Management summary Research study „How cyber political brands emerge: a socio-material analysis of the Italian Five Star movement and the Czech pirate party“
Although information technology has been at the centre of attention of political branding for some time, research has traditionally focused mainly on its role in the facilitation of communication. This paper aims to unpack the role of information technology in the emergence of new cyber political brands. This research uses a dual case study approach that focuses on the relationship between branding, politics and information technology. The analysis focuses on two successful political cyber brands: the Italian Five Star Movement and the Czech Pirate Party. Data collection covering the time frame between their emergence and their political success occurs through netnographic methods. The analysis allows for a delineation of three conceptual elements that characterize the constitutive interrelationship of information technology in the emergence of cyber political brands. The first conceptual element, organization, refers to how political brands become structured around linked activities. The second conceptual element, orientation, describes how the activities of a political brand are directed to build a specific path and legitimize courses of action. The third conceptual element, operation, delineates the processes that anchor and stabilize the political brands in its “own” culture, establishing specific base activities.
Target groups of stakeholders: brand managers, political marketers
Citation: Lucarelli, A., Fuschillo, G. and Chytkova, Z. (2020), “How cyber political brands emerge: a socio-material analysis of the Italian Five Star movement and the Czech pirate party”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print.