In the political market space, the correlation between the Party, candidate and brand promise (Policies) cannot be overstressed. From consumers’ viewpoint, brands ‘take a special meaning’ because they offer value, with eventual outcome of increased consumer attachment, loyalty and durable relationships.
Therefore, in the political brand architecture, the role of the party (Umbrella of cohesion), the candidate and the brand promise (policies) are manipulated by political strategists to enhance the overall political brand value.
Logic would thus suggest that the political behaviour of the party as an organisation, the candidate/leader’s personality, and the relevance and/or realistic nature of the political brand offering is critical in the overall political branding efforts – and the associative networks that will influence the political brand evaluation.
While political operators can leverage the unique strength of each element to show distinctiveness, negative associations or perceptions about any of these factors is detrimental to election outcomes. This means that a ‘damaged’ candidate/leader’s image, for example, can alter the brand equity of the party or government.
In the political market, these transfers are possible because of the strong connections between the political elements and how they are perceived in the minds of political stakeholders. What consumers have learnt, felt, seen and heard about the political brand as a result of their experiences over time has a strong influence on the political brand evaluation.
Therefore, any political party seeking to be elected, or re-elected needs to be conscious about their brand and how each political element (party, candidate, and brand offerings) are aligned to build alliances to alter the political consumer’s perception and evaluation of the political brand.
In the political marketing field, it is established that the political market responds and bonds with political brands differently. However, functional and emotional levels of connection are predominant. Connecting on a functional level means political consumers are rational and the basis for which the political brand is accepted is on promising and delivering on tangible brand offerings; such as building more hospitals, increased educational infrastructure, fixing and expanding road networks among others.
On the one hand, emotional connection is simply the market bonding on the basis of the party’s attractiveness, approachability, authenticity etc. It is important to note that while these means of building relationships are important in political brand management, the brand promise (polices) in particular creates a nostalgic attachment and heightens expectations.
Hence, it did not come as a surprise when the NPP won the 2016 election with an unprecedented margin. Adapting the concept of populist market-oriented party approach, the NPP used market research findings from policy think-tanks and other research-based institutions – and probably their own market research findings – to identify the needs of the citizenry and offered thought-provoking brand promises (One Village, One Dam; One Constituency, One Million Dollars; One District, One Factory etc.) to woo the political market.
Further, the NPP gauged the mood, frustration and political temperature, and swiftly designed a manifesto that simply offered solutions to issues confronting the political market. They presented a coherent, consistent and clear-cut winning political communication to effectively pitch the party, candidate and their offerings as the best. The NPP communicated a strong understanding of the political market’s needs, and constantly drew from the political brand heritage (referring to past track-record) to establish legitimacy and competence to ‘fix Ghana’.
Tapping into the citizenry’s growing dissatisfaction, the NPP campaign inflicted deep upper-cuts that hurt the political image of their main opponent, the NDC (party in government). The presidential candidate (Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo) and his running mate’s (Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia) communication reinforced their own qualities – competent, knowledgeable leadership, credible and responsive.
All these interplayed beautifully to get the NPP into government in 2017. Thus, using a political marketing lens, one could argue that the NPP understood the political marketing principles and effectively applied them to win the election.
However, as political marketing experts following recent developments, it is tempting to conclude that the NPP built a strong political brand to win the 2016 election without familiarising itself with the devastating effect of delivery failure and deficit-in-value delivery. Political marketing theory notes government needs to deliver and effectively communicate delivery for political consumers to patronise what has been offered to be re-elected.
If delivery on economic issues in particular lacks, and thus fails to meet expectations, the political market will seek alternatives. While it might be difficult or unfair for anyone to say government has not fulfilled any brand promise, a legitimate question to ask is, “to what extent has the ‘delivered promises’ met the ‘expectations’ that were raised by the party in opposition?”
This accounts for why experts note “perceived economic management and delivery competence is almost like a qualification parties need to have to be in the game to win an election”. The economic situation and government – particularly the president’s response to the political market’s reaction – presents the NPP and government as a political brand in crisis, and a brand that has depleted its brand equity in government. As experts, it is our considered opinion that the situation is worrying because the eventual outcome in 2024 can be dire.
It is important for political elites to know about the concept of ‘deficit in value’- when delivery fails to meet expectation. Government may have delivered on some promises, but if delivery mismatches expectations then there will be negative reactions from the political market. This situation may account for the recent hooting, complaining, demonstrations and threats from the political market.
Delivery failure or deficit-in-value delivery as noted in the genre of political and corporate marketing can result in brand hate or brand avoidance. If so, then the president’s response that the brand hate characteristics (hooting, threat of voting NPP into opposition, threats of not voting at all, demonstrations etc.) being exhibited by the political market do not affect him and that it behoves the citizenry to choose whom they want to vote for, is calamitous to the political brand image of a party seeking to break the 8.
The majority caucus’s press conference on dismissal of the Minister of Finance is another brand damaging action (self-hate) by the party. Government’s posture, perceived personality, the prevailing economic situation and seemingly growing dissatisfaction will certainly be influential in the 2024 election – the reason we recommend that political marketing strategists for the NPP should be busy revising their notes and literature on damage control, political brand-refresh, political brand revitalisation and repositioning.
To conclude, it is important to note that all these internal and external brand hate actions will filter into the political campaign discourse for the 2024 election. Therefore, to break the 8 will require political operators applying political brand rejuvenation principles to keep the devalued brand appreciated in Ghana’s next election.
>>>Dr. Joyce Manyo is a PhD holder from The University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is a political marketing expert working as a research fellow in charge of strategic communication and campaigns with a leading civil society organisation in Ghana. Her research and publications are in the areas of political marketing, positioning, and strategic communication.
>>>Dr. Kobby Mensah is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School. Kobby’s teaching and research interests are in political marketing, tourism marketing, business intelligence and social media. He is editor of the book ‘Political Marketing and Management in Ghana: A New Architecture’.
