The 2015 general election is here, political office seekers have deployed campaigns to win the vote of potential voters,as regarding their promises to the electorate Princewill Ekwujuru writes.

Storytelling in election campaigns is a relatively recent phenomenon, which needs to be investigated in order to enhance understanding of changes and developments in modern political communication. With the 2015 general elections close, campaigns materials are on the increase, campaigns of some candidates have begun to attract the attentions of marketing communications practitioners. Communication professionals have contended that candidate’s positioning and personal brand expressions have the power to make or mar their intentions to win vote and actualize their political ambition at whatever level. It would be recalled that since the United States’ inception, presidential candidates’ strategies for campaigning have constantly evolved to keep up with changing forms of media, the whims of their audience and the election process. It so be recalled that President Reagan introduced bumper stickers into the American presidential campaigns while President Obama introduced the use of Twitter accounts.

In Nigeria, political campaigns is gradually getting more professional and in tune with the changing media consumption in the country. Though the use of the Social Media has been on the increase in the country, traditional media still remains a force to reckon with which explains the heavy dependence of the tradition print press, radio and television as a means to reach the masses.

Communication experts opined that Nigerian politicians are beginning to recognize the importance of political branding and marketing as a science to win votes. Marketing practitioners insisted that politicians have begun to adopt the marketing principles that competing brands adopt in a bid to win a bigger share of the market.

Some of these strategies, observers said include brand positioning, leveraging personal strong points and integrity, endorsements and, brand offerings and benefits amongst others.

According to John Feyipitan, a brand builder and marketing professional, these are some of the fulcrum that the gubernatorial aspirant of the All Progressive Party, APC in Lagos, Akinwunmi Ambode has based his campaign on thus far.

Positioning, integrity and strong points

Political marketing professionals had insisted that political messages resonate with the targets when it refer to the voters as the hero and play up what the voters stand to benefit from voting a particular candidate as against another in an election. This, they argued further is helped when the candidate has integrity to stake.

They argued that when the politician craft his campaign messages as being the fight to improve the life of the voters’ life, or something similar and come with some good measure of integrity, the voters are more likely to believe him. The import of the foregoing is that the voters will not trust any candidate until they are clear such candidate has the voters’ interest at heart.

Speaking further, Feyipitan noted that, “If you asked me, Ambode has been very strategic with his campaigns for governorship of Lagos State, without mincing words, I can tell that his campaign messages and appearances are being coordinated by professional political marketing consultants. His New Year’s Day goodwill message to Lagosians was simply spot on.”

Ambode appears to be playing the above card so well. In his campaign messages and manifestoes, Ambode who became a chartered Accountant at age 27 has always insisted that what drives his ambition to become governor of Lagos was the need to create an enabling environment for every resident of the state to thrive. Brand Ambode contended that creating an enabling environment for people and businesses in the state would greatly reduced the problem of youth unemployment to a manageable level.

“Whatever we do, the people are at the core of policies. Before we do anything, the question we ask ourselves is, how many employment opportunities will this create?

We will create jobs as an intervention then create an enabling environment for business to thrive because if businesses and industries thrive they will generate more employment opportunities more than any government can.” He stated during an interactive session with students of tertiary institutions in the state recently.

Industry watchers opined that the promise of employment generation will resonate with the voting populace and that can spur them to vote for him in the forthcoming elections.

“Unemployment is a big problem in the country,” stated Ikechukwu Eze, an IT Consultant based in Lagos adding that “Any candidate that can convincingly demonstrate how to solve the problem whether at the local, state or federal government level will surely enjoy the buy-in of voters. The only challenge bigger than that of unemployment in the country is unemployment in the country is power.” He stated.

Evaluation of Alternatives

Marketing professionals are in unison on the five steps of the consumer decision making process and listed them thus: Identification of unsatisfied need or want, identification of alternatives to need or want, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase evaluation.

Marketing practitioners who spoke to our correspondent said on the basis of evaluating the alternatives to the APC candidates in the forthcoming elections, the APC candidate has an advantage over his competitors.

According to Feyipitan, “Ambode’s civil governor of Lagos State in the next elections. The fact that he has worked in almost all the gamut of service experience gives him an edge over the alternatives in the race for who becomes the governor of the state government means he will hit the grounds running. I am not taking anything away from Jimi Agbaje; the thinking all the laudable infrastructure projects that Fashola started stand a better chance of being completed with an Ambode as governor than with any other person may not be given priority.”

As the campaigns heat up in the state, marketing practitioners argued that when voters vote for a candidate in the forthcoming elections, they will not just be voting for policies or party affiliation, but also for personality, attitude, appearance and belief – that is, their choice candidate’s brand personality. They argued that no candidate is perfect when it comes to their policies, strategies or personal lives and added that, it is branding and political marketing that will influence the voters.