Role of Emotional Branding and Doppelganger Brand Image in Indian Lower House Elections of 2014

Politics and Marketing go hand in hand. A party\u27s or a candidate\u27s use of environmental analysis and opinion research to promote and publicize an awareness about the party\u27s organizational motto and aims for the betterment and satisfaction of groups of electors in exchange for their votes is the role of Marketing in politics. Emotional branding is chiefly regarded as a key to marketing success in politics. However, when using emotional branding as a tool to reach out and connect to the masses, little attention is given to the risks posed by this strategy. This article attempts to illuminate how emotional-branding strategies, in an attempt to appeal to the masses are conducive to the emergence of a negative brand image of that party or candidate, technically called as “Doppelgänger” brand Image. A case study of Lok Sabha Election polls of 2014 held in India is considered to highlight how doppelgänger brand image can affect the voting response of the public. The authors discuss how the principle of emotional branding used by the losing party paradoxically encouraged the formation and propagation of doppelgänger brand imagery which back-fired them. The historic loss of Indian National Congress against Bhartiya Janata Party is closely analyzed from the emotional branding and brand outlook perspective. The author concludes with a discussion of how Indian National Congress can progressively use the insights gained by analyzing a doppelgänger brand image