Cultural branding and political marketing: An exploratory analysis

Abstract

This paper seeks to explain a phenomenon in UK politics, namely the longevity of parties in power. Parties persist in government when our conventional understanding of the prevalent conditions in the political market suggests there should be greater ‘churn’. It considers political brands as cultural brands, suggesting that a long-term competitive advantage arises for the party perceived to be most in tune with the popular culture within society. We draw on a model by which such cultural advantage is attained, namely cultural innovation. To exemplify the approach, a case study of the Conservative Party as a cultural brand is considered over some 30 years. The paper concludes that the cultural branding approach is a useful way to explain long-term political phenomena. It also allows us to forecast the likely future of the current government's electoral success in terms of its cultural resources/strategy (the Big Society). The political marketing sub-discipline has grown substantially over the last few decades. This paper is a significant contribution to this, building as it does on the political branding literature from a novel, cultural branding perspective. Apart from its ability to explain previously difficult-to-explain phenomenon of political party stability, it also opens up a new stream of applied, culturally focused, political marketing research.