Marketing Strategies Used by Political Parties to Win Elections
Transcript of 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