Political marketing and party development in Britain

Abstract

Argues that by utilizing a standard evolutionary model of marketing it is possible to map out three key stages in the development of electioneering, each of which is directly comparable with the production, sales and marketing orientations in commerce. In politics the respective phases can be labelled the propaganda, media and marketing approaches to the electorate. Using this framework the differences between the three campaign orientations become self‐evident. Interestingly, it also becomes possible to trace the similarities in approach, specifically the important, if previously largely unrecognized, role that basic marketing concepts have played in British elections since the beginning of the century. Contrary to popular perception, professional advertising and image consciousness are not legacies of the 1980s but date back to the decade following the introduction of near universal suffrage in 1918. The realization of popular television and consumer marketing in the 1950s exacerbated the need for more coherent party image management. Finally in the late 1970s and 1980s both main contenders for government underwent strategic changes akin to embracing a marketing orientation.