Political Marketing in Nigeria (Case Study of APC and PDP)
Chapter One
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the level of competitive marketing strategies employed by the parties to enhance their electoral performance
- To investigate the ways PDP and APC and their electorates perceive the role of political marketing.
- To assess the effectiveness of market growth strategies in enhancing the competitive positions of PDP and APC.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK.
Political environment today is putting increased pressure on political marketers to think more strategically; and they are responding by spelling out their strategy in clearer terms in their plans. They are providing better rationales for favouring one strategy over another. The question then is: what is a marketing strategy? A marketing strategy is a consistent, appropriate, and feasible set of principles through which a particular organization hopes to achieve its long-run customer and profit objectives in a particular competitive environment (Kotler 2002:43). Craven and Piercy (2003:27) agreed with this definition but contrasted it with the components of strategic marketing which they listed as the analysis, strategy development, and implementation activities which require developing a vision about the market of interest to the organization, – Selecting target market strategies, Setting objectives, implementing, and managing the marketing programme for positioning strategies designed to meet the value requirements of the customers in each market segment. Marketing strategy seeks to deliver superior customer value by combining the customer influencing strategies of business into a co-ordinated set of market-driven actions. For the avoidance of doubt, “marketing strategy is not synonymous with ethics”. This point was made by Peter Drucker and clarified by Kotler (1986:14, 1995:36) in response to Baker (1984:19) and McCarthy (1985:35) who argued that a marketer who short-changes his customer could not be said to be applying the marketing strategy. Kotler argued that such a marketer is at best applying the ‘hit and run’ strategy, and may not subsequently operate in the same segment or market – because of the image problem already created particularly if the customers are ready to resent. This issue has also been raised by Lees-Marshment (1996:53) who argued that a political party that secures the mandate of the electorate through electoral malpractices could not be said to be applying the marketing strategy. But this stance was vehemently opposed by Baines (1996:43), Scammell (1996:100) Henneberg (2002:23-31), and Nzeribe (1998:65). They maintained that even in commercial marketing, if every strategy had been in line with the customers expectation and convenience as well as the ethical standard of society, consumerism would not have gained much prominence in our society. In fact, Scammell (1999:718-739) nailed this point by agreeing with Kotler (1995:464) that the Harassment strategy has been a potent marketing strategy in the hands of the market leader in curbing the excesses of the challenger. It stands to reason therefore that as long as Nigeria is practicing democracy; traces of marketing strategies by political parties are undeniable since a marketing strategy could be positive or negative depending on the objective of the strategist (Nzeribe, 1998:65). Then comes the issue of dominance. The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines dominance “as having control or authority”. In line with this definition, Kotler (2003:54) refers to the firm with the largest share of the market in a particular market segment as the most dominant (i.e. market leader). In other words, a company’s share of the market defines its level of dominance in the market. In this connection, Henneberg (2003:23-31) refers to dominant party as one that has control of the executive and influence which it enjoys after winning an election. He cautions that this dominance is not necessarily in absolute terms but could be contextual. It is in this context that PDP, ANPP, AD, and APGA have qualified to be called dominant political parties in this study.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to political marketing in Nigeria ( a case study of APC and PDP)
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on the study political marketing in Nigeria ( a case study of APC and PDP). 200 members of PDP and APC in Akwa Ibom state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was on political marketing in Nigeria (a case study of APC and PDP). In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of on political marketing in Nigeria Summary
This study was on political marketing in Nigeria (a case study of APC and PDP). Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the level of competitive marketing strategies employed by the parties to enhance their electoral performance, to investigate the ways PDP and APC and their electorates perceive the role of political marketing and to assess the effectiveness of market growth strategies in enhancing the competitive positions of PDP and APC. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 members of APC and PDP in Akwa ibom state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up ward chairmen, ward secretaries, male members and female members were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Political marketing is given as well as its criticism about its position in the market. It has been great development in the area as it is now seen as a specific subject that differs from the traditional marketing. Thus, it is obvious that the area will be expanding in the near future. The segments of political marketing are given by explaining the political product, the organization and the market specifically. While the basis of these segments comes from traditional marketing, there are some differences which have been explained in political marketing.
Recommendation
Political marketing should be done without violence. Government should give a benchmark during campaign concerning political marketing
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