Political Marketing

The aim of the course is to present students both the theory of Political Marketing and to deliver tangible and practical tools and methods (including those from the disciplines of commercial marketing and business management), which can be applied to politics. Political Marketing introduces students, who want to manage marketing electoral campaigns, how candidates, parties, elected officials and governments utilize political marketing concepts and tools to win elections and remain in office. This course discusses a wide range of political marketing topics, which are used in politics, including the rise of the political consumer, segmentation, targeting, positioning, branding, communication, product life cycle analysis, internal marketing.

A political campaign is one of the most intense, dynamic, and competitive environments that marketers face. Such a challenging setting requires the application of marketing tools, but also highlights the need for new approaches to marketing strategy, communication and decision making. This course will introduce such new insights and demonstrate their applicability to political marketing. It offers an integrated approach to concepts, ideas, and tools presented by a variety of disciplines, but especially economics and its subdisciplines: marketing and business management, for understanding and managing highly intense competitive political markets.

Students will learn how to apply marketing tools to bring about change and outline the strategic marketing planning process within political organizations. They will learn how to conduct research, analyze the environment, establish target audiences, set objectives and goals and how to apply conventional marketing mix tools to political institutions.

Basic literature:

1) L. de Chernatony et al., Creating Powerful Brands (any edition)

2) P. Kotler, K. L. Keller, Marketing Management (any edition)

3) J. Lees-Marshment, Political Marketing: Principles and Applications, Routledge, London 2009

4) A. Lock, P. Harris, Political Marketing – vive la différence!, “European Journal of Marketing” 1996, vol. 30, 10/11, pp. 14-24

5) G. Smith, Conceptualizing and Testing Brand Personality in British Politics, “Journal of Political Marketing” 2009, vol. 8, pp. 209-232

Complementary literature:

1) A. R. Andreasen, P. Kotler, Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations, Pearson Education International, New Jersey 2003

2) P. R. Baines, R. M. Worcester, D. Jarrett, R. Mortimore, Market Segmentation and Product Differentiation in Political Campaigns: A Technical Feature Perspective, “Journal of Marketing Management” 2003, vol. 19, 1 2, pp. 225- 249

3) P. Butler, N. Collins, Strategic Analysis in Political Markets, “European Journal of Marketing” 1996, vol. 30, 10/11, pp. 25-36

4) W. Cwalina, A. Falkowski, B. I. Newman, Political Marketing. Theoretical and Strategic Foundations, M. E. Sharpe, New-York ‒ London 2011

5) G. Davies, T. Mian, The Reputation of the Party Leader and of the Party Being Led, “European Journal of Marketing” 2010, vol. 44, no. 3/4, pp. 331-350

6) A. Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy, Harper & Row, New York 1957

7) D. Kavanagh, Election Campaigning. The New Marketing of Politics, Blackwell, Oxford‒Cambridge 1995

8) K. L. Keller, Strategic Brand Management, (any edition)

9) P. Kotler, Principles of Marketing (any edition)

10) P. Kotler, S. Levy, Broadening the Concept of Marketing, “Journal of Marketing” 1969, vol. 33, 1, January, pp. 10-15

11) D. Lilleker, R. Scullion (eds.), Voters or Consumers: Imagining the Contemporary Electorate, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle 2008

12) P. J. Maarek, Campaign Communication & Political Marketing, Willey-Blackwell, Chichester 2011

13) C. Needham, Brands and Political Loyalty, “Journal of Brand Management” 2006, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 178-187

14) B. I. Newman (ed.), Handbook of Political Marketing, Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks – London – New Delhi 1999

15) R.P. Ormrod, S.C.M. Hanneberg, N.J. O’Shaughnessy, Political Marketing. Theory and Concepts, Sage, Los Angeles‒London‒New Delhi‒Singapur‒Washington 2013

16) K. Zajdowski, Marketing produktu politycznego, Elipsa, Warszawa 2017