
Last Updated on February 4, 2025 12:18 am by Editor
As the next general election in Barbados draws near, yet another political party has decided to contest the upcoming fray. It is called the Conservative Barbados Leadership party (CBL) and it is headed by attorney-at-law, Corey Beckles.
Given the limited details released, and one can only assume that the new party is merely testing the waters. But, as much as I am in favour of an alternative political party – an alternative to the BDLP- we have to ask whether this party is really ready. For some strange reason, people in Barbados seem to think that a political party is some magical entity which, once a name is chosen and broached to the public, will automatically guarantee support from the society. I have been saying for years that a new political party is no different from a new product.
For that reason, I say without fear of contradiction, that if a new party does not get its strategic marketing right at the beginning, it is doomed to fail. But let me clarify what is meant by “Marketing” because there are still many out there who think that Marketing begins and ends with advertising regardless to whether it is traditional advertising or advertising on social media. So much so that one of the chief complaints of new parties is their exclusion from mainstream media.
Marketing does not begin with advertising; it begins with finding out what the potential market wants, building those requirements into a product offer AND making that product different from all others in its category.
In the case of political marketing, the core product offer is the philosophy and values of the new party, that is, what it stands for. Next would be the product features, that is, specifically what this product can do for the user, the electorate. From a marketing perspective, this party has already made three fundamental mistakes.
Error No.1
The first mistake is in the name of the party itself. The brand name of a product is the first indication about the nature of the product and what it will do for the consumer.
Expert marketers like Proctor and Gamble will tell you that a key element of a new product is its brand name. Already the party has violated one of the basic rules about branding with its long and unclear name. Is “Party” part of the name or not? So how can the abbreviation be CBL? It makes no sense. The use of leadership in the name also makes little strategic sense and sets up the party for easy attacks; any party is expected to provide quality leadership!
Error No.2
The second mistake is that it has NOT said how it is different from the two existing main parties.
Its statement that it is offering alternative leadership makes little sense since it has no track record of leadership of the organization itself, far less leadership of the country. So that will certainly not get the kind of support required.
One would like to think that at this period of time in our political history, that a sensible and sensitive wannabe political entity would know what Barbadians require. Barbadians say it all the time: they see no difference between the two so-called established parties. Therefore, the first task of a new political entity is to differentiate itself from the others. As noted earlier, that is a fundamental tenet of Marketing strategy for a product.
The reaction of one commenter on Facebook to the BT article announcing the new party sums up this point nicely:
This is a very enlightened view since it is not calling for the new party to “win” the election outright but merely to gain seats to have an active role in the balance of power in parliament.
Notice we have not yet talked about any advertising because we stress again that Marketing DOES NOT begin with advertising.
Error No.3
The third mistake the new party has made is to PROMISE to PROPOSE rather than present a PROPOSAL for the way forward.
That suggests that it has not yet thought out a STRATEGY for Barbados. People who do not understand strategy confuse specific actions that can be taken with an overall approach or strategy. For example, to say that one will modernize the QEH is a strategic statement. However, the specific actions or tactics to be taken such as training staff, updating equipment etc. come later.
It is clear that one does not want to give away tactics before an election is called but surely you cannot come to the public without having done (1) a strategic assessment of what is wrong and (2) stating a general or overall approach to fixing it. Most parties do a fair job good at #1 but fail miserably at #2.
Generally speaking, most people can tell you what is wrong with something but a very limited number can tell you how to fix it! Even fewer can tell you how the way they are proposing to fix it differs from how other people plan to fix it AND why their approach is better. Sadly, there are very few Donald Trumps in our world.
The new party has a window of opportunity to correct this mistake but that means it has to do some deep thinking BEFORE it comes back to the public. It cannot wait until the starter’s gun is sounded to gain support from the public. This is where the advertising will begin; communicating who you are at the deep philosophical level in a way people can RELATE TO and REMEMBER in a polling booth!
Nothing that has been said here, in this intentionally short review, is meant to discourage the new party. On the contrary, it is meant to help. I unwaveringly support any initiative to provide a viable alternative to the existing political infrastructure. But given the bloated arrogance and know-it-all attitude in our society I fear that what we have said here may have fallen on deaf ears.
The author, Dr. Aldon D. Tull, is a retired Marketing and Business educator