Political marketing in the times of big data

In: Przegląd politologiczny: kwartalnik = Political science review, Heft 3, S. 34-44

Abstract

Academic considerations on the topic of political marketing very often boil down to discussing the political history of the 20th and 21st centuries, while failing to account for the significant changes in the range of instruments used to implement election strategies. However, the academic discussion about political marketing as an applied sub-discipline should take into account some mechanisms for accomplishing specified tasks. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to fill this gap and try to examine the influence of the tools based on big data on the broad picture of what we name marketing activities in the field of politics. We would like to present readers with our hypothesis that the profound changes in this area that were particularly noticeable in the election and referendum campaigns in 2016 may provide a premise to identify a new paradigm in the discussion on the use of marketing strategies in political communication. It would be based on the Internet combining the function of a communication channel and a source of data about voters. This information is next used for marketing purposes. It should be emphasized that this mechanism that has been used in the field of commercial activities for almost a decade, in the field of politics produces completely new and potentially dangerous consequences for citizens