Political Marketing: Lessons from the Mainstream

This paper seeks to examine the perceived differences between political marketing and mainstream marketing. It looks at the justifications for marketing strategies in the political context and suggests that the importance of image may, regularly, outweigh that of policy. It discusses nine areas of supposed differentiation including the single transaction date, non-pricing, collective choice, winner takes all, product complexity, new and extended brands, brand leadership, negative advertising and local campaigning. Generally it finds both comparisons can be made, and potential lessons learnt, from mainstream marketing.