Nowadays there are highly visible resemblances between the consumer goods market and the world of politics. There is an evident relationship between business research and electoral affairs. Hence brand positioning and brand management have become more and more important in politics. Both parties and politicians hold a brand equity. In the economic sense, a brand is a deep-seated and distinctive image of a commodity or a service in the mind of a consumer. Transferred to the world of politics, a brand is a deep-seated and distinctive image of a party or a politician (and a candidate, respectively) in the mind of a voter. Therefore it is important that parties and politicians exhibit a strong, consistent, unique, distinguishable, and trustworthy image. Besides traditional methods like grassroots campaigning differentiation from other parties or politicians, position papers, public relations, self-portrayal, public performances, appearance in media, and so on, an integral part of contemporary political campaigning is intelligent and courageous brand equity management. From the voters’ point of view, the political brand must be both attractive and emotive. Therefore the primary purpose must be building up a positive brand image and a solid brand essence. The brand essence consists of brand identity and brand value. To be successful, the brand identity should be as precise as possible. The voter must know what the party or the politician is standing for. The politicians have to meet the challenge to communicate their political attitudes, to grant insights into decision-making processes, to work with appropriate symbols and slogans, to raise the voter’s awareness of party organization and identity, to define the scope of other positions, to expose the unique selling proposition, to disclose core values, and to prove expertise in problem solving. The brand value should correspond with the value hierarchy of the voter. Information about the voter’s lifestyle, desires, and needs are essential. A brand not only knows the demographical distribution of the voters but understands their lives. This empathy is the requirement for a long-term strategy using emotional bonding. It guarantees the connection to a voting base. Furthermore, a politician should present her- or himself as predictive. Primarily the politician should be a reliable and familiar partner of the voters. Political branding means to have these maxims in mind and to act upon these principles. Then the voter’s esteem will be reflected in the choice of the candidate’s own brand from among other brand choices.
Basisliteratur:
Bruhn, Manfred: Integrierte Unternehmens- und Markenkommunikation: Strategische Planung und operative Umsetzung. 3., überarb. u. erw. Aufl. Stuttgart: Schäffer-Poeschel 2003
Dombrowski, Ines: Politisches Marketing in den Massenmedien. Wiesbaden: DUV 1997
Falter, Jürgen W. / Harald Schoen (Hrsg.): Handbuch Wahlforschung. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2005
Karp, Markus / Zolleis, Udo (Hrsg.): Politisches Marketing: Eine Einführung in das Politische Marketing mit aktuellen Bezügen aus Wissenschaft und Praxis. Münster u.a.: Lit 2004
Kreyher, Volker J. (Hg.): Handbuch Politisches Marketing: Impulse und Strategien für Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Baden-Baden: Nomos 2004
Lilleker, Darren G. / Jennifer Lees-Marshment (Hrsg.): Political Marketing: A Comparative Perspective. Manchester, New York: Manchester University Press 2005
Meffert, Heribert / Christoph Burmann / Martin Koers (Hrsg.): Markenmanagement: Grundfragen der identitätsorientierten Markenführung. Wiesbaden: Gabler 2002
Rademacher, Lars (Hrsg.): Politik nach Drehbuch. Münster u.a.: Lit 2005
Schneider, Helmut: Marken in der Politik: Erscheinungsformen, Relevanz, identitätsorientierte Führung und demokratietheoretische Reflexion. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2004

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