The Marketing Analysis of Pakistan Politics Parties
By
Sajid Ali
Bs Commerce 5th Semester,
Roll No: 1104171
Department of Commerce,
The federal Urdu University Abdul Haq Campus, Karachi, Pakistan
Professor Farooq Khatri
Department of Commerce,
The federal Urdu University Abdul Haq Campus, Karachi, Pakistan
The marketing of Pakistan’s political parties
The Marketing Analysis of Pakistan Politics Parties
Political Marketing Background:
“Political marketing is about facilitating the societal process of political exchange, while political marketing management describes the ‘art and science’ of successfully managing
Business strategists have defined political marketing as: “marketing designed to influence voters about political issues, particular candidates for public office, or public issues. Although political marketing uses many of the same techniques that other forms of marketing do, it is actually used to promote a concept or an idea, rather than a specific product or service, and to motivate people to vote for that idea”.
The American Marketing Association has defined Political Marketing as:” Marketing designed to influence target audiences to vote for a particular person, party, or proposition. Attempts by an individual or organization only to educate or change attitudes are not political marketing”.
Political marketing is practically not a new idea; parties and candidates are marketing themselves from ages. However, now it has been acknowledged as a separate intellectual concept. The paper examines basic flaws made by candidates and/or political parties of Pakistan and leads to inappropriate implementation and unsatisfactory results. This makes politicians of Pakistan feel that marketing has nothing to do in politics.
In Pakistan; corruption, destructive opposition, illiterate practices and lack of voter orientation result in distrust of voters in politicians and their parties. The paper recommends that voter’s trust can be built by avoiding over promising, focusing on voter’s needs, designing integrated communication and distribution channels, managing strategic relationship with media, and incorporating the idea of public funding and parallel campaign management.
In Pakistan; corruption, destructive opposition, illiterate practices and lack of voter orientation result in distrust of voters in politicians and their parties. The paper recommends that voter’s trust can be built by avoiding over promising, focusing on voter’s needs, designing integrated communication and distribution channels, managing strategic relationship with media, and incorporating the idea of public funding and parallel campaign management.
Introduction
In conventional Political Science literature, Political Marketing is relatively a new terminology. It implies the usage of six Ps of marketing i.e. product, price, place, promotion, people and
Process in politics (Kotler & Kotler, 1999).
Political advertising, celebrity endorsements, involvement of professional consultants and campaign managers; online
Campaigning, mobile phone canvassing, segmentation and micro targeting, etc. are some of the techniques being used extensively in Political Marketing. Political marketing has been widely used by both military rulers and democratic leaders to win mass support, sustain power and build
Their branded image; and has significantly affected the working style of political parties and their leaders. According to Harrop (1990), Political Marketing is not simply about party advertising, political broadcasts and electoral speeches but it covers the whole area of party positioning in the
Electoral market. According to O' Cass (1996) the use of Political Marketing offers political parties the ability to address diverse voter concerns and needs through marketing analysis, planning, implementation and control of political and electoral campaigns. Harris & Kolovos (2005), Political Marketing is being used and implemented with different names and different forms since centuries. Kelly (1956) by and large, is considered to be the first, who used the term Political Marketing, it was regarded as a significant subject even in that era. According to Hussain (2008), Political Marketing is still in developing phase and calls for a lot more in the area to formally make it recognized as a separate academic discipline. Political Marketing is highly significant to democratic governments, especially in developing and underdeveloped
Countries.
The marketing of Pakistan’s political parties
Formally executed or not, the strategies of many political parties and the activities of their followers have striking analogies with several marketing principles. At times, these analogies and their conceptual underpinnings are overshadowed by the corruption associated with politics. Yet the dynamism that ensues with the amalgamation of two otherwise distant fields – politics and marketing – has surged in recent years in Pakistan. The realm of political marketing is emerging formally in Pakistan within the folds of professional marketing. Political marketing deals with how politicians, political parties, governments and associated stakeholders harness the vast knowledge base of marketing in their political undertakings.
Parties and Positioning:
Different political parties have their own ideology and strategy framework in which they operate and from which they deviate very little. Any strategy shift, as rare as it is, still remains rooted in the ideologies of their founders. In fact, these political parties have championed their ideology at different periods and while navigating an ever changing political landscape. For instance, the practice of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to dole out public sector jobs and welfare payments has its genesis in socialist views. Although the founder of the party was not a socialist, he was inclined to the view that employment and the welfare of every citizen is the responsibility of the state. Unarguably, this practice had a detrimental impact on many public sector organizations like PIA and Pakistan Steel (to name but two state enterprises), yet the party remained glued to its founding principles. This positioning was so well communicated that the PPP became associated with ‘roti, kapra and makaan’ – the basic necessities of life. Subsequently, the Bhutto family’s impact on the party was so strong that even the surname of Benazir Bhutto’s children was changed to ensure that the legacy and its charm stay.
The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and other religious political parties have used Islam’s name to the level where these parties are colloquially known as ‘religious parties’ (as if all others were ‘non-religious parties’!). It goes without saying that it has always been the positioning that created this image for these parties.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has evolved a different positioning on its journey to become a force in Pakistani politics. Imran Khan’s youthful image (despite the fact that he turned 60 in 2012) remains core to their positioning. Also, reminiscent of Obama’s 2008 election campaign slogan, the PTI has used ‘change’ as a mantra in its positioning strategy which is manifested in challenging the culture of monarchies and patriarchy within political parties. The PTI then positioned itself as a party that would hold intra-party elections even at the grassroots level. This is a positioning arena where the JI has been very weak. Few people know that the intra-party democratic paradigm in the JI is has been in force for decades. However, the party failed to leverage this positioning, enabling the PTI to take the lead. This is analogous to how some brands take a particular positioning over others in the mind of their customers.
Regional or National? – Segmentation and Targeting at Work:
The Muttahaida Quami Movement (MQM) had historically focused on urban Sindh, particularly Karachi and Hyderabad. However, in the last few years the party has shown a willingness to test its mettle in other parts of the country, not an easy task for a party that has remained focused on particular geographical segments for decades. However, when it did move beyond its time tested constituencies and cities, the MQM changed its positioning altogether. Today, when the Urdu-speaking party leaders cross new demographics in Pakistan, they are experimenting with new positioning and targeting strategies. Among these, ‘MQM – a challenge to the status quo’ has proved to be ubiquitously successful.
Although quintessential positioning statements such as changing the system, fighting corruption, providing jobs, etc., are suited to the targeting strategies of the national parties, locally relevant statements have proved to be effective for local or regional parties. Thus, the Awami National Party (ANP) continues to woo Pakhtuns voters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa deliberately disengaging from other ethnic groups in the Province. Such strategies are carefully planned, based on the parliamentary representation of a particular region and its ethnic composition in the national and provincial legislatures.
Election Symbols – the Brands:
The election symbols of the political parties are part of their marketing campaigns. The importance of these symbols (logo) increases in a market where literacy levels are low and many people cannot even read the name of their candidate on the ballot paper. The true power of brands in Pakistani politics was further exemplified in March 2013 when a court decision upheld the JUI’s decision to contest the election using the symbol of a ‘closed book’. The Election Commission of Pakistan had earlier directed the party to change the symbol to an ‘open book’ with clear Urdu alphabets. The idea was to avoid any possible association of the symbol with the Holy Quran. As inappropriate as it may seem, this demonstrates how the religious parties are using key religious elements for their branding and positioning.
The PTI uses ‘insaf’ (justice) as its key positioning and had to do battle with the JI to have a weighing scale as the election symbol. Having failed, they settled for a bat aimed at recalling their skipper’s cricketing career.
The political parties have learnt to exploit their election symbols in their communication; lion, sword and arrow among others have exhibited their potential in the past.
Politics and Elections – Marketing and Sales:
More holistically, the parallel between elections and sales and politics and marketing is even more striking than any of the above analogies. Sales activities, for example personal selling, generally have a short term, revenue-oriented horizon. On the other hand, marketing activities such as brand building have a long term horizon. Similarly, for any political party, the years of struggle can be equally weighed against what it achieves during an election campaign and more so on Election Day. For political parties, all marketing activities lead to the day their ‘consumers’ make the real purchase – cast their vote.
The market share and the sales they win on Election Day is a perplexing phenomenon. It cannot be as accurately predicted as it is in many developed countries due to the influence of many seemingly trivial factors. For instance, the reality in the rural areas is that votes can be won for trivial favors such as monetary benefits, jobs, giveaways or even providing transport to the polling station with some refreshments on the go (yes, that’s it!). Fielding the right candidates from the right caste, sect or ethnicity can generate further ‘sales’. Deplorable as it may be for democracy, the humongous voter-base in the rural areas remains devoid of any political thought and is still rooted in these trivialities.
Bad Political Advertising!
It is pertinent here to cite an example of a recent bad advertising campaign. As dismaying as it is, this example illustrates how often the tools of political marketing are used in the wrong way. Political advertising is at the heart of political marketing and cannot be avoided, but doing it insensitively and irresponsibly should be discouraged. When unrest and lawlessness was at its peak in Balochistan, the provincial government chose to run a campaign in the national print media flaunting its achievements over the last five years. In different circumstances this would have been just an ad campaign with a short lived impact on the target audience, but for the people who continue to endure the hardships of life in Balochistan the campaign was painful. A parallel can perhaps be drawn to Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned.
For months now the leaders of all the political parties have been fighting it out on TV shows and with jalsas in order to achieve the right PR and positioning, yet Election Day ‘sales’ have their own dynamics and may or may not be founded on any of these positioning. A democratic parliamentary system will prove to be a much more challenging marketing environment to compete in compared to even highly competitive product categories.
1. Product Function:
In Political Marketing practice, a product, like mainstream marketing, should be formally designed to be offered by a political party to her electoral market. The product, a party wants to
Market can be intangible like a promise of good governance, the image of the candidate, an Ideology or certain foreign policies, etc.
In Pakistan parties are unsuccessful to design products according to the needs and wants of the public because there is lack of customer orientation in their new product development process. So what is recommended is that political parties should revise their product strategy based on customer orientation, and position them in such a way that their offerings can be easily differentiated from those of their competing parties. Most importantly, parties should avoid raising people’s expectations by over-promising rather they should build image of high credibility so that people can believe in their promises which might be slightly lower than then on realistic illusions offered by their competitors. Leader’s characteristics is a very important phenomenon, charismatic leadership can prove to be a differential advantage for a political party; for example, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto lead his party to the highest peaks by using the charisma of his personality and focusing on voters’ preferences. He gave a clear motto, based on public needs, of Roti, Kapra Aur Makan (Food, Cloth and Shelter) and won the hearts of people.
2. Distribution Function:
According to Henneberg, Understand
Provided access to all relevant information about the political products, information regarding key party policies and programs are disseminated, placing the candidates in right channels, and making sure that channel of distribution fits the ideology of the party etc. Campaign delivery is very important and very expensive but has become misleading in our
Elections because in Pakistan politicians criticize the previous government’s performance, promise for the improvement of literacy, employment and poverty, and the implementation of Islamic values etc. It indirectly leads to over promising with the voters which raise voter’sexpectations and promises for better performance than the previous government place a
Multiplying affect to further raise the expectations. On the other hand most of the landlord and feudal politicians, to whom politics had become their family business, are not directly available to voters even during elections rather their agent works for their victory based on their family power. Parties have to be more conscious while designing their manifestos as the media is playing a very Active role to educate and enhance the political wisdom of the voters and on the other side in doing postmortem of the manifestoes and practices of the political parties and their candidates. However, it may not influence the opinions of the followers of landlord and feudal politicians.
Both the parties and the candidates have to be very careful while campaign delivery, it must be realistic and should be delivered personally by the candidates instead of advancing through agents. After the elections, candidates and political parties should ponder their promises and try to fulfill them in real essence.
3. Cost Function:
In Political Marketing, cost function deals with the
Management of attitudinal and behavioral constraints of constituency members through carefully Designed campaign strategies. All the information regarding the political products should be Available to the voters without spending Rupees i.e. feelings of national, economic and psychological hope or Insecurity. Another role of cost function is to minimize the opportunity cost in decision making process and electoral act itself. In Pakistan voters have to bear high psychological costs due to raised expectations based on fake promises which create frustration among the voters especially
The educated and mature ones who can serve as reference groups.
In Pakistan electoral campaigns are very expensive and it is estimated that campaign spending was averaged USD 120,000 per candidate in the elections of 1997 and is increasing election by election because politicians are ready to bear any cost for their victory, this attitude has made voters more demanding for personal interests. Pakistani voter’s perceptions of instrumental and psychological benefits, the credibility of elections, and the costs associated with voting all Influence the decision to vote directly and these are also major reasons of falling voter’s turnover in Pakistan. These undue expenses in elections are major burden on economy and are considered as a negative aspect of democracy. Instead of vigorous spending to win the election the focus should be to build and retain long term relationships with voters which will reduce the cost of campaign in successive elections. It is also recommended that restrictions should be imposed on amount of money to be exhausted in elections, as in UK. This will provide a level playing field to all candidates. If the Political Marketing is implemented in its real sense, it will generate satisfied and loyal voters who will serve as buzz agents for the candidate and party which ultimately will help to eliminate the psychological as well as monetary costs bear by the voters.
4. Communication Function:
Communication function in Political Marketing deals with communicating the internal (party Members) as well as external (voters) stake holders about the offer and its availability importance of communication is just like heart in human body. For a political party communication deals with interpretation of complex political jargons, spreading of political ideas, contents of political campaign, future programs and simplification of political messages. It interacts with campaign delivery aspects of distribution function, prescribes a dialogue and provides a medium for exchange partners.
In Pakistan, political parties have lack of coordination and integrated communication within themselves; different candidates give contradictory statements regarding hot issues which create ambiguity in the minds of voters (Hussain, 2008) integrated marketing communication approach should be implemented likewise mainstream marketing to produce one single voice of the political party. In external communication understanding of the voters’ characteristics is very important e.g. how much voters are literate and what their needs and demands are. Due to illiteracy and poverty Pakistani voters especially in the villages take risk to believe in the words of their political leaders and are easily exploited by the politicians through their loquacious speeches and promises. Parties have to make a well defined system for internal integrated coordination and then should plan for effective external communication. It will help to develop trust of voters in the party and its product. In external communication, content or the real message that has to be communicated to the voters should so clear that it leaves no ambiguity for
The audience.
5. Public Relations Management:
Public Relations Management plays indispensable role in the success of a Political Marketing Campaign and is aimed at managing building positive attitude of the public and media groups (secondary exchange partners) through managing good news by establishing good long term relationship with them. It is a not a paid activity and could not be directly controlled by the candidate and political organization. Most of the political discourses with the electorate are mediated through independent third parties e.g. media people. Managing good relationships with third parties contributes great importance in building good image of the candidate and political Party. News management involves utilization of distribution channels with inherently high credibility levels. However, the communication could not be controlled; it can only be influenced for its better management. The exchange partners of the news management are mostly journalists and opinion leaders.
In Pakistani political scenario, candidates or parties try to find ‘way-outs’ to do negative marketing against each other. This is the worst which parties can do with each other as it ruins the image and shakes the trust of other parties and candidates in the minds of the voters. For
example; the daughter of a minister was appointed as first grade officer in foreign ministry, when he was approached by journalists he simply refused to answer any questions leaving ample space For media to criticize on him and his party for this unlawful action. Such actions like refusal to answer or simply denying strong allegations, are considered as negative news management and burst negative word-of-mouth against candidate and party which is hardly controllable. News management is the most difficult issue in today’s world where media is very fast and blunt, and
In Pakistan it is even more difficult where media is playing a central role in building or harming image of the candidate and/or the political party. Pakistani politicians should be courageous to face allegations against them and if found guilty, they should apologies to the Nation, it may restore the credibility of the candidate. For successful news management a well equipped and vigilant Public Relations Department is indispensable.
6. Fund Raising Function:
Unlike mainstream marketing fund raising is an important issue in Political Marketing. This function deals with collection of funds for political activities, the performance of other functions
Also depends on availability of funds. For the success of the political actors, availability of sufficient funds is vital which calls for a distinct fund raising function. Political parties, to a varying extent, depend on membership fee, donations, etc. for funds. In some party
Systems, Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency reports that in Pakistani Political System there are a lot of deficiencies and drawbacks, the most important of which are
Undue influence of money in politics and corruption, which has almost excluded the middle and poor people of the country from mainstream politics, an acute form of political feudalism
Prevails in the society.
In Pakistan most of the political parties are owned and sponsored by the rich families, therefore the leadership rotates within the family and there is hardly any democracy within a party. Therefore, it is inevitable to re-examine our political practices and transport the desirable reforms. To eliminate the dependence of political parties on rich families and for the promotion of democracy public funding could be an effective tool. Major political parties should take into consideration this idea of public funding and incorporate in their manifesto if they found it appropriate. Intellectuals of society and media people should also consider this idea and should do open debates on it to develop consensus on public funding in political system of Pakistan. It will be helpful in developing reforms and real democracy within the parties in particular and country politics in general.
7. Parallel Campaign Management Function:
This function focuses on the co-ordination of campaign activities of the political party with those organizations who have overlapping or similar point(s) on their agenda, like “Tabdeli {Changes)
Or Naya Pakistan” idea, which overlaps among many Pakistani social and democratic organizations
Activities by other.
In Pakistan the concept of parallel campaign management is hardly in practice because the role
of modern social welfare organizations is perceived to be insignificant to influence the opinions and attitudes of the masses at country level; however, establishing parallel campaign management partnership with the organizations which are influential at regional can be beneficial for the political actors.
8. Internal Cohesion Management Functions:
This function deals with managing the relationship among party members, activists and spokespersons. This function plays a very vital role in creating internal stability, credibility and party’s outside image, and should be managed professionally because it has strong repercussions on the voters’ assessment of candidate and/or his party. However a too ‘monolithic’ appearance of the party gives the impression of an undemocratic decision making process and derisory influence of grass root members within the party. As much as one can exercise power over others by satisfying their needs and expectations; one thereby paradoxically submits oneself to their pioneer
In Pakistan, political parties have traditionally been weak and unable to perform their main functions in an effective and meaningful manner due to inter alias, periodic restrictions on political activities under military rules, infrequent elections, weak organizational structure, poor
Discipline among the members, absence of attractive socio-economic programs, and a paucity of financial resources. Political parties also suffer from factionalism based on personality, region and ideology (International Crisis Group, 2005). Democracy within the parties can help to deal with such problems because hereditary leadership leads to conflicts within party and thusformation of new group or party become inevitable.
(SWOT) Analysis of Pakistan Political Parties
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N)
Strengths:
PML-N has a strong following in Punjab – the largest and most powerful province in Pakistan. Furthermore, it has a great alignment with right wing groups and religious circles. Major cities of Punjab have seen tremendous development during the last five years.
Weaknesses:
PML-N has not been able to carry out any substantial development in remote areas and far off villages of Punjab. It has teamed up with same old faces that previously supported and strengthened a dictator’s government.
Opportunities:
The poor performance of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) governments in the last five years has created a vacuum which can certainly be filled up by PML-N.
Threats:
PML-N faces a possible setback in terms of their vote bank by the growing popularity of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Punjab. They are also being labeled as a patron of extremist groups in the country, which has further dented their credibility as a progressive political party.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
Strengths:
PPP has a strong bond with the rural populace of Sindh and a few pockets in urban centers. The legacy of Bhutto still stands strong today and PPP has been successfully cashing on to it. Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) is another project that won them accolades among the poor masses.
Weaknesses:
.jpg)
PPP has displayed the poorest performance ever in the history of Pakistan with a few high profile corruption cases against their mainstream leadership. Bilawal Zardari lacks leadership qualities and has no connection with the common workers (jiyalas) of PPP and currently enjoys all the support just because of his late mother Benazir Bhutto. Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is famous worldwide for his alleged corruption and his stay on the top slot has forced a lot of die hard workers and PPP stalwarts to distance themselves from the party.
Opportunities:
PPP can utilize its popular support in rural Sindh and BISP project in order to secure a land sliding victory in the upcoming elections.
Threats:
Being a liberal party, PPP is under constant threat by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI)
Strengths:
Jamaat-e-Islami has a strong following among religious circles. Their network across the nation on a whole remains strong and effective. JI has stayed corruption free and their top tier leadership has managed to stay out of scandals with their simple way of life and religious inclination. Ex-mayor Naimatullah Khan gave Karachi a major uplift during his tenure which won JI a huge fan base.
Weaknesses:
JI’s pessimistic approach towards politics has strengthened their position as critics of the highest order, but there has been no constructive and productive role from their side towards forming a national government.
Opportunities:
JI and its student wing Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) have great potential in mobilizing students for national and religious causes. This street power if utilized effectively can be converted into votes in the next elections.
Threats:
JI has lost all its ground in Karachi which was previously considered as a strong hold for them. Their stringent and stubborn approach has singled them out and now they have to struggle to regain their vote bank.
Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM)
Strengths:
MQM probably has the largest pool of educated candidates from middle class social strata. They have a strong and effective infrastruc
Weaknesses:
The founder of MQM Mr. Altaf Hussain for various reasons has been living in self-exile which often results in a plethora of accusations and concerns shown by media and politicians from time to time. During their last tenure, their swapping of roles from government to opposition and opposition to government benches pointed towards confused policy making.
Opportunities:
MQM manifesto if properly implemented can change the face of this country. Their stand against feudalism and extremism can bring about a revolution if they are given a chance to show their performance on the national front. Their pool of educated young men and women mostly from middle income group can contribute very effectively towards the progress of Pakistan.
Threats:
TTP remains a constant threat to MQM due to their liberal stance.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
Strengths:
Imran Khan’s philanthropy and success story of Shaukat Khanam Hospital is the main driving force behind PTI. He has successfully mobilized and brought the youth of Pakistan under PTI’s umbrella which was otherwise clueless and least concerned regarding the political future of the country.
Weaknesses:
PTI lacks discipline. The party has big names among its top tier leadership but they seem to be promoting their own personal agendas rather than spreading Imran Khan’s message. PTI workers have little patience and lack political insight.
Opportunities:
PTI has never been tried and tested. They are fresh out of the bag and ready to bring a change. Elections 2013 give the party an excellent opportunity to bring into action all the promises that they have made.
Threats:
PTI’s only threat is its own leaders who haven’t really enjoyed a clean and credible past.
Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q)
Strengths:
PML-Q enjoys massive support in rural Punjab. It has successfully tapped into the vacuum left behind when Nawaz Sharif was sent packing by Pervez Musharraf. Their alliance with PPP provided them another ruling stint and thus cementing their position in the electoral politics of Pakistan even though they started off as a king’s party.
Weaknesses:
In the last couple of years, PML-Q has experienced further disintegration into smaller groups and change of loyalties by their once strong party stalwarts.
Opportunities:
PML-Q enjoys good working relationship with MQM and PPP. With a little seat adjustment in Sindh they can bag a sizable amount of votes both in Punjab and Sindh provided they tap in traditional strongholds of Sindhi nationalist groups.
Threats:
The only threat to PML-Q is PML-N which has once again established itself as its strong opponent in Punjab.
Awami National Party (ANP)
Strengths:
ANP has quite successfully managed to win over the Pakhtuns of K-P and Sindh and in the last five years, the continued law and order situation in the urban centers specifically Karachi further polarized the situation on ethnic lines hence strengthening the traditional Pakhtun vote bank of ANP.
Weaknesses:
ANP’s exclusively Pakhtun-centric politics has restricted their voter base to traditional Pashto speaking communities and thus a limited vote bank.
Opportunities:
This party can take electoral advantage of the rapidly growing Pakhtun presence in urban regions of Sindh and thus emerge as a strong political entity in the next elections
Threats:
ANP is probably the only political party that has suffered the most in terms of assassinations of their leaders and workers by TTP for their liberal approach and communist ideology. They remain the TTP’s prime target.
Conclusion and Recommendations:
Traditional political culture, illiterate voters and candidates, corruption, destructive opposition etc. are major factors which create hindrance in building a healthy democratic political Environment in Pakistan which
0 comments:
Post a Comment