The Importance of Image when Developing a Powerful Political Brand

Abstract

A brand represents a name, a sign or a symbol that has the purpose of identifying goods (set to the disposal of customers) and to highlight them from the competitors. There are many similarities between the construction process of a brand in the commercial and political domain. The key elements of a succesfull brand, either commercial, personal or political, must fullfill the following qualities: to be authentic, to create an emotional bond between the brand and the customers or followers, to set well defined values and to be a step ahead other brands on the market. A political brand becomes powerful if it possesses good communication aptitudes with the electorate to expose the desired message. In the construction process of a brand, an essential role is the image, that needs to be a combination of qualities meant to put aside the other candidates. Popularity, prestige, authority and competence are key qualities to allure the attention and the interest of masses. The created image must be very closed to reality, so that the people don’t lose their confidence in the candidate. Nowadays, new media and technology play a very important role in the construction of political people presenting both advantages and disadvantages for them.