Politics and perceptions..

Every voter does not know personally the candidate standing for the election. However he still votes and feels that he might voicea his opinion.

And the politician knows this as well. In any business there will be loyal customers. Here also, under any condition there would be one who remains a democrat or republican. Likewise there could be a staunch congress, bjp, communist followers and will vote for the party candidate whoever it might be.

Speaking about business, politics/elections to some extent has the features of a business entity. The party has to market itself well and gain a market share. The party with the bigger “market share ““rules” the market. It’s also obvious that once it has garnered some market share, it has stand by its performance to sustain or improve its market share.

The reasons for loyalty could be vague as it happens in business as well. Apart from company ideologies (are they namesake??) what other factors will effect then.

The consumer may like the brand ambassador and therefore would vouch for the brand. Here there would be iconic leaders (or a celebrity endorser) which can make one vouch for a party.

In case of rural regions, it’s usually a closely knit community where each person would be related to each other. The prominent person X of this community would be loyal to a candidate A. If candidate A wins, then the community gets benefitted thru X (let’s not discuss how and all ... ;)) since A knows that this group from this village has voted for him.

If tomorrow X shifts loyalty to B from A, the family group would vote for B, because only if they stand united can they benefit.

Hence there will be certain segments which are fixed and one can’t do much about it. It could make up 40 – 50 % of the population in which one can get partly benefitted as well.

What about the rest? For such cases the party/candidate need to market / promote themselves to be voted in. It has to make the customer/voter feel that he is the product that one should go for. And they do use all marketing techniques to garner the market share.

Like how a deodorant company tries to market itself that using its product would make girls come closer, like how Mercedes sells the belief to the customer that riding it would make his neighbors jaw drop in awe.

In a similar fashion, the party/politician plays on the sentiments of religion, security, development, language etc for it to position itself. But for many party/politician it’s not their first time and people do know what they have done before as well. Hence service given should matter as well and service marketing should have been a considered option. However for whatever reason, could be that one can play with the mindset/emotions of the common Indian or the belief that Indians forget things faster that might have led to not opting for it.

However under any case the party/candidate needs to create a perception to the common man. The perception that the candidate is standing for each of them. And it needs to be carried out.

The party itself might create a set of perceptions, One claiming it is secular, the other that it cares for security, and another that it cares about the laboring middle class etc..

Btw it works, for example post the 9/11 attack, US was gripped with fear. And though there was no significant reform done by the Bush government, the only fact that he was bombing every other country in the name of security gave the perception, that one is secure under him and voted him for the second term.

Another interesting aspect of perception: Most politicians are clad in white; it’s all about perception here as well. White symbolizes purity and hence depicts a ‘clean’ image of the wearer to the public and assures the public that they are far from the malign of corruption.

In case of South India, people wear waeshti / panchae instead of white pyjamas/ pants. So the only pocket that the South Indian politician would have is the shirt pocket. For common men like us, the regular four pockets are not enough to carry the basics i.e. wallet, mobile, pen, napkin, specs etc.

In case of the South politician he doesn’t carry any and are carried by his assistants. If that is the importance that is given to perception that he is making him/her uncomfortable, to keep the mass in his fold one can recognize the power of perception. Also the regional attire befriends him to the masses that can identify himself with the politician. An immediate connect. Cos the day he wears the suit, he would be an outcaste for an Indian who will think of him as an elite ‘sahib’ far less empathetic to his problems. The most important perception that needs to be generated is that he is not just that he is the one, but one among them as well. So he has to squat and dine with his crowd to show that he is one among them. He will refer to his people as “brothers/sisters” and never as “friends, Romans, countrymen”. And so “bhaiyo/behano” “thayimargalai / thandhaemargalai” will remain for some more time.

And thus if they are able to make the right perception, if their perspective marketing strategy works, half the work is done.

So even if Lulu drinks scotch with his colleagues behind closed doors of banquet halls, he makes it a point for the media gets a pic of him having a street side malpoa with his people !!