Qualitative projective techniques in political brand image research from the perspective of young adults

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aimed to focus on political marketing and utilised a number of projective techniques to explore the UK Conservative Party’s “brand image” amongst young adults aged 18-24 years. There is little guidance in the extant literature regarding projective technique analysis. Furthermore, there are explicit calls for insight and more understanding into the analytical process. Responding to this identified gap in the literature, this paper provides an illustrative guide that can be used to analyse and interpret findings generated from qualitative projective techniques. Design/methodology/approach – This paper opted for an exploratory study using focus group discussions, combined with qualitative projective techniques. Eight two-hour focus group discussions were conducted with 46 young citizens aged 18-24 years from three locations in England. Focus groups were conducted prior to the 2010 UK General Election. The data from the projective techniques were thematically analysed by the researcher. Findings – This research provides insight into the broad process used to analyse and interpret the qualitative projective expressions in relation to the UK Conservative Party’s brand image from the perspective of young adults. Furthermore, this paper highlights that projective techniques can provide an insight into underlying feelings and deep-seated attitudes towards political parties, candidates and the positive and negative aspects of brand image. Research limitations/implications – Several limitations became apparent at the end of this study. As this is a qualitative study, findings cannot be generalisable to the wider population. Additionally, it is important to note that the researcher had limited experience of conducting focus group discussions combined with projective techniques, and this can be considered a limitation. Nevertheless, the researcher did attend professional “effective depth interviewing” training delivered by the “Marketing Research Society” before data collection. This goes some way in addressing this limitation. Practical implications – This paper provides an illustrative guide and insight into the analytical process that can be used to analyse and interpret findings generated from qualitative projective techniques. This can be used by academics with little experience of projective techniques. Furthermore, this framework may be useful for practitioners such as marketers, political parties and candidates to explore and analyse the external image of other political brands. The elicitation ability of qualitative projective techniques facilitates greater expressive insight that may remain hidden if traditional direct data collection tools such as interviews and questionnaires are used. Social implications – This paper provides some understanding into how to analyse subjective meaning such as feelings, attitudes, perceptions and associations revealed through projective techniques. Furthermore, projective techniques can provide access to the private conscious and unconscious inner-world of the participant. They allow respondents to express themselves with greater detail and discussion compared with direct questioning. This research, therefore, presents greater insight in managing and analysing expressions generated from this non-intrusive approach that can encourage open disclosure with less hesitancy, verbally less demanding and suitable to overcome emotional, language and cultural barriers. Originality/value – This paper adds to the under-researched and undefined practice of analysing projective expressions by providing an illustrative process to interpret and understand insight generated from qualitative projective techniques. Thus, answers the explicit calls for detailed guidance in this area of research. This was achieved by critically reviewing and adapting the approaches taken by Boddy, 2005, Butler-Kisber, 2010 and Hofstede et al., 2007 and incorporating them into a pragmatic systematic framework. This research could be used as a foundation for future studies and a point of reference for people with limited knowledge of projective technique analysis.

Regarding realities: Using photo-based projective techniques to elicit normative and alternative discourses on gender, relationships, and sexuality in Mozambique

“…Our conclusions on PTs facilitating open participation, social details, and both conscious and subconscious attitudes squares with the experience of political marketing researchers recently employing qualitative PTs for attitudinal elicitation (Pich & Dean, 2015).…”

“…Researchers in marketing, agriculture, consumer research, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies re-appropriated visual projection as a study elicitation tool (Collier, 1967;Harper, 2002;Soley, 2006). Communication and marketing authors have highlighted PTs as an under-tapped resource for social-behavioural research (Pich & Dean, 2015;Soley, 2006;Wiehagen et al, 2007), because they provide an indirect method for eliciting attitudes, behavioural evaluations, motivations, perceived social norms, and personal experience without the invasiveness or social desirability bias of more direct methods (Curry, 1986;Donoghue, 2000;Regan & Liaschenko, 2008;Soley, 2010;Wiehagen et al, 2007).…”

Application of two projective techniques in the study of consumer perception of antiperspirant/deodorants

“…Companies that develop and market personal care products need to understand the attitudes of consumers toward the products to predict their purchasing behavior and thus offer products which may have a good chance of success. With this objective, projective techniques which involve subjecting individuals to a condition of free interpretation or ambiguous stimuli, can be applied so that the subject “projects” their feelings and unconscious motivations in their responses, thereby avoiding social, cultural, and personal barriers that can restrict the expression of their unconscious thoughts, feelings, or emotions (Kubacki & Siemieniako, ; Pich & Dean, ).…”

The Influence of Political Marketing Using Social Media on Trust, Loyalty and Voting Intention of the Youth of South Africa

“…For political parties and candidates, political marketing is done through communicating messages, and building image and credibility. It is about continuously influencing and encouraging the community to support a political party (Newman, 2012).Although the use of the marketing mix is highly advocated by various researchers such as Ediraras et al, 2013;Arofah and Nugrahajati ,2014;Okan, Topcu and Akyuz, 2014, other authors are of the view that the evolution of political marketing entails a holistic approach to marketing by focusing more on building solid and valuable voter relationships through the application of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) practices and principles, in order to build and maintain brand relationships with votersand other important stakeholders (Pich & Dean, 2015). Copley (2014:p445) defines integrated marketing communication (IMC) as "the cohesive mix of marketing communications activities, tools and techniques that deliver a coordinated and consistent message to target customers and consumers synergistically in order to achieve organisational goals".…”

“…This is based on the premise that voters and voting behaviour have changed and now, more than ever, voters cast their ballot based on political 'brands' and 'total brand identities' of the parties or political candidates. IMC focuses on building brands and brand relationships, which results in trust, loyalty and enhances the voting intention of the voter (Pich & Dean, 2015). Since IMC implies the application of a unified message across many media platforms to inform, remind, persuade and entertain existing and potential customers.…”