The first time voter; an IMC plan for the Nationalist Party for the general election of 2018

Abstract

This IMC plan commences with a detailed situation analysis of the political scene in Malta. First, an overview of the main local political parties is provided followed by a detailed explanation of the 2013 unstable political scenario and the general election that followed on the 9th of March 2013. On this day, those eligible to vote were called to ballot; the end result was a landslide victory for the Partit Laburista (PL) as it won 54.83% of the votes. The news of political instability within the PN went viral during the election campaign and the PL took political advantage of the situation. There is no doubt that one of the main reasons for the historical shift of votes in favour of the PL was the internal political turmoil the PN suffered towards the end of its legislature; but a second reason was the marketing strategies and tactics used by the PL. By using the right communication tools to disseminate political information and propaganda, the marketing mix of the PL was a success. And although past electoral campaigns had strong elements of marketing strategies, the recent PL’s marketing efforts are an example of the advancement of the role of marketing and communications in local politics. The next section expands on the role of marketing in politics by describing the link that exists between the political and marketing dimensions. Additionally, the target voter segment for this IMC plan is identified as the first time voter and a synopsis is given on the old and new marketing channels that mostly affect the young voter. Section 3 offers a general review of the trends and issues in the local political arena, voter turnout patterns and marketing and technological trends. Section 4 gives an indication of the primary, secondary and generic competition that the PN faces. The sections that follow include a SWOT analysis for the PN and Porter’s five forces model, which is applied to the PN. Section 7 describes the background of the Party and its structures and continues by giving a detailed account of the identified target voter segment. The target voter segment chosen for this IMC plan is the first-time voter, which constitutes over 23,000 eligible voters. The final section of the Situation Analysis describes the voter behaviour by applying the theory of planned behaviour. The budget for this IMC plan has bottom up approach and a total of €2.5 million that covers the four quarters of one whole year, with the last quarter having the largest percentage share of the budget. The proposed integrated marketing communications program is based on an interview with Dr. Paul Borg Olivier, the ex-Secretary General of the PN, who managed the marketing aspect of the 2013 general election campaign. According to Dr. Borg Olivier, the best marketing tool is the personal touch with the young voter including the level of engagement that they are offered. Taking into consideration his political marketing insights, the program suggests three marketing tools that are mostly effective towards the young new voter and these are public relations, direct marketing and canvassing, and digital marketing and interactive media. Additionally, the IMC program suggests the need for a good database of new voters and explains what grassroot marketing is and how it can be implemented as part of the marketing strategies and tactics of this plan. The next section includes an implementation timetable, which is deemed crucial for the execution of the program in order to keep within timeframes and the budget. Finally the IMC plan concludes with the monitoring and evaluation tactics of all the chosen marketing channels with an emphasis on the importance of the feedback that needs to be acquired from the young voter segment.