‘ Market ’ Classification and Political Campaigning : Some Strategic Implications

Although there is an argument for a flow of logic from market structure to marketing strategy and performance, the nature of the political ‘market’ and service product constraints, strongly dictate marketing strategy choices. Interactions between what, at this stage, we may call the consumer (elector) and the supplier (electee) in political campaigns could be likened to mental stimulus processing services (Lovelock, 1996:31) or human services (Dickens, 1996). However, parties and candidates operate in peculiar poligopolistic markets competing for the authority to deliver government services using an exclusive right of franchise bidding process present in business-to-business markets. A structure-conduct-performance model is presented for political campaign organisations based on an analysis of political markets from consumer, industrial and services marketing perspectives, at what Blois (1974) has referred to as the 1 level of abstraction. The political ‘market’ is classified in order to provide strategic marketing insights. In essence, political marketing appears to be a hybrid sub-discipline of marketing incorporating characteristics from all three major marketing paradigms, but with services marketing theory holding particular promise for future theory development. Introduction The marketing discipline itself grew out of the study of economics with the first courses in the subject offered at the University of Michigan in 1902 (Sheth and Parvatiyar, 2000). In the century that has passed marketing has extended its reach from its beginnings in consumer goods marketing to a wide range of activities where human beings seek mutually beneficial exchanges. In the latter part of the twentieth century this extended to sectors where the object of exchange is not immediately obvious (e.g. charities, churches, politics). In political markets the suggestion is that electors seek to exchange their votes for sound government representation although the nature of politics is such that there are potentially multifarious definitions of what such ‘sound government’ represents. With the recognition of a ‘marketplace’ it is only a short conceptual leap to the application of traditional marketing concepts. Recognisable marketing tactics have been evident in political campaigns in both the US (e.g. Eisenhower’s use of direct mail in the early 1950s) and the UK (e.g. Thatcher’s use of the Saatchi and Saatchi advertising agency (Scammell, 1994)). There is no doubt, however, that there has been a visible increase in the use of marketing techniques in political campaigns over the last few years (Smith and Saunders, 1990; Wring, 1999). The dominant paradigm of political marketing to date has been to adapt consumer goods marketing ideas and frameworks (Baines and Egan, 2001), especially the marketing mix concept (see Niffenegger, 1989). Other frameworks, however, may provide a more fruitful basis for analysis. This paperseeks to analyse in greater depth the nature of the political market by seeking comparisons with product, service and industrial markets, at what Blois (1974) refers to as the 1 level of abstraction. Blois places this 1 level of abstraction between theories of buyer behaviour (2 level of abstraction) and the marketplace. He suggested that consumer, industrial and services marketing techniques should be differentiated in order to meet buyers’ needs in different market sectors. Ultimately, he argues, this leads to individual products in the marketplace. In this article, the spotlight is placed upon the services marketing paradigm developed by scholars dissatisfied with the traditional marketing mix paradigm (Booms and Bitner, 1981; Gronroos, 1987). The structure of the political ‘market’, and the