Political marketing can often be a case of playing the rock-paper-scissors game whereby a single political marketing strategy can beat, and be beaten, by one other move in the political market set. The political product offering is represented by the rock, electoral engagement is represented by the scissors and personal political solution is represented by paper.
A viable political product (rock) offering can beat an established political candidate with strong electoral connections (scissors) but is vulnerable to the broader question of which party will best serve the interests of the individual voter (paper). Strong local members (scissors) can fall victim to viable alternate candidates (rock), and yet, as 2007 demonstrated, can resist broader political swings or shifts in government (paper). Finally, personal interest driven voting (paper) can defeat political product offerings by the party (rock) but remains vulnerable to individual candidates (scissors).
There is no single strategy or magic bullet approach to using political marketing for electoral success – instead, the political marketer needs to balance the various aspects of the campaign to be able to meet the opponent’s challenge, and respond accordingly.
Rock, Paper, Scissors and Political Marketing
Political marketing can often be a case of playing the rock-paper-scissors game whereby a single political marketing strategy can beat, and be beaten, by one other move in the political market set. The political product offering is represented by the rock, electoral engagement is represented by the scissors and personal political solution is represented by paper.
A viable political product (rock) offering can beat an established political candidate with strong electoral connections (scissors) but is vulnerable to the broader question of which party will best serve the interests of the individual voter (paper). Strong local members (scissors) can fall victim to viable alternate candidates (rock), and yet, as 2007 demonstrated, can resist broader political swings or shifts in government (paper). Finally, personal interest driven voting (paper) can defeat political product offerings by the party (rock) but remains vulnerable to individual candidates (scissors).
There is no single strategy or magic bullet approach to using political marketing for electoral success – instead, the political marketer needs to balance the various aspects of the campaign to be able to meet the opponent’s challenge, and respond accordingly.