Introduction

Political marketing is an area of growing interest and importance. Marketing is now used by a wide range of institutions within the political arena, including not just parties but presidents, individual politicians and parliaments, worldwide. Politics would seem to be being transformed from a leadership-run system to that dictated by public needs and demands. Marketing has permeated all political organizations: as people act increasingly like consumers in the marketplace, the rise of political consumer puts pressure on all public institutions to become more responsive to the demands of those they serve. Political parties, the media, universities, local government, charities and legislatures are adopting the tools of market intelligence to understand their market needs and demands. Politicians, professors and even princes are using marketing to design their political product in the hope it will satisfy the ever-critical political consumer.