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Political Branding

Political branding is about how a political organisation or individual is perceived overall by the public. It is broader than the product; whereas a product has distinct functional parts such as a politician and policy, a brand is intangible and psychological. A political brand is the overarching feeling, impression, association or image the public has towards a politician, political organisation, or nation. Political branding helps the party or candidate to help change or maintain reputation and support, create a feeling of identity with the party or its candidates and create a trusting relationship between political elites and consumers. It helps political consumers understand more quickly what a party or candidate is about; and distinguish a candidate or party from the competition.


Academic Literature

General and overview

Bal, A. S., L. Pitt, et al. (2009). "Caricatures, cartoons, spoofs and satires: political brands as butts." Journal of Public Affairs 9(4): 229-237.

Cosgrove, Ken (2007), Branded Conservatives: How the Brand Brought the Right from the Fringes to the Centre of American Politics. Peter Lang

Cosgrove, Kenneth M. (2012), ‘Political Branding in the Modern Age - Effective Strategies, Tools & Techniques,' Chapter 9 in the Routledge Handbook of Political Marketing edited by Jennifer Lees-Marshment,  Routledge. 

Cosgrove, Kenneth (2017) ‘So much winning If I get elected that you might get bored with winning: Sports as a brand aspect in the 2016 Presidential Election’ The American Elections Symposium 2017: Broken: Barriers, Parties, and Conventional Wisdom in 2016, New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm’s College, Manchester

Downer, Lorann (2015) Political Branding Strategies: Campaigning and Governing in Australian Politics (Palgrave) 

Lees-Marshment, Jennifer (2014) Political Marketing: Principles and Applications 2nd edition. Routledge Chapter 4 Political Branding 

Lilleker, D. and N. Jackson (2010). Interactivity and Branding, public political communication as a marketing tool. Political Studies Association (PSA) Conference: Sixty Years of Political Studies: Achievements and Futures. Edinburgh University, Scotland see http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/15074/

Lilleker, D. G. (2015) ‘Interactivity and Branding: Public Political Communication as a Marketing Tool’, Journal of Political Marketing, 14(1-2), pp. 111–128.

Marland, Alex (2016) Brand Command: Canadian Politics and Democracy in the Age of Message Control, UBC Press.

Mensah, Kobby. 2009. Segmentation and brand development: an Afican perspective. In Political Marketing: Principles and Applications, by J. Lees-Marshment. Oxon and New York: Routledge.

Needham, Catherine (2005). ‘Brand leaders: Clinton, Blair and the limitations of the permanent campaign’.Political Studies, 53(2): 343–61.

Phipps, M., J. Brace-Govan, et al. (2010). "The Duality of Political Brand Equity." European Journal of Marketing 44(3/4): 496-514.

Reeves, Peter, Leslie de Chernatony and Marylyn Carrigan (2006). Building a political brand: Ideology or voter-driven strategy. Brand management, vol. 13(6): 418-428.

Scammell, Margaret. (2015). "Politics and Image: The Conceptual Value of Branding." Journal of Political Marketing no. 14 (1/2):7-18.

Smith, Gareth, and Alan French (2009). "The Political Brand: A Consumer Perspective." Marketing Theory 9, no. 2 : 209-26.

 

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