654 Political Marketing Bruce I.

Newman DePaul University, Chicago The Role of Marketing in American Politics1

Bruce Newman

Introduction
The Hershey Foods Corporation sells chocolate bars, hershey kisses, Reeses candy, and other items as well. The marketing of these products is handled by a department that includes sales representatives, marketing researchers, advertising specialists, direct marketing experts, and others. The marketing department is responsible for developing marketing plans for each of the existing products and brands as well as developing new products and brands. People buy Hershey products because they have an excellent reputation in the marketplace as a consistently good tasting candy. The Hershey Corporation brings in approximately $1.8 billion dollars in annual sales.2 The president of the United States also sells something, ideas! More importantly, the president is selling himself to the American people, and trying to convince them to follow his lead. Each of his ideas is formulated into programs that he must market to the American people and to Congress. For each of his major initiatives, a president enlists the help of several marketing professionals to convince Americans to support his causes. Just as previous presidents have used the expertise of marketing experts, so has Bill Clinton. He had the help of a professional marketing researcher (called a pollster in politics) to help him choose the themes and policies he would stress in his sales pitch; advertising specialists to direct the development of commercials; direct marketing experts to help him get his message targeted to specic audiences; and of course his sales representatives, his wife Hillary, and the members of his Cabinet who y around the country making speeches and appearing on the nightly news programs to push the presidents latest agenda. No, Bill Clinton didnt rack up billions of dollars in annual sales, but instead tries to move public opinion, the currency in politics.

From Electronic Electioneering to Electronic Governing

Electronic governing is the new force in politics today! It relies on the use of the latest marketing technology that was formerly used in presidential campaigns, and is now being incorporated into the daily running of government by the president. However, due to the fact that this same technology is available to anyone who understands its use and potential power, we see it being used by the new power-brokers in politics as a political weapon to impact on the presidents approval ratings in the polls. The new power-brokers in politics are the talk-radio personalities (such as Rush Limbaugh and Ross Perot), the media, the pollsters,
1 For technical reasons the gure accompanying this paper is not reproduced here. It is derived from B.I.Newman, The Marketing of the President: Political Marketing as Campaign Strategy, Sage, 1994, p.12. Copies may be obtained from the author at the Conference. 2 P.Kotler, Marketing Management, Prentice-Hall, 1991, p.128.

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consultants and hundreds of spin-doctors (slang for consultants) representing numerous interest groups who are affected by the outcome of legislation. Marketing technology has altered the way business is conducted in industry after industry, from sports to politics. Herein lies the challenge to the president, and to our society in general, and that is the ability to control and manage the use and impact of marketing technology on politics. It is not possible to win in politics today without a market orientation, either during a campaign or after entering ofce.

Marketing is an Exchange Process

Marketing is often described as an exchange process between a buyer and seller, with the buyer exchanging money for the sellers product or service. When applying marketing to a political campaign, the exchange process centers on a candidate who offers political leadership (through the policies he advocates) and a vision for the country in exchange for a vote from the citizen. Once in the White House, the exchange centers on the same leadership and vision being offered to the American people in exchange for their vote of condence (as measured through opinion polls that track the presidents approval ratings).3 The exchange process becomes slightly more complicated when we apply it to a sitting president, as his leadership can only be effective if he is able to move legislation through Congress. However, as a presidents approval ratings increase in the polls, there is an indirect pressure on Congressmen and Senators to work with the president to avoid alienating his constituency. Eventually, the exchange between a president and the American people moves to the next campaign when the president runs for re-election. A market orientation then requires that research and polling be done to help shape the policies of the politician, which become the product through which the exchange is consummated. Bill Clinton is a marketer because of his ability to reposition ideas, respond to constantly changing market conditions, and reformulate strategy in communicating his message to the American people. This does not mean that he has been a successful marketer, only that he denitely is using marketing to an extent that we have not seen in previous administrations. Ultimately, we will have to wait to see if he is re-elected to determine whether or not he has been successful in his use of marketing. Although the opinion polls reect attitudinal shifts in the electorate, it is the behavior of the marketplace (in this case the act of casting a vote in the upcoming presidential election in 1996) that will serve as the most serious test of Clintons efforts as a marketer.

Anticipating Needs
Success in marketing goes beyond the simple identication of the needs of consumers, but also includes the ability to forecast what those needs will be in the future. Marketers must not only be able to measure and identify the needs and wants of their customers, but they must also have a vision which enables them
3 For a good review of the role of marketing as a campaign tool, see B.I.Newman, The Marketing of the President: Political Marketing as Campaign Strategy, Sage, 1994; B.I.Newman & J.N.Sheth, A Theory of Political Choice Behaviour, Praeger, 1987; B.I.Newman & J.N.Sheth, Political Marketing: Readings and Annotated Bibliography, American Marketing Association, 1985.

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to anticipate what those needs will be. Whether it is a candidate, issue or product, marketing is a critical component to understanding what voters, citizens or consumers want and need. Needs may be driven by both emotion and rationality, resulting in people desiring the same product or candidate for different reasons. Marketing is a needs assessment approach to product innovation which relies on information from the marketplace to help guide research and development. This means that the most successful products are molded around the ndings from needs assessment studies. Automobiles and gym shoes are just a few examples of product categories which follow a marketing orientation. The development of new car models and innovative gym shoes such as pumps were based on this type of research. Just as a smart marketer makes sure that there is a need for his product before he distributes it around the country, so must a politician be sure that voters are concerned with an issue before he decides to advocate it. Whether it is the budget battle or sending American troops into Bosnia, President Clinton, like presidents before him, has relied on opinion polls to help steer his policy decisions with an eye towards how the public will respond to these initiatives. What separates this president from his predecessors is his adroitness in shifting positions as the mood of the country changes. Who would have thought that the Republican revolution started in November 1994, would have begun to be declared dead one year later by political analysts? The inuence on public opinion by a whole host of actors, including the interest groups, the media, foreign leaders and others makes it very difcult to anticipate how the needs of the nation will change. This is unlike the commercial marketplace, where companies have a greater control over how their product is perceived by the public. There is of course a ne line between the actions of the President being interpreted as an anticipation or response to the needs of the electorate. The Presidents detractors have accused him of following the polls, and wafing on issues. However, a leader today must re-position his ideas and policies to respond to a marketplace whose anticipations are constantly changing, something the President has done very well.

Creating an Image
Politics relies extensively on imagery today. Presidents rely on image manipulation to keep their approval ratings up in the polls, the ultimate measure of effective leadership in todays society. So what exactly is an image? Technically speaking, it is the visual picture which appears in a consumers mind at the mention of a brand or company name. Small changes in the physical characteristics of a brand can change the image of commonplace products. For example, when Procter & Gamble introduced Cheer with a blue color, consumers associated the color with a cleaner and more effective detergent. However, the key ingredient in inuencing a consumers brand image is product positioning. Marketers try to position their brands to meet the needs of dened customer segments. They do so by developing a product concept that can communicate the desired benets through advertising and by utilizing media that will reach the target segment. When Schweppes rst came onto the market in America, it could have been positioned as a soft drink or as a mixer. Positioning it as a mixer guided the promotional direction. The use of Commander Whitehead as the dapper Englishman referring to Schweppervescence produced

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an image of prestige for a product category that might otherwise be regarded as commonplace.4 Even when competing products and their accompanying services look the same to buyers, buyers may perceive a difference in the company or brand image. One of the best examples is Marlboro cigarettes. While most cigarette brands taste essentially the same and are sold the same way, the only way to account for Marlboros extraordinary worldwide market share (around 30%) is that Marlboros macho cowboy image has struck a responsive chord with most of the cigarette smoking public. Marlboro has been given not just an image, but also a personality.5 In politics, an image is created through the use of visual impressions that are communicated by the Presidents physical presence, media appearances, and experiences and record as a political leader as that information is integrated in the minds of citizens. Early on in his tenure, President Clinton was constantly photographed in the media in his athletic shorts, jogging, and then stopping at McDonalds to eat a sandwich. Images such as these did not help the President to convey an image of statesmanship and authority. Questions raised in electronic hall meetings (a promotional staple during the campaign) after Clinton entered the White House proved to be embarrassing at times, again chipping away at the image of the President. All of these activities were soon replaced with a more selective set of photo opportunities for the press, and usually only when foreign leaders visited the President at the White House. Along with this change in public image came the start of a gradual but steady rise in the polls for the President.

Marketing Research Drives Strategy

In the business marketplace, consumers differ on several dimensions. They may differ in terms of their needs and wants, ability to purchase high priced products, geographical location, consumption patterns, and even manner in which they go about making their purchases. Companies operate in a global marketplace today, and the number of consumers are too broad and diverse to effectively serve all of them. Some companies are better able to satisfy the needs of certain groups of consumers over others. In order to select out those consumers they choose to target with their promotional campaigns, companies have sophisticated computer models which identify and describe the exact prole of their potential buyer. The importance of doing research rests with the notion that not all products can be sold to all consumers. Companies use marketing research to determine what to stress to different consumer groups. Take the case of a cruise ship which is seeking to build up its clientele. People who take cruises fall into different demographic groups, some being older couples with no children looking for a relaxing vacation, while others are parents with children looking to pick a cruise which has activities all day long to keep their kids occupied. Whether it is the choice of which movies to play on board, the choice of a menu, or even the kind of pool activities to promote, cruise ships must conduct marketing research to determine how best to satisfy the needs of each of these two key groups of customers. This same logic applies to the decisions that a sitting president has to make has
4 Henry Assael, Consumer Behaviour & Marketing Action, South-Western College Publishing, 1995, p.365. 5 P.Kotler, Marketing Management, p.300.

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he tries to determine which issues to try and get passed through Congress. There are different interest groups, each with their own set of needs that a president has to attempt to satisfy. It is impossible to satisfy every interest groups needs, so careful marketing research is conducted to determine which issues are of more importance to each interest group. Clintons choice of pushing for a bill to protect gays in the military at the start of his presidency was a strange decision, as it alienated so many different interest groups that he had to retreat from the promise he made on that issue during the campaign. It is easy enough to use research to identify the needs of different groups of citizens during a campaign, but a very different challenge to get them passed through Congress after entering the White House.

Market Segmentation and Candidate Positioning

Volvo has been selling its cars on the basis of safety features for years. They realize that they have to appeal to car buyers with a unique offering that allows them to make a good prot in the marketplace. They have been innovators in the structural design of bodies of cars to ensure the greatest safety possible for passengers. More recently however, they have tried to alter their image by bringing in new models that are promoted on the basis of safety and performance. So who is the typical Volvo buyer? Market segmentation is a process which would be used to make that determination, and targeting is the selection of the segment(s) to which appeals are directed to. The point here is that this results in a match between the buyer and seller, just as there has to be a match between a candidate and voter segments. In business, market segmentation and targeting are used to identify those groups of customers who the marketer directs his product and promotional campaign towards. It is used by many companies who choose not to sell their product or service to every potential customer, but only those who are likely to buy it. Seven-Up chose to be the uncola as a means of segmenting their market of potential soda drinkers who dont want to drink a cola. Avis adopted the motto We try harder to differentiate themselves from the leading car rental company Hertz several years ago. Since then, companies like Dollar and Budget entered the car rental market by offering lower prices (as their names suggest) as a means of segmenting their market. In politics, market segmentation has been traditionally used by each of the political parties to choose which segments of citizens they target with their appeals. Historically, the Democrats have been the party of the poor and minorities, and the Republicans the party of the rich and big business. Each party worked very hard at identifying the needs of their constituents, and developing programs and policies which were geared at satisfying those needs. However, as the marketing technology has become available to tailor meet the needs of all constituents, regardless of group identication, the segmentation of people along party lines has been blurred, with both parties trying to attract citizens from the competing party. Once the multiple voter segments have been identied, the candidate has to position himself in the marketplace. Positioning is the vehicle which allows the candidate to convey his image to voters in the best light possible. The image is crafted through the media by emphasizing certain personality traits of the candidate, as well as stressing various issues. For example, in 1992, Bill Clinton created

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an image of himself as an outsider who would bring about change in Washington through a series of innovative economic programs. From a competitive point of view, he was contending with an incumbent president who was sitting on an economy in recession, and not getting results from his actions. Naturally, Clinton capitalized on his strengths and took advantage of his competitors weaknesses. The opinion polls reect an electorate in America today that is not at all satised with the leadership of either of the political parties, and the President has responded to this by positioning himself as a leader who will answer to no one but the American people. This political orientation has been referred to as a triangulation positioning strategy, pitting the President at the apex of a triangle, and the two political parties at the bottom corners. This is in direct response to the polls that suggest the President has a better chance of getting re-elected if he is perceived to be charting his own course independent of the political parties. It also positions the President closer to the center of the political spectrum, a position that his administration anticipates will be the place where the most votes will be won in 1996.

Ideology as a Branding Mechanism

Along with the constant shifting back and forth of people from one party to another has come a blurring of the denition of ideology in this country. In marketing terms, ideology is a labelling process, almost similar in nature to the use of branding for products. People have historically used ideology as a way of labelling both themselves and politicians, and then making a connection between themselves and the candidate (and political party the candidate belonged to) through the use of this label. However, instead of a majority of the people referring to themselves as liberals or conservatives, a majority of the people now refer to themselves as independents (forget about the ideological label called moderate). These labels are no different then the ones we see on products, as well as attached to services offered by a whole host of professionals who advertise in the hope of creating an image which denes who and what they stand for in the minds of consumers. Just look at what accountants did with H & R Block, or what lawyers did with Hyatt legal services, or what Schwabb did with nancial services. Extensive advertising can be used to label and dene who the provider is and what makes his services different than his competition. This is precisely what political parties and candidates do to sell their ideas to the American people. As a result of this change, ideology is now driven less by party afliation and more by marketing, and the latest poll results indicting the mood of the electorate. During Franklin D. Roosevelts time, most Americans new what it meant to be a democrat (or a liberal), and Roosevelts NRA (National Recovery Act) was used to help him implement his working ideology, which was that government should be used to get the country moving again after the Great Depression. But today, the labels liberal and conservative in politics are no longer dened by the political parties, but by the candidates themselves and the images their consultants craft for them. As President Clinton said early on in his administration, his ideas are neither liberal nor conservative, but both. Along with this change has come a dramatic shift in power from the political party to the consultants.

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The Choice of Consultants

We used to create heroes, says Bob Goodman, a veteran media consultant for Republican political candidates. Not any more, Dad, says his son, Adam, a secondgeneration media consultant now working with his father-and teaching the old fellow some new tricks. Were all technocrats now, Adam Goodman says, reacting to the overnight polls, ghting against shorter and shorter attention spans out there among the voters. What counts now are tracking polls, focus groups, dial groups, and digital-TV editing machines, and of course the product, a candidate who is able to raise the huge amounts of cash needed to pay for the technology.6 The fact is that today, consultants sometimes take the center stage, and even determine the issues of a campaign. Technology and money are doing to politics what they have done to sports: making them more organized, more professional, more compartmentalized, and less improvised. Politics has become a big, protable business. Some say the byproduct of these consultants is cynicism of the electorate, and growing armies of people involved in opposition research. At the level of overall strategic thinking, the candidate is involved, but when it comes to creating a campaign platform, conducting polls, setting up a promotional strategy, very few candidates are involved. The services offered by consultants include several different activities, such as direct mail, fundraising, TV and radio spots, issue analysis, and print advertising, all essentially an effort towards raising funds and impacting on voters choices. The ability to lead in the high tech age hinges on the careful selection of the right consultants to run the candidates political campaign, both before and after entering the White House.

The Republican Revolution of 1994

The 1994 election found the country yearning for more change, similar to the mantra Americans voiced in the 1992 election. There was a desire for less government and both parties campaigned on this platform. The Republicans victory in 1994 was capitalized on by using the Contract as a post-election marketing tool. In response to the successful marketing of the Contract after the election, the president introduced his Middle Class Bill of Rights, a new and improved version of the Republicans Contract. Each of these efforts reected a move towards the political center, where the most votes could be attracted. In September, 1994, soon after Republican Newt Gingrich announced the Contract with America, the Republican National Committee lined up nearly 300 talkradio interviews through the Virginia Contract Information Center, which has 500 radio talk show on its fax network. The hosts of these shows were sent pro-Contract press clippings and talking points for the Contract. Many of the radio show hosts usually read the clippings verbatim. The success of the Contract was due in large part to this marketing effort. Just as consumers dont take the time to read labels on products, neither, do citizens take the time to listen carefully to what politicians say. On his rst day as Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich talked about Franklin D. Roosevelt with high praise for the way he made government work in his rst 100 days, without mentioning of course that he is setting out to dismantle the very programs that
6 Wall Street Journal, January 10, 1994, p.1.

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were put into place during Rooseveltls time. Voters do, however, pay close attention to what politicians actually do. Promises may work to get a politician elected, but delivering is the essential ingredient for continued success in ofce, as is evident from the dramatic fall in the polls the Republicans witnessed one year after their contract was proposed to the American people. In what would become one of the latest technological advances put forth in the 1994 campaign, Republicans used a technique that was mastered in the movie, The Terminator, called morng (where Arnold Schwartenager is turned into The Terminator over a 5 to 10 second period, making it seem as if Arnold and The Terminator are the same person). Republican candidates capitalized on Clintons ebb in the polls, and morfed their Democratic opponents into Bill Clinton. The impact of this use of imagery was felt at the polls by the Democrats, who went down in defeat in what many termed the Republican Revolution of 1994. The mid-term election of 1994 was labeled by Ralph Nader as a turning point in the dissolution of the two-party system.7 Nader pointed out that it is increasingly difcult to distinguish between Democrats and Republicans, and that they in fact represent the same party with different names. Nader has even been known to make fun of the two parties on occasion by referring to them as the Demopublicans or Republocrats. Nothing could be closer to the truth as we witness leaders in both parties disregard party label in pursuit of the hottest issues that will sell in the political marketplace.

The New Politics: CyberDemocracy

Movement toward a more direct form of democracy has been driven by the latest developments in telecommunications technology. Newt Gingrich opened up proceedings of the House of Representatives to television cameras and stars in the National Empowerment Channel, a televised talk show. All of these technological changes are happening so quickly, it is hard for the ordinary American to keep track of them. It is very likely that in the upcoming 1996 Presidential election, the two traditional parties will be joined by a third party. It is also likely that the Internet will become the newest channel through which information is coneyed directly to the American voter. Newt Gingrich made the comment that all budget decisions be compatible with an emerging information-age Third Wave society that recognizes that the computer and all of the breakthroughs in telecommunications are going to change permanently our way of life. So just what does this mean? This is hard to say when were talking about a politician who has been referred to as a technonut, and who may now be the most powerful politician in the United States. Gingrich shares an excitement for futuristic scenarios such as colonies living on the moon by early next century.8 We are headed on a collision course on the super-highway as the two parties futurists (Gingrich for the Republicans and Gore for the Democrats) have very different views of how democracy is going to be changed through the use of information technology. At issue is how the federal government is going to foster the growth of the information superhighway. The Republicans want less government
7 Chicago Tribune, December 19, 1994, p.12. 8 Wall Street Journal, January 23, 1995, p.A18.

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involvement than the Democrats do. Gore would like to see universal access to the computer system through schools and libraries. On the other hand, Gingrich has talked about giving tax breaks to help poor kids get lap-top computers. We as voters are so wired in to our federal government that interest groups have the power to change legislation in a matter of days. With lobbyists sitting in the balconies of Congress, listening to debate on issues sensitive to their interest groups, all it takes is one call on a cellular telephone to initiate a letter-writing campaign to ood a Congressmans off ice with enough mail to stop the politician dead in his tracks. The information technology industry has spawned many cottage industries, with companies entering left and right. One such company is Bonner and Associates which can send out 10,000 faxes overnight to a Congressmans ofce. When Mr. Bonner is hired by his client, he isolates the swing votes in Congress, then does a scan of the corresponding districts, and identies citizens whose proles suggest that they are sympathetic with the cause. Then, after a critical committee hearing in Congress, Mr. Bonners employees call the sympathetic citizens, explain what is happening, and through the magic of telecommunications, put them directly in touch with the Congressman whose vote is critical to blockage or passage of the bill in question. The charge is $350-$500 per call.9 The dilemma politicians face today is that through the information technology that exists, citizens hear every utterance of a politician, and nothing can be said without the possibility of it getting into the news the next day. Furthermore, through the advent of talk radio and constant polling, politicians always know what is on the minds of the electorate. If they dont respond to the opinions of Rush Limbaugh and the polls, theyre thrown out of ofce. On the other hand, if they are perceived to be too responsive, and thus seen as pandering (as Bill Clinton has been so labeled), theyre punished for being reactionary. The number of Americans who trust our leaders has plummeted from 70% in the 1960s. to around 20% today.10 It could be a reaction to the alienation fostered by the talk radio movement. Or it might be a reaction to politicians who refuse to stand up and go against the polls if they feel strongly about an issue. But most likely it is in response to a political system that has lost control of what it is doing, and reective of a loss of power of the political party. Political parties no longer carry the clout they used to. The absence of patronage armies and strong partisan leadership, as well as the advent of sophisticated, costly media strategies in campaigns, has lowered the value of the political party endorsement. In some cases, being a part of a slate assembled by party leaders could be a liability for candidates. This is the result of the mood of the electorate, and at the core of our problem as a democracy. Ever since the procedural reforms of the mid 1970s, and the expansion of the primary system, investigative reporters have been expected to inspect the candidates platforms for the voters, giving the media a more powerful role in politics in the U.S. The fact is that it remains much easier to get a negative message through the media than a positive one through. This is a situation which will continue to make it very difcult for presidents to be successful in the White House. Voters want people who arent political, even though most government pro9 Time, January 23, 1995, p.18. 10 Time, January 23, 1995, p.21.

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cesses are political. What is alarming about todays high-tech political system is the swiftness that change is taking place. Change has become a way of life for voters. Voters are alienated and fed up with the way our two-party system operates.

Conclusion
There is no doubt that modern marketing practices have increased voter cynicism if we look at the dramatic increase in the percentage of voters who distrust politicians. As the campaigns become more slick and sophisticated, voters realize that it is increasingly more difcult to separate fact from ction. It is difcult to discern whether politicians are doing their jobs because they really care about the welfare of American citizens, or to make money. The $4.5 million book deal that Newt Gingrich struck soon after becoming Speaker of the House is evidence of this problem. Let us not forget that in marketing, perception is often the reality! Citizens can only become apathetic and pull out of the political process by not voting if they feel as if they are being manipulated. Simply witness the extremely low turnout of democratic voters in the midterm elections to understand what it means to have an apathetic electorate. Voters lose faith in a politician when his promises are forgotten after he enters ofce. Finally, can a candidate or politician even think of campaigning or governing without the use of marketing? Unfortunately, the answer is no, and dictates why something drastic needs to be done about the direction information technology is driving our political system in. Clearly the most successful corporations in the world are customer driven, such as MacDonalds, General Electric, Toyota, etc. This same focus, or what is called a market orientation in marketing has been adopted by politicians, and is here to stay.