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Politicians and Products: Strategies for Getting Consumer Support
By Sandra Bravo, Babson College
Politicians and Products: Strategies for Getting Consumer Support
By Sandra Bravo, Babson College
What do politicians and products have in common? Both are brands seeking your dollars (and in
the case of politicians, your vote, too).
The marketing textbooks of the 1980s and 1990s pushed for a customer (or
market) orientation heavily relying on marketing research to find out what
customers really want in a product and then deliver it. More recently, however, a product orientation
has been touted for success, and suggests that creative product development
will be embraced by consumers. Dr.
Anjali Bal and her co-authors studied these approaches as they apply not only
to products, but to politicians as “brands” as well in a recent article
entitled “How customer and product orientations shape political brands” in the Journal of Product & Brand Management.
The central question for political marketers is whether politicians are
successful by using research to figure out the needs of their constituents and
address them accordingly, or if politicians should shape the preferences of
voters through strong and persuasive communication efforts. The former approach is a consumer, or market,
orientation heavily dependent upon market research. The latter approach is a product orientation
which requires creative product development and then a strong communications campaign. As the founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, once
said, “You can’t just ask customers what they want then try to give that to
them. By the time you get it built,
they’ll want something new.”
Bal and her co-authors discuss four strategic orientation archetypes in
a quadrant using the degree of customer orientation as one axis, and the degree
of product orientation as the other.
Figure 1: Strategic orientation archetypes
Customer Orientation |
High
|
Follower
|
Interact
|
Low
|
Isolate
|
Shaper
|
|
High
|
Low
|
||
Product Orientation
|
Source: (modified from Berthon et al., 1999)
In political terms, each of these groups relies on a different
approach. Followers focus on and react
to customer needs and the public’s concerns.
Shapers influence and “mold the opinions” of the electorate. Interacts seek to combine the two approaches,
listening to but also shaping through conversation the beliefs of voters. Finally, Isolates are inherent in monarchies
and therefore would not be applicable to a democratic political system.
Political strategists will do well to realize that no one approach is
best. The political marketplace is
constantly evolving and a change in stance, depending upon the environmental
conditions, may be appropriate. What do
the authors suggest? “It is proposed
that influence in political endeavors happens in a bi-directional manner where
both politicians are influenced by voter sentiment and voters are influenced by
politicians. Using a careful analysis of
the changing environment, political brands can better manage this
relationship.”
Article
citation:
Alessandro Bigi Emily Treen Anjali Bal , (2016),"How customer and product orientations shape political brands." Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 25 Iss. 4 pp. 365 – 372.
Alessandro Bigi Emily Treen Anjali Bal , (2016),"How customer and product orientations shape political brands." Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 25 Iss. 4 pp. 365 – 372.