2008 Woodie Awards
Prof. explains Republican campaigning techniques
Mike Gomez
Issue date: 10/1/08 Section: News
A major reason why Republicans have had so much success in US elections over the past few decades is because they've effectively utilized the relatively new political marketing technique of branding, argues Suffolk Professor Kenneth Cosgrove.
Cosgrove, director of graduate studies in the government department, is beginning his fifth year of full-time teaching at Suffolk.
He earned his B.A. at Suffolk and his Ph.D. at the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center, University of Oklahoma.
He explains branding in his book, Branded Conservatives: How the Brand Brought the Right from the Fringes to the Center of American Politics (Peter Lang, 2007).
According to his theory, a brand is a shortcut for finding out information about a product. Political parties use brands to market their candidates to voters in the same way that producers use brands to market their products to consumers. By designing stories and promises that appeal to targeted groups of voters, a party hopes that those groups will identify with their brand and build up a loyalty to them over time.
In his book, Cosgrove shows how Conservatives effectively employed branding to grow within both the Republican Party and the American political system. He also claims that branding is well at work in the current presidential campaign.
The Republicans are in danger, according to Cosgrove, because they haven't fulfilled their brand promises.
He said that Republicans are trying to renew their brand image by returning to the core principles that President Bush veered so far away from during his eight years in office.
"They're not talking about the Republican Party anymore. They're talking about the GOP," he said. "They've refocused [their image] now so that they can roll out a whole lot of stuff that isn't George W. Bush."
He said that although the Democrats have been slow to recognize the importance of branding, they're finally catching on.
Having attended both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions this summer, he said that "one of the more interesting aspects of the convention trip was hearing Howard Dean explain how the Democrats had moved from an issues-based strategy to one based on values and emotion.
"This is very much in keeping with the way in which Republicans have branded their candidates and accounts, in my opinion, for a good deal of the success that the Obama campaign has had this year."
While branding has worked well for both Republicans and Democrats, it may not necessarily have a positive impact on American democracy, according to Cosgrove.
Because it is based more on values and emotions than on careful assessments of policy proposals, the technique doesn't encourage voters to think about the issues and can make it easier for them to identify with someone who may not be looking out for their best interests, Cosgrove writes in his book.
Cosgrove's next project will be on Democratic marketing during the 2004 and 2008 campaigns.
Cosgrove, director of graduate studies in the government department, is beginning his fifth year of full-time teaching at Suffolk.
He earned his B.A. at Suffolk and his Ph.D. at the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center, University of Oklahoma.
He explains branding in his book, Branded Conservatives: How the Brand Brought the Right from the Fringes to the Center of American Politics (Peter Lang, 2007).
According to his theory, a brand is a shortcut for finding out information about a product. Political parties use brands to market their candidates to voters in the same way that producers use brands to market their products to consumers. By designing stories and promises that appeal to targeted groups of voters, a party hopes that those groups will identify with their brand and build up a loyalty to them over time.
In his book, Cosgrove shows how Conservatives effectively employed branding to grow within both the Republican Party and the American political system. He also claims that branding is well at work in the current presidential campaign.
The Republicans are in danger, according to Cosgrove, because they haven't fulfilled their brand promises.
He said that Republicans are trying to renew their brand image by returning to the core principles that President Bush veered so far away from during his eight years in office.
"They're not talking about the Republican Party anymore. They're talking about the GOP," he said. "They've refocused [their image] now so that they can roll out a whole lot of stuff that isn't George W. Bush."
He said that although the Democrats have been slow to recognize the importance of branding, they're finally catching on.
Having attended both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions this summer, he said that "one of the more interesting aspects of the convention trip was hearing Howard Dean explain how the Democrats had moved from an issues-based strategy to one based on values and emotion.
"This is very much in keeping with the way in which Republicans have branded their candidates and accounts, in my opinion, for a good deal of the success that the Obama campaign has had this year."
While branding has worked well for both Republicans and Democrats, it may not necessarily have a positive impact on American democracy, according to Cosgrove.
Because it is based more on values and emotions than on careful assessments of policy proposals, the technique doesn't encourage voters to think about the issues and can make it easier for them to identify with someone who may not be looking out for their best interests, Cosgrove writes in his book.
Cosgrove's next project will be on Democratic marketing during the 2004 and 2008 campaigns.
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