ABSTRACT
Australian political marketing is slowly emerging from the long shadow of onesided elections and market dominance by sales-oriented political parties into a competitive marketplace of ideas, policies and candidates. After a long period of Liberal-National political rule at the federal level, and an equally lopsided representation of Labor at the state level, the Australian political landscape is shifting from a sales orientation of ‘pitching and persuading’ to a market orientation of ‘listening and addressing’ the issues that concern the Australian voting public. Parties increasingly understand the value of marketing as a more holistic process. The chapter examines the 2007 Australian Federal Election as a case study of a contest between a sales-oriented incumbent government and a marketoriented opposition party which engaged in a systematic application of marketing techniques. Analysis is based on external observation of the political parties, election campaigning, and informal discussions with members, candidates and staff of major and minor political parties in Australia.1
