Creating and Developing Local Political Brand Identity: A Constituency Focus

Abstract

Research into individual-sub-political brands has received little attention compared with corporate political brands. Further, there are explicit calls for more research dedicated to individual-sub-political brands and how political brands are positioned particularly from an internal perspective. Focusing on political brand identity which is seen as the internal view or reality of the organisation, this paper seeks to explore how individual-sub (local)-political brand identity is created and developed from an internal orientation following the 2015 UK General Election. In-depth interviews were conducted with internal stakeholders of an individual-sub-political brand of the UK Conservative Party. Findings were thematically analysed. This case study reveals how an individual-sub-political brand identity was created and developed over several years before polling. This study also strengthens the proposition that corporate political brands are a coalition of unique emotive individual-sub-political brands, which have to strategically manage the duality of consistency yet independence between the corporate and individual level. The findings have implications for entities beyond the political landscape. Organisations will be able to use this paper as a guide to deconstruct individual-sub-political brands and explore their coherency with the corporate political brand.