Political Marketing Communication of the Future Forward Party in Thailand General Election 2019

Abstract

This research aimed to examine the political marketing communication of the Future Forward Party (FFP) for online media in the general election 2019. This study was a qualitative research. The sample of this study was the Future Forward Party (FFP) obtained by purposive sampling. According to the Suan Dusit poll in 2018, this party gained the most of people's attention. The data collection of marketing communication was conducted from the online media of the Future Forward Party's website.

The research findings revealed that 1) Political Products included the party's candidates and policies. The research showed that 90% of the FFP candidates had no previous experiences in politics. In terms of policies based on political marketing, the FFP offered populist policies targeting voters with low income and aimed to amend the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand 2017. 2) Push Marketing Strategies of the FFP appeared in party members nationwide during the election launches and policy speeches. The FFP specifically applied event marketing in their election canvass. 3) Pull Marketing Strategies were conducted via two channels: mass media and online media. The FFP communicated with the voters by sending their candidates to participate in election debates on TV shows and campaign speeches, organized by various agencies to publicize the party's policies. However, the FFP mainly utilized the online media to directly communicate with the voters. 4) Polling of the party was conducted through focus groups to examine the detailed insights which involved procedures of policy development, survey frequency and research units. It was found that the FFP regularly surveyed their voters' needs by visiting the areas and having their own market research teams.