2. The political brand in the memory of the elector:
concretely, what is it?
What is the concept of political brand for the voter? What does
it perceive as a brand? To what extent is the candidate confused with the
political brand?
Faced with a lack of clarification of the concept in research and
a lack of consensus, a literature review of the various meanings of the
political brand makes it possible to develop a better theoretical knowledge of
this concept by determining what In our opinion, the political brand as it
exists in the memory of the elector.
First of all, we must clarify the approach we have chosen to
adopt.
2.1 Approach adopted in our research
2.1.1 A voter-oriented approach
Adapted to the field of politics, we chose to adopt a
consumer-oriented approach to the brand and not a managerial approach centered
on brand management (e.g. Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000). By placing ourselves
on the side of the elector, our goal is to understand his perception of the
political brand (the way his image is formed in the memory of the voter), the
influence of political brand capital on the relationship between the elector
and the political brand and ultimately his possible influence on the behavior
of the voter. It is important to note, however, that our research is centered
on the voter - political brand relationship and not on electoral behavior
(voting intention and actual voting).
On the side of the elector, this conceptualization of the
political brand thus enables us both to define the concept of a political brand
as existing in the memory of voters and to study the differences in perception
according to the type of voters. This approach also helps to better understand
the voter's role vis-à-vis the political brand.
2.1.2 A Perceptual Approach
structure of memory (Changeur, 2002). These models, such as the
associative network memory model (Anderson, 1983), have been developed in the
field of cognitive psychology (eg Collins and Loftus, 1975, Anderson, 1983,
Wyer and Srull, 1989) Long-term memory (also called semantic memory or
knowledge) as a network of nodes and links (Keller, 1993):
The nodes represent the information (or concepts) stored in the
long-term memory,
- these nodes are linked together by more or less strong links,
the strength or intensity of the links reflecting the strength of the
association between two nodes.
A process of diffusion of activation or "spreading activation"
(Collins and Loftus, 1975) allows the recall in memory of these associations:
this activation process occurs when recalling stored information or, A new
information is stored in memory (Keller, 1993).
Starting from this model, the brand is assimilated to an
information node to which a variety of other nodes is linked by links whose
strength varies. The set formed by these nodes (the branded node and the other
nodes to which it is associated) and these links constitute the consumer's
knowledge with respect to the brand under consideration. Knowledge of the brand
therefore corresponds to a semantic network of associations stored in the
consumer's long-term memory and structured around the "brand" node: this
network represents all the information that the consumer associates with the
brand and how This information is organized in his memory (eg Aaker, 1991,
Keller, 1993, Krishnan, 1996, Changer and Dano, 1996 and 1998, Changeur,
1999).
Our research therefore fits into a voter-oriented perspective and
a psycho-cognitive approach to the political brand. This approach we have
adopted is new in the field of political marketing: there is very little
research in political marketing that adopts this perspective and is interested
in the influence of voters on the political brand and the development Of its
brand equity (Phipps, Brace-Govan and Jevons, 2010). To our knowledge, only a
few recent studies have adopted this perspective (e.g. Smith and French, 2009,
French and Smith, 2010, Phipps, Brace-Govan and Jevons, 2010).
2.2 The political brand and its different
meanings
2.2.1 General definition of the political
brand
At this stage of our research, we chose to retain the following
general definition of the political brand: "The political brand is defined as a
network of associations composed of interconnected political information, held
in memory and accessible when stimulated In the memory of an elector "(French
and Smith, 2010, p.6).
As noted in particular by French and Smith (2010), no research in
political marketing has sought to study associations with the political brand
and their characteristics (strength, valence, dominance / uniqueness, number,
etc.) The memory of the voters: nevertheless, according to the
conceptualization of Keller (1993), it is indeed the associations with the
brand as existing in the
memory of the consumer and more generally the knowledge of the
brand that generates the differential effect on the response Of the consumer
(and here of the voter).
Our research aims precisely to determine and measure the
associations with the political brand. Beyond a better knowledge of the
political brand, the objective is also to evaluate the value of the political
brand: it is all the utility of a measure of the capital-brand policy based on
the measurement of associations To the political brand.
2.2.2 The political brand: the party, the
candidate...?
We have tried to justify in the first part of this work the
application of the brand concept to the political domain. It is now necessary
to consider what constitutes a political brand. To date, the issue has not been
clearly resolved.
When one studies the work of the various researchers who have
transposed the concept of brand to the political sphere, one observes that the
concept of political brand does not cover the same reality:
- some assimilate the party to a brand (e.g. Shama, 1975 and
1976, Reeves, Chernatony and Carrigan, 2006, Lambert-Pandraud, Laurent and
Dubois, 2009)
- others consider that the political brand is a whole composed of
three components: the party as a brand, the politician as representing its
tangible characteristics and the "policy" as the center of its service offer
(Eg O'Shaugnessy and Henneberg, 2007, Smith and French, 2009, French and Smith,
2010),
- others still assimilate the candidate and not the party to a
brand (e.g. Nakanishi, Cooper and Kassarjian, 1974, Guzman and Sierra,
2009),
- very recently, researchers proposed a new dual
conceptualization of the political brand with the political party as a
corporate brand and the candidate as an individual / personal brand (Phipps,
Brace-Govan and Jevons, 2010).
Among all these conceptualizations of the political brand, that
of Phipps, Brace-Govan and Jevons (2010) seems to us the most relevant. As the
authors themselves point out, the qualitative study conducted in Australia is
the first to conceptualize the existence of a personal brand of the politician
in relation to the corporate brand of the political party: their research shows
Dual character of the political brand and its brand-name capital, the political
brand being the result of these two distinct brands.
As we have shown in the first part, we believe that a candidate
can be equated with a brand as a party. In the case of an election such as a
presidential election, the elector votes in fine for a candidate and a party.
In this respect, we adopt a dual view of the political brand and, in line with
the work of Phipps, Brace-Govan and Jevons (2010), consider a duality of the
political brand and its brand-capital.
However, it is necessary to question the place of other
components of the political brand (and in the first place the program) in this
conceptualization. We see that voters associate this or that campaign theme
more to a party and / or a candidate. Thus, in the opinion polls on the 2012
presidential elections, voters associate the security theme more closely with
the UMP and the social justice issue with the PS. The first results of the
current qualitative study tend to confirm this fact.
If, at this stage of our research, this position is based mainly
on theoretical arguments, the results of the empirical work should hopefully
confirm this: we believe that there is a political brand, which is the result
Of two brands (the candidate and the party). As for the other components such
as the program, the voter associates them with one or both of the two brands.
On this point, the question of congruence between the party and the candidate
can, in our view, constitute a key to understanding.
We would like to emphasize here an essential aspect that we
consider to be an understanding of this dual conception of the political brand,
a point which is not mentioned in the research by Phipps, Brace-Govan and
Jevons (2010). According to the results of their study, "the individual brand
of a politician can compete or strengthen the corporate brand of the political
party" (p.496). According to the candidates considered (and according to the
voters), the personal brand of the candidate can thus reinforce and nourish or
on the contrary
Enter into competition - or even confrontation - with the
corporate brand of the political party. But how can we explain this phenomenon
of competition between the two brands, or on the contrary, that one reinforces
the other? And in general terms, how to explain how the political brand is
structured between the candidate's personal brand and the brand "Corporate"
party? To answer this question, we believe that the concept of congruence can
shed light on this different relationship between candidate and party. In
marketing, the concept of congruence reflects the fact that two (or more)
entities are perceived to be doing well together (Fleck and Maille, 2010,
Fleck, Maille and Raghubir, 2011, Maille and Fleck, 2011). Adapted to the
political brand, we believe that the structure of the political brand envisaged
in a dual way and more particularly the relationship between the two brands may
in some cases be explained by the fact that the brand of the candidate and that
of the party are perceived as going well (or badly) together. When the brand of
the candidate and the brand of the party are perceived as going well together,
the first strengthens the second. Otherwise, the candidate's brand enters more
into competition with that of the party. But this congruence is not always
necessary: we will return to this point in detail in the next section when
studying the concept of political brand-capital and its duality.
Several concrete applications illustrate this duality and the
importance of congruence in relation to the relationship between the
candidate's and the party's brand.
An example is the existence within the major political parties
of different currents (for example, "Popular Right", "Right Social" and "Human
Right" within the UMP, Some referred to as "Soft Left" - and "The strong Left"
- also called "hard left" - within the PS ...). The existence of these currents
undergone by the major parties makes the congruence between the candidate and
the
party all the more important (in any case, when the brand capital
of one party is not much greater than that of the other As we shall see later)
in order to gather as many voters as possible. Conversely, less broad and
homogeneous parties (FN, MoDem ...) do not suffer the existence of these
currents: the congruence between the candidate and the party is naturally
strong.
Once the political brand has been defined, the value of the
political brand must now be considered from the point of view of the voter.
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