The role of political marketing in election campaigns

U ovom diplomskom radu nastoji se odrediti i pojasniti pojam političkog marketinga koji čini jednu od glavnih odrednica demokratskog poretka. S obzirom na to da se temelji na koncepciji konvencionalnog marketinga, a koji počiva na konkurentskom natjecanju i slobodnom tržištu, politički marketing također može djelovati samo u demokratskom sustavu koji se temelji na parlamentarizmu i višestranačju. Politički marketing može se okarakterizirati kao primjena marketinških koncepata na proučavanje strateškog procesa koji uključuje birače i političke stranke, tj. njihove kandidate s namjerom za ostvarenje određenih političkih ciljeva. Upotreba političkog marketinga podrazumijeva uvođenje komercijalnih marketinških alata unutar političkog tržišta s ciljem kreiranja proizvoda koji odgovaraju željama i potrebama birača. Jedan od najznačajnijih instrumenata političkog marketinga je izborna kampanja, o kojoj se govori u drugom dijelu rada. Izborna kampanja se može definirati kao planirana i organizirana politička djelatnost u predizborno vrijeme pomoću koje se nastoji pridobiti što veća potpora birača u svrhu osvajanja ili očuvanja vlast. Za ostvarenje tog primarnog cilja koristi se persuazivna komunikacija kojim se birači nastoje uvjeriti da daju svoj glas. Pojam izborne kampanje u ovom radu je detaljno raščlanjen prema njezinim glavnim funkcijama, ciljevima i strukturnim elementima.This thesis seeks to define and clarify the concept of political marketing, which is one of the main determinants of the democratic order. Given that the foundation of concept of conventional marketing, which is based on competition and the free market, political marketing can also operate only in a democratic system based on parliamentarism and multi-party system. Political marketing can be characterized as the application of marketing concepts to the study of a strategic process involving voters and political parties, i. e. their candidates with the intention of achieving certain political goals. The use of political marketing implies the introduction of commercial marketing tools within the political market with the aim of creating products that meet the wishes and need of voters. One of the most important instruments of political marketing is the election campaign, which is discussed in second part of this thesis. An election campaign can be defined as a planned and organized political activity in the pre-election period that seeks to gain as much voters support as possible in order to gain or retain power. To achieve this primary goal, persuasive communication is used to persuade voters to cast their vote. The nation of the election campaign in this thesis is explained in detail according to its main functions, goals and structural elements