Understanding political image:

politics & the brand concept

Dr Margaret Scammell
London School of Economics

Presentation at: Encuentro Internacional

Comunicacin Poltica
II ACOP
Bilbao, 14-16 Junio de 2012

The problem of political image

(1)

The problem of political image

(2)

Do bald men always lose?

Dont be
silly

The problem of political image

What is it?

Reputational factors (competence, credibility etc)?

Indicators of likeability (in-touch, one-of-us etc)?
Attributes of style, performance or appearance?

How do we evaluate it (and which aspects)?

What really matters in political image and how do we research it in

relation to other factors (e.g. issues/policy, delivery of promises and
party ID)?

How do we deal with the normative legacy?

Image often associated with threat to democratic ideals (the irrational

elevated over reason, emotion over information, style over substance)
Image as not real: artifice/illusion/virtual reality
Political marketing often equated with image politics

The brand concept: can it reconcile image and political

marketing, reason & emotion, style & substance, the hard and
soft dimensions?

Brands: what are they?

Much more than logos

Coca-cola: brand power

In blind tests 2/3 prefer taste of
Pepsi but 2/3 buy Coke
Brand image partly owned by
consumers (co-created)

Applying brand concepts to politics:

Brand identity:
the goal to be
achieved the image
that the marketer
wants to create
Brand image:
customer perceptions
of the brand

Images cannot be
transferred to customers
Emerge out of exposure to
brand messages, planned
& unplanned, evaluation of
experience (reliability,
pleasure, value-for-money
etc)
Thus brands are cocreations between
producers and consumers
They are social
constructed: emerge out
of interactions between
producers, consumers,
institutions, media, NGOs,
social networks etc

What makes a brand distinctive?

James Donius model

Cultural

symbol of our
society

Brand
Differentiators
(increases in significance
as more competitors
meet boundary
conditions)

Social

grew up with it

Psychological

says something
about me

Economic

value for money Boundary

Conditions

Functional

works better

(determines sustainability)

Political brands: brand differentiators adapted

The conceptual value

Not a model of how images develop in citizens minds (no
strict separation of boundary/differentiators)
But enables analysis of image construction (preferred brand
ID) and citizens images
Can show how & whether boundary/differentiators are linked
Provides a basis for normative assessment:
The continuing importance of information and reason
Invitation to engage (increasing importance of political
psychology)
Emotional intelligence: reason/emotion work together

Cameron:
detoxifying the Conservative brand

New logo
Symbolic policies:
vote blue go green

Cameron symbolising the brand

Brand images contested

Two arrogant posh boys who dont know the price of milk
Nadine Dorries (Conservative MP)

Conceptual value of brands: summing up

Accepts that modern politics is centrally concerned with
competing images
Dynamic: accepts that brand images are contested (not simply
transferred)
In tune with (a) political practice and (b) political psychology
that argues that reason/emotion not mutually exclusive
Brings together hard and soft dimensions of policy and image
(reputation, policy proposals, & the small details of style and
performance)
Provides a basis for normative assessment: (when) should we
be concerned if brand ID is all differentiation and no
boundary/wide gulf between differentiator claims and
boundary claims?