Political marketing as party management - Thatcher in 1979 and Blair in 1997

Abstract

Political Marketing has attracted increasing attention from political commentators in recent years, yet relatively little academic work has been conducted into its nature - either theoretically or empirically. That which does exist have focused on the use of marketing in campaigning, which although important, limits discussion to just one aspect of a party’s behaviour where marketing can have an influence. Marketing as used by businesses is not just about the slogans or catch-phrases used to sell the product. It is used to inform the design of that product. Transferred to parties, marketing can be used in deciding what policies to adopt and what organisational structures to employ. More importantly, it has been used by British parties, most recently by New Labour in the lead up to the 1997 election, but also informed the behaviour of the Conservative Party as far back as 1979. This wider utilisation of marketing has affected many aspects of the parties behaviour, including leadership powers, membership rights, constitution and policies - not just their campaigning activities. This has much wider ramifications, suggesting a new role for political parties, with normative implications for politics as a whole. This paper will thus explore the potential of political marketing and its use by Thatcher in 1979 and Blair in 1997 in order to enable consideration of these implications.