loyalists, soft-loyalists and floating voters were divided

in three segments each one.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

30%

2%4%

18%

8%6%

12%14%

6%


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4. Analyzing the Hard loyalists voters Segments.

Hard loyalist No. of Respondents %age

H-I before 35 70%

H-I during 10 20%

H-I last minute 5 10%

Figure 4Hard loyalists segments

Interpretation:

As it is shown below (Figure 4), most of the hard loyalists (80.68%) tend to make

their voting decision before the beginning of the election period, while only

13.84% during and 5.48% the last minute of it. That means that the big majority of

the hard loyalists do not change their mind because of the election campaign of the

political parties.

70%

20%

10%

H-I before

H-I during

H-I last minute


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5. Analyzing the Soft-loyalists Segments.

Soft loyalist No. of Respondents %age

S-I before 25 50%

S-I during 18 36%

S-I last minute 7 14%

Interpretation

Furthermore, more than 50% of the soft loyalists tend to make their voting decision

before the election period. However, the important to mention here is the increase

of the people who decide during the election period for which party to vote, who

reach 36%. Finally, only a 14% of the soft loyalists wait until the last minute of the

election campaign in order to decide which party to vote for figure.

50%

36%

14%

Self-loyalist's Segment

S-I before

S-I during

S-I last minute


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6. Analyzing the structure of swinging voters segment.

Swingers segments No. of Respondents %age

Swingers before 20 40%

Swingers during 25 50%

Swinger last-min 5 10%

Interpretation:

On the other hand, swingers are split in two big segments; those who make their

voting decision before the election period 40% and those who decide the lastminute 50%. The people who make their voting decision during the election period

represent only the 10% of the swingers.

40%

50%

10%

Swingers' segment

Swingers before

Swingers during

Swinger last-min


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7. Criteria for voting decision making.

Interpretation

The criteria used by respondents appear to fall into two categories. The first one

includes those criteria that are considered to be of medium or high importance and

the second category those that have low importance. The most important criteria

are: the program of the parties about socio economic and national issues; ideology;

and the personality of the partys leader.


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8. Trust of information provided by the sources for elections.

Interpretation:

In regard with the sources that provide information to the electorate during the

election period, the respondents in general seem not to trust the information they

receive by most of them. In this question also the soft loyalists who make theirvoting decision during the election period seem generally to show more trust on the

information they get by the sources than all the other segments.


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9. What is the political marketing influence on the electorate segment?

Interpretation:

The analysis of the responses in the relevant, to the research objective 1 questions,

has shown that there is one market segment that is by far the most influenced of all

by political marketing. This group is the one which includes the people that are soft

loyalists and make their voting decision during the election campaign. In the firstquestion its influence by political marketing is ranked with 3.7/6 while the second

most influential segment is ranked.


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SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION

In conclusion, given the general findings of the study, there should be several

actions taken by political candidates and political parties to maintain a positive

message and to foster connections with the voting public. Overall, the study

presented the collective opinions of several experts in applicable fields and a

review of literature of political marketing. Of course, political marketing is a

treacherous field, inspiring passion and strong opinions in the majority of

individuals. Political campaigns are notorious for their sweeping claims and bold

promises, but if candidates can remain truthful, and make strong positiveimpressions on people and emotional connections, their chances to become the

elected official vastly improve. The study serves as a guide and educational tool

for classical marketing, political science, communications, and journalism

professionals who are interested in political marketing and the role of the media, or

someone who is considering a potential political campaign, either on a local, or

even national level.

Consumers buy benefits; voters are buying confidence that the candidate will

deliver what they want essentially, the benefit(s) they want the elected official to

deliver. They change the voters behavior and therefore win elections when they

connect emotionally with the voting public. They overcome the effect of media

bias when they connect with, speak directly to, and interact with their potential

voters.

Voter behavior has been studied much in the same manner as consumer behavior,

namely as a decision making process to engage in a certain action (voting,

purchasing), including processes which proceed and follow that act. Both the voter

and the consumer are viewed as individuals receiving information, and possibly


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seeking out information, processing this information to reach predispositions to

respond, and finally responding toward the product and the candidate in question.

Consequently, the principles of well known models and frameworks of consumer

behavior can be effectively applied to voter behavior and vice versa. Accordingly,

in applying the general approach of consumer behavior models to voter behavior,

one can point out the following components that are part of the decision process.


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arun Kumar, Regal Publications (2009).- Political Marketing in India.

Political MarketingThe Indian Experience, by Dilip M. Sarwate

Political Marketing in India, an article by Prof. Gurinder Singh Ahluwalia (GJIMT,

Mohali )

Emergence of political Marketing, an article by Anand Tajpuria, Omkar

Deshpande & Anurag Thakurta, from NMIMS Mumbai.

Introduction to political Marketing ,an article by Vijaykaran

Political marketing game , - byJennifer Lees-Marshment


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QUESTIONARE

Name: - _____________

Age - Below 20

2030

2040

40 above

Q1. Do you vote every time for the same party?

I am a Swinger

I am a Hard Loyalist

I am a Soft Loyalist

Q2. What time do you decide your voting decision making?

Last Moment

Before Election Period

During Election Period


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Q3. What are your Criteria of voting decision making (Importance)?

Socioeconomic Program

Leader personality

National Issues Program

Ideology

Regional Program

MP Personality

Party Image

Personal Benefits

Election Campaign

Win Possibilities

Q4. What sources of information do you trust

Documents

Marketing Strategies Used by Political Parties to Win Elections