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Casting light on the evolution of political marketing in Central and Eastern Europe, this book delivers an intriguing snapshot into both the sophistication of campaign strategies and the triumphs and trials facing democratic progress in this increasingly complex political landscape.
Free elections, following the fall of the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, brought the need to attract voters through election campaigns and therefore, races involving political marketing began, and electoral campaigns in CEE began to resemble those of Western democracies. Most political parties operating in the region became quickly accustomed to the new approach to politics and a broad range of political marketing tools and techniques. This edited volume focuses on political campaign professionalization in general (in Lithuania) and in TV spots (in Poland), and celebritization (in Croatia). The second part of the volume focuses on struggles of opposition in authoritarian regime (in Russia), whether Facebook can serve as an effective political marketing tool in an illiberal context (in Hungary), and the communication and campaigning of authoritarian presidents in a hybrid regime (in Serbia). All of them are recent case studies.
The chapters in this volume were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Political Marketing.
List of contents
Preface. Introduction: Professionalization and Democratic Backsliding? Political Campaigning in Central and Eastern Europe 1. Political Campaign Professionalization in Lithuanian Elections 2. Professionalization of Campaign Communication beyond Communication Forms. An Analysis of Poland's Political Spots 3. "Send in the Clowns": The Rise of Celebrity Populism in Croatia and Its Implications for Political Marketing 4. A Rumbling from Below? Opposition Party Rebranding, Regional Elections, and Transforming the Regime in Russia 5. Facebook as a Political Marketing Tool in an Illiberal Context. Mapping Political Advertising Activity on Facebook during the 2019 Hungarian European Parliament and Local Election Campaigns 6. Electoral Political Communication in the Post-Communist Hybrid Regime - The Case of Serbia 2020
About the author
Miloš Gregor is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University. His main research lies in political marketing, political communication, and propaganda and disinformation analysis.
Otto Eibl is the Head of the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Studies and a researcher at the International Institute of Political Science, both at Masaryk University. His research focuses on political communication, branding, and political marketing.
Bruce I. Newman is Professor of Marketing and Wicklander Fellow in Business Ethics in the Department of Marketing at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University, Chicago, USA. Dr. Newman is the author/editor of several books and articles on political marketing, most notably, A Reseach Agenda for Political Marketing (2022 with Todd P. Newman), Brand (2018 with Todd P. Newman), The Marketing Revolution in Politics (2016), and The Marketing of the President (1994). He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Political Marketing and former Advisor to the Clinton White House in 1995-96.
Summary
Examining the evolution of political marketing in Central and Eastern Europe, this book delivers a snapshot into both the campaign strategies and the triumphs and trials facing democratic progress in this complex political landscape. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Political Marketing.
