The Next Generation of ‘Trudeaumania’:
Rebranding the Liberal Party of Canada
08
Master’s Thesis
Graduate School of Communication
Master’s programme Communication Science-‐
Erasmus Mundus Master in Journalism, Media & Globalisation
Supervisor: Jonas Lefevere
Erika Thompson-‐
10586679
thompson.erika6@gmail.com
26-‐06-‐2014
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ...3
INTRODUCTION ...3
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...6
PERSONALIZATION & CELEBRITY EFFECT ...7
BRANDING ...14 MEDIA LOGIC ...17 METHODOLOGY ...19 RESULTS ...25 DISCUSSION ...35 REFERENCES ...40
ABSTRACT
This study is designed to examine the political marketing strategy of the Liberal Party of Canada in the wake of the recent election of Justin Trudeau as party leader. By addressing the themes of branding, personalization and media logic, this article seeks to explore the extent to which the Liberal Party utilizes strategies of personalization and celebrity in their interactions with the media as their main tactic to rebrand the party. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with political journalists and party officials and experts, findings show that Justin Trudeau proved to be the focal point of the Liberal Party and their communication strategy towards Canadians and the mass media. Additionally, the study found evidence to support the tactical construction of the Trudeau brand and exploitation of celebrity status by the Liberal Party, and their unyielding attempts at media management. The results are significant for future research in the field of Canadian political marketing, specifically in the lead up to a potentially revolutionary federal election in October 2015.
INTRODUCTION
Within the last decade, the Liberal Party of Canada has undergone an identity crisis and consequently, transformed from one of the strongest political parties in Canadian history to one riddled with uninspiring leadership and voter disillusionment. The once-strong Liberal Party has been in crisis: “After watching its performance at the polls spiral downward for years—losing seats, money, visibility and public interest—a change in trajectory was critical, not only to success, but to survival” (Anderson, 2014, theglobeandmail.com). It was vital that the party established a distance between various
outdated and stale leaders and brought in someone with a fresh new perspective, able to translate support into votes and funding.
The Liberal Party and its series of leaders have fallen on hard times in the past decades, failing to dominate the political marketplace and sinking into a third party position in 2011 for the first time in the history of Canadian politics. In a desperate longing for “the Trudeau heyday” (Marland, 2013, p. 1) the Canadian Liberal Party elected Justin Trudeau as leader of the party in April 2013. Trudeau has been a Member of Parliament since 2008, but has always garnered more publicity as the son of celebrated former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Overwhelming media coverage of young women fawning over Pierre Trudeau and his romances with popular culture celebrities
“contributed to the so-called Trudeaumania in the late 1960s” (ibid). Since this point in Canadian history, the Trudeau name is considered something of a mythical construct: “Trudeau was an outlier, a special case of a politician transfixing the media and capturing the imagination of romantic idealists. The enduring public memory is that he had a rare combination of style and brains” (ibid). This phenomenon has arguably been passed down to his son, Justin, as he aptly personifies and perpetuates the ‘Trudeau brand’. There was an obvious change in trajectory for the party in 2013, as Harper (2013) stated, “Justin Trudeau has shifted the Canadian political landscape” (thestar.ca). This trend has continued into 2014, as the Liberals hope to ride this new wave of ‘Trudeaumania’ right into the next federal election, taking place in 2015.
Based on this phenomenon, it is interesting to examine the Liberal Party’s use of Justin Trudeau as their ‘brand’ and attempt to analyze their perceived campaign
that becomes a public entity that is superficial, manipulated and open to interpretation” (Marland, 2013, p. 4). The design of strategic messages continuously promoted
throughout different channels establishes brand familiarity and molds a brand personality in Justin Trudeau. In this case, name recognition, personality and visual appeal combined with effective political communication fosters a sense of the Trudeau brand and the Liberal brand morphing into one entity. In addition, The Liberal Party strategy encompasses the concepts of personalization and celebrity effect in their political marketing approach. In this case, personalization can be seen as a process where the centrality of a political group declines while an individual actor becomes more present (Rahat & Sheafer, 2007). Through a heightened focus on an individual leader and a diminished focus on the party, the political process is transmitted to the public as a purely personal matter, leaving Trudeau at the helm of shaping the overall Liberal brand appeal. Additionally, personalization encompasses the trend of gaining access to the personal lives of politicians and providing citizens with an abundance of information that goes beyond the political world (Campus, 2010). This combines with the party’s obvious focus on the inherent celebrity factor of Justin Trudeau due to his father’s legacy and the
competitive advantage of immediate brand recognition. This high visibility status is fundamental in bringing attention to a cause and encouraging support and involvement from audiences (Biccum, 2011). All of the privileges that accompany celebrity status, such as wealth, prestige and connections, are valuable tools available for candidates and parties to exploit in their political strategy.
In contrast, it is also significant to investigate the extent to which this strategy is adopted in the mainstream media and how effective the Liberal Party message is being
communicated to journalists in Canada. The mass media, acting either as a critical or passive channel for information to Canadians is responsible for creating an image of Justin Trudeau as a leader. Media institutions, once considered autonomous from political institutions, are increasingly permeated by partisan interests (Moloney, 2000). The
outcome of this interchange is determined by the amount of intervention by the Liberal Party in manufacturing a specific, consumer-oriented message and strategically
communicating this in the mass media (Hopper, 2013).
With these concepts in mind, this paper seeks to answer the following research question: To what extent is the Canadian Liberal Party utilizing the strategies of personalization and celebrity in their interactions with the media as the main tactic to rebrand the party? This research sought to confirm a Liberal political marketing strategy exclusively tailored to the promotion of their leader, Justin Trudeau. This question will be explored through a series of semi-structured interviews with five Canadian political journalists and five officials and experts within the Liberal Party of Canada. It is expected that this message was carefully constructed and transmitted to the mass media, and later echoed by journalists as the dominant rhetoric in the Canadian public sphere surrounding the Liberal Party. Ultimately, this paper seeks to make conclusions about the political marketing strategy of the Liberal Party as it seeks to rebuild its reputation and status in the upcoming 2015 federal election.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The following theoretical framework will outline the key concepts addressed in this research project, based on previous literature in the political marketing and media fields of study. The topics of research can be divided into two overarching sections: first,
the examination of branding and personalization by political parties; and second, the subsequent media response to this type of strategic political communication.
This section begins with an examination of the personalization concept, which can be further broken down into the idea of celebrity effects. It discusses the tactic of
candidate-centred politics and individualizing politicians, where personality and image are substantially controlled. Also, there are links made to the idea of privatization and a movement towards a personal over political fascination. The celebrity effects concept can be conceptualized through detailing the inherent benefits of name recognition and status in politics, controlling and maintaining a particular appearance and the strategic
marketing of political parties towards voters and their patterns of decision-making. Successively, the concept of branding is deconstructed into aspects further elaborating on the idea of informational shortcuts for voters and market orientation. Branding includes fostering a sense of emotional brand attachment, building a sense of personality in politics and the presence of a political brand extension to build upon.
The final section addresses the concept of media logic by focusing on the trend for political parties to influence and set the public agenda of the media. Additionally, this speaks to the theory of spin and media management, which includes political parties feeding an appetite and filling a demand for particular types of content craved by the media and its audiences.
Personalization and Celebrity Effect
Van Aelst, Sheafer and Stanyar (2011) outline two explanations for the rise of candidate-centred politics. First, there is evidence of a weakening of traditionally strong ties between voters and political parties; and second, the relentless change of the media
environment through the growth of digital technology and access to information creates new channels for political information. Scholars, such as Kaase (1994) turn to television as an explanation for the fixation on political candidates, as “television, inherently averse to sophisticated explanations of complicated political matters, is bound to emphasize the outer appearance and performance of leaders above political competence and
effectiveness” (p. 213). The personalization of politics can be further reduced to the concept of individualization, as individual politicians become more central in news coverage while parties and governmental institutions become less relevant (Van Aelst, et al, 2011). Bennett (2012) attributes the increase of personalized politics to an era of social fragmentation and the decline of group loyalties where individual expression replaces collective action in the political realm. This is echoed by Bauman’s (2011) theory of the individualization of social life, premised on the idea that people tend to perceive
themselves and others first and almost exclusively as individuals versus representatives of a group or collective identity.
Similar to the lives of celebrities, politicians are tasked with constructing a public personality to appeal to constituents and it must be particularly crafted in order to make the politician appear unique, but remain ordinary and relatable in the eyes of voters (McKernan, 2011). The idea of candidate-centred politics, introduced by Wattenberg (1991), highlighted the major shift in voter attention from political parties and issues to specific political candidates and this trend was accompanied by a greater focus on personal characteristics over political ones. “The media’s ubiquitous focus on individual leaders—and on leaders as individuals—have in fact provided the public with the chance to judge them as persons” (Garzia, 2011a, p. 698). Campus (2010) characterizes the
personalization of politics in four ways: first, building an appealing image; second, establishing an emotional connection with voters; third, creating media events; and fourth, going personal. In order for the Liberal Party to construct an attractive leadership candidate, such as Justin Trudeau, the ideal profile should find a compromise between Trudeau’s personal characteristics and the image that the targeted voters seem to require. Another key feature of personalization in politics includes opening up to the public: “private lives have been increasingly perceived by the leaders themselves as a resource to be fruitfully exploited to construct a political identity” (Campus, 2010, p. 223).
The electorates of modern democracies, including Canada, have displayed a tendency of increasingly basing political decisions on personal reasons, such as beliefs, moral priorities, goals and expectations. Campbell et al. (2011) argue that citizens are able to infer electorally relevant information from candidate personalities and the “social profile of candidates should play a fundamental role in shaping partisan voting” (p. 43). Ultimately, a candidate’s image plays a central role in forming and anchoring
impressions and decisions and voters instinctively adopt these cognitive strategies to help make decisions on complex political issues (Caprara, 2007). In these cases, political parties and ideologies take a back seat as “politicians’ personality or the personal image they convey to the electorate can be even more important than their political platform” (Caprara, 2007, p. 156). Garzia (2011b, 2013) and Rahat and Sheafer (2007) reiterated this concept, as party leaders gain increasing importance at the expense of their own parties.
Based on this phenomenon, the perception of a leader’s personality by voters becomes the main determinant for selection during election time. The personality traits of
leaders are crucial indicators for organizing knowledge and guiding processes of leader perception for voters. Political leaders are constantly evaluated on the basis of categories, both political and apolitical, such as competence and integrity, and these conclusions “are at the core of the public’s idealized conception of a political leader” (Garzia, 2011a, p. 706). Caprara and Zimbardo (2004) argue that “we want to trust competent leaders, but we also want to like them personally, and this is easier when they are perceived as
essentially similar to us” (p. 590). At this stage, the emergence of professionals within the political consulting and marketing realms coalesce to generate a campaign focused on Trudeau as an individual, and all of the personal details about his life that could
potentially attract support. In the hopes of translating support for a candidate into votes for a political party, enormous campaign resources are invested into shaping images of politicians in a manner that appeals to the majority of the electorate, “and this is done in the expectation that a likeable image is what really matters to them” (Garzia, 2011a, p. 706). This concentration on the personal over the political has become a prevalent strategy for Canadian political parties, as evidenced by events such as “Justin
Unplugged”, a women-only event consisting of cocktails and casual conversation with the Liberal leader in November 2013. For the Liberal Party, the next step is the attempt to translate these tactics into a coherent message for the media, and subsequently voters, to absorb. The expectation in this research is that the Canadian Liberals will strategically focus their efforts on framing Justin Trudeau versus the party as a whole, particularly emphasizing personal and non-political aspects of his life.
In terms of framing a political campaign, there is an emphasis on the attributes of candidates in the news, which raises the importance of considering how people think
about people and issues (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007). Biccum (2011) argues for the expansion of celebrities moving from the realm of entertainment into disciplines such as politics, while Inthorn and Street (2011) view the merging of celebrity and politics as an established element of democratic political culture and Van Zoonen (2006) examines the “convergence of personal and political life into a hybrid political persona” (p. 299). Celebrity politics refers “to the movement of famous people into politics, the treatment of politicians as celebrities and the public interactions between celebrities and politicians” (Marland, 2013, p. 3). Farrell (2012) outlines two distinct types of celebrity politicians. The first classification, the “elected politician who uses the forms and associations of the celebrity to enhance their image and communicate their message” (p. 393), can be applied to Justin Trudeau. The second type refers to an individual with celebrity status who pronounces on politics, but does so without the intention of seeking or acquiring elected office (Farrell, 2012).
People organize information about the behaviours of others in a unique way – one that focuses on traits and social judgments about people rather than on discrete behaviors, while information about issues is likely to be retained in a different fashion – one that relies more squarely in the retention of facts about problems and solutions (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007). This theory is based on the concept of spontaneous trait inferences by Uleman, Newman and Moskowitz (1989), which are “said to occur when attending to another person’s behavior produces a trait inference in the absence of our explicit intention to infer traits or form an impression of that person” (p. 211). These require an individual to combine information about behaviours while constructing meaning. Using this theory to apply to the Trudeau case, the personality traits and attributes of candidates
force voters to make these inferences about Justin Trudeau as a leader and as a person. Due arguably to star power, Justin Trudeau and, by extension, the Liberal Party, have perpetuated a charismatic and appealing image for engagement with potential voters. Consequently, this information may translate more effortlessly to Canadians when casting their vote.
Heavy media presence and cultural fascination with the lives of celebrities may cause people to believe they know a celebrity, fostering a sense of intimacy that could translate to an advantage to someone in a political race (Zwarun & Torrey, 2011). When considering the concept of celebrity, it can be assumed that “celebrity simply involved the construction of a public personality” (McKernan, 2011, p. 192) rather than stemming from a genuine or well-deserved achievement. As the son of legendary Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Justin Trudeau reaps the benefits of the name recognition and family status that preceded his political career. “Individuals reflexively draw on mediated symbolic forms—such as images of celebrity—in order to fashion their day-to-day lives, their conceptions of their own selves, understandings of others, and their broader relation to the social and political world” (Elliott, 1998, p. 835). Street (2004; 2012) supports the premise that appearance has a relevant place in the relationship between representative and represented: “The vote is understood as allowing the voter to identify with politicians and to seek out what they (the voters) find politically attractive” (2004, p. 443). Within the phenomenon of celebrity politics, political leaders “appear on the platforms of
entertainment, sports, music and other pop cultural venues where dress and looks are key measurements of success” (Van Zoonen, 2006, p. 297).
According to the Petty and Cacioppo (1986) Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), people have a limited capacity for information and simply cannot engage in highly involved decision-making. If their ability and motivation to process information are high, these individuals may carefully evaluate the quality of a message (central processing), but much of the time, people act as “cognitive misers” by engaging in peripheral processing, meaning they tend to rely on superficial cues in the persuasion content that can affect their attitudes without requiring processing of message arguments (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986). Politicians and party strategists must be cognizant of this concept when propagating a candidate’s image to voters. It is possible that celebrity status functions as a peripheral cue in political decision-making in the same way that brands serve as cues to purchasing decisions. In this case, when voters are faced with a recognizable and prominent figure as a candidate in a race, fame would emerge as a salient detail, enabling those low in ability or motivation to quickly judge the candidates, rather than making an effort to centrally process information by conducting research on issue positions (Zwarun & Torrey, 2011). “Politicians carefully construct elaborate performances, striking a balance between being both different from and similar to the public” (McKernan, 2011, p. 193). Trudeau exemplified his status as a performer by participating in events such as a charity boxing match against a Conservative senator in March 2012 and a striptease in 2011 during a gala raising money for liver disease. Ultimately, “it is the symbolic power of the celebrity advertisement that matters”
(Alexander, 2010, p. 414). If celebrity status functions in this way, this suggests that the quality of information provided about the candidate is less important than the candidate himself. One can hypothesize that the Liberal Party will attempt to tap into Trudeau’s
inherent star power and resources during the next election campaign in order to perpetuate a party identity and brand that will consequently translate into votes and support.
Branding
The concept of branding, typically seen in the marketing, image management and public relations universe, can often apply to politics, manifested by way of individual political parties or politicians. Brands are regarded as “an unmistakable image of a product or service in the psyche of consumers, which, on the basis of psychological value-added, is of behavioral relevance” (Schneider, 2004, p. 43-44). From the “seller” perspective—in this case, the Liberal Party—the appeal and relevance of political brands is the provision of informational shortcuts to voters. Brands serve voters timesaving information in the context of political decision-making and are most effective when they combine optimal consumer perceptions with a large differentiation from the products of other competitors (Schneider, 2004). This argument ties into the Elaboration Likelihood Model outlined above, reinforcing the idea that voters respond to informational shortcuts or cues in their decision-making. Branding seeks to add value to a product with the goal of attracting consumer preference and emotional attachment for that choice, instead of the alternatives (Marland, 2013).
The Liberal Party is tasked with political brand management and delivering a strategy that will best appeal to consumers. Reeves, et al. (2006) argue that political parties and their communication teams are moving towards a system of market
orientation, in terms of strategically developing policies that meet the exact needs of the electorate at the time, while presenting party leaders as the optimal brand image. Further
reinforced by Scammell (2007) and Smith and Speed (2011), there has been a movement in political campaigning from a mass-media centred system of agenda setting and heavy advertising budgets towards a consumer model of political communication, targeting markets directly. This trend sees politicians using commercial branding techniques to make “emotional, rather than rational or factual, appeals to the public in an effort to drown out competing political messages” (Warner, 2007, p. 20). The cultivation of this relationship between parties and leaders and the electorate appears to be the pervasive approach of political marketers in the politics of late modernity. The Liberal Party is aware that Trudeau’s lineage attracts attention and nostalgia and “Justin’s brand identity as an inspiring champion…draws in fans eager to shake his hand” (Marland, 2013, p. 11). It is apparent that tapping into the consumer model of political communication and establishing an emotional brand attachment to Trudeau may be key to the Liberal Party strategy.
This thesis examines Justin Trudeau as a candidate brand, meaning that Canadian citizens form a public image of the political leader through the sum of all
communications impressions (Marland, 2013) and a filtering of this information (Smith, 2009). As discussed earlier, the Liberal Party has employed a periodic strategy of rebranding “in order to improve their public image, reputation, competitive positioning and emotional connection with electors” (Marland & Flanagan, 2013, p. 951). Creating a brand personality, a set of human characteristics linked with a brand (Aaker, 1997; Smith, 2009), acts as a stimulus for consumers “producing spreading activation from memory to other political associations…any association when stimulated has the potential to activate other brand nodes that are stored in memory” (French & Smith, 2010, p. 462). In this
case, associations and assumptions are made intuitively about leaders and parties based on the strength of the brand equity. “Politicians who are strongly in the public eye, certainly do have brand status. They have high familiarity, and there is a clear and
differentiated knowledge structure about them in the minds of citizens” (Schneider, 2004, p. 46).
Additionally, Marland (2013) examines the concept of political brand extension, referring to a candidate who “literally has political offspring” (p. 5). It has the inherent potential to capitalize on an existing societal demand and a greater willingness to accept the new product, whilst simultaneously revitalizing the core brand to enter new markets and gauge brand loyalty (Marland, 2013). As the son of famed former Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, Justin Trudeau can be marketed as a line extension of his father’s brand. Journalists also seem to recognize this: “In stark business terms, his familiar features and name can tap into existing market demand and promote a greater willingness among consumers to try the new product” (Hopper, 2013). The difficulty in this context is perpetuating a consistent, yet revitalized message that embodies both the spirit
exemplified by the Pierre Trudeau Liberals of the past and the hopes of renewal by the Justin Trudeau Liberals in contemporary politics—in a time where politics are
increasingly characterized by empowered consumer citizens that have grand expectations from particular political brands (Marsh & Fawcett, 2011). The expectation throughout the research process is that the Liberal Party seeks to associate the party with and embody the Trudeau brand and all of the positive connotations, emotions and nostalgia that
Media Logic
Political parties exhaust countless resources, such as time, money and personnel, into communicating a specific and controlled message to the public through the channel of the mass media. “It is well-established that the media constitute the most important source of political information and channel of communication between the governors and the governed” (Strömbäck & Shehata, 2010, p. 576). There are vigorous attempts to influence the public agenda and politicians constantly incorporate strategic tactics and insights into their communication at routine points in time (Walgrave & Van Aelst, 2006). The concept of media logic encompasses “the news values and the storytelling techniques the media make use of to take advantage of their own medium and its format, and to be competitive in the ongoing struggle to capture people’s attention” (Strömbäck, 2008, p. 233). This is combatted with the idea of political logic, where the needs of the political system and institutions are central and play a major role in how political communication is covered, operated and understood (Strömbäck, 2008). As mass media become decreasingly autonomous from the political realm, there is an encroachment of political actors on the control of media output. Through tactics such as placing leaders more strongly at the forefront, there is a suggestion that political parties have
“internalized the logic of the media and try to use it to their advantage” (Takens, van Atteveldt, van Hoof & Kleinnijenhuis, 2013, p. 290).
This phenomenon suggests the agenda-setting power of the media by political parties, where “gaining momentum means dominating the news agenda, entering the news cycle at the earliest possible time and repeatedly re-entering it, with stories and initiatives that ensure that subsequent news coverage is set on your terms” (Andrews, 2006, p. 38). Gaber (2000) reiterates that the main objective of politicians is to set the
political news agenda and in doing so, “they seek to leave as little as possible to chance” (p. 511). The concept of spin has made the transition into a word that encompasses all communication by government and political parties (Andrews, 2006). Spin can be characterized as an attempt to exert the greatest amount of control through the highly professional act of selling particular political messages and involving the maximum amount of media management and manipulation (Grattan, 1998). The Liberal Party is adamant in their strategy of building up a personality in the form of Justin Trudeau and competes with Canadian media to set the news agenda. This is performed through consistent exposure to the media, drawing attention to events and speaking engagements and briefing journalists on a regular basis. “Spinning is, above all, associated with the persuasive management of journalists to secure favourable media coverage” (Moloney, 2000, p. 129). This study attempts to determine whether the Liberal Party was successful in its attempts to effectively promote and ‘sell’ leader Justin Trudeau to the Canadian media.
Strömbäck (2008) describes politics as ‘mediated’ in circumstances where the mass media are the main channels of political communication. Media straddles the line of maintaining independence as an institution, while increasingly integrating into the
operations of social and political organizations (Strömbäck & Dimitrova, 2011). What Mazzoleni and Schulz (1999) believe is a “symbiotic relationship” (p. 252) between politics and mass media is later countered by Newton (2006), stating the generally weak force by mass media on politics and government. This is due to a mediated and
conditioned impact by a variety of more powerful sources on any attempts to exercise direct and independent influence on aspects of political life (Newton, 2006). The powers
of the mass media are weak because “they are often diluted, deflected or even destroyed by more powerful influences that mediate the media by intervening between them and their effects on wider society” (Newton, 2006, p. 225).
In line with the old saying, “give an inch and take a mile,” political institutions and actors will take advantage, without hesitation, of the opportunities and platforms to manipulate the mass media. This is evidenced in the trend of modern western media outlets focusing on personalization as an important storytelling technique and
consequently, political actors work to provide telegenic events in order to successfully gain attention (Meyen, Thieroff & Strenger, 2014). As previously demonstrated,
personalization and candidate-centred politics have increasingly dominated the stage and the media presentation of politics is increasingly a discourse about celebrity (Andrews, 2006). Political parties, aware of the media’s appetite for particularly appealing content, are complicit in their delivery. Marland (2013) finds that celebrity treatment of a
politician by the media “can increase public interest in politics, particularly among disenchanted and non-voters” (p. 13). The Liberals have constructed an image of Justin Trudeau—one that is essentially an imagined reality. In this aspect of the research, it is important to ask the question: To what extent to do journalists focus on Justin Trudeau in their coverage of the Liberal Party?
METHODOLOGY Research Method
In order to appropriately address the research question and hypothesis, qualitative research allows for a sufficient process in which theory and categorization emerge out of the collection and analysis of data. This method is applicable in this context, as findings
can be sufficiently drawn through interpretation, thorough argumentation and connection to data. The single case study of the Liberal Party and leadership of Justin Trudeau represents a detailed and intensive analysis of a single case. In this case, the conclusions drawn from this study can be valuable for a theoretical base of political marketing and campaigns in the future. In-depth interviews were favoured over other qualitative alternative methods because the emphasis centres around “how the interviewee frames and understands issues and events—that is, what the interviewee views as important in explaining and understanding events, patterns and forms of behavior” (Bryman, 2012, p. 471). The use of other qualitative methods, such as content analysis and focus groups, would not have yielded the same detailed, informed and honest responses from expert subjects required to effectively address the research question. Additionally, the flexibility of interviewing respondents allows for expansion on unclear or interesting responses, which ultimately yields clearer and more thought-provoking results (ibid).
Sample
The empirical data was supplied by in-depth interviews, both face-to-face and on Skype, depending on the location and accessibility of the respondent. Five interviews were conducted with Canadian political journalists (N=5), working for five different news outlets across the country, varied in political ideologies on the Canadian political spectrum, and working in different media: (R1) The Toronto Star, a liberal-leaning national daily newspaper (Martin, 2010); (R2) the Canadian Press, a national news agency; (R3) the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), the Canadian public broadcaster; (R4) the National Post, a conservative-leaning national daily newspaper (Martin, 2010); and (R5) iPolitics, an exclusively online political news outlet. These
various media organizations were selected for their sound reputations, and large
circulation and variety, in terms of political ideology and medium. Careful consideration was made to ensure an appropriate representation of journalistic interests in Canada and to best characterize the Canadian media landscape as a whole.
In addition, five interviews were conducted with partisan officials and experts connected to the Liberal Party of Canada (N=5), working in differing roles and with varying levels of experience and party knowledge: (R6) a lifelong member of the Liberal Party of Canada; (R7) a representative from the Ontario Young Liberals; (R8) an
experienced Liberal Party academic; (R9) a president of a local Liberal riding; and (R10) a popular, established Liberal blogger and curator of the national Liberal blogging organization, Liblogs. In this case, it was essential to interview sources that had diverse, yet expert, perspectives from within the party to establish credibility in their responses. The demographics of the respondents in both categories were carefully considered in the selection process, with an attempt to balance gender, age and experience, which ranged from recent graduate to veterans in the business. This was conducted to satisfy external validity, “a concern with the question of whether the results of a study can be generalized beyond the specific research context in which it was conducted” (Bryman, 2012, p. 711).
The key aspect to this study was the comparison of accounts between external sources, in the form of journalists, and internal sources within the Liberal Party. Therefore, the data findings yield results conducive to proving the research question surrounding the extent to which the Canadian Liberal Party utilizes strategies such as personalization and celebrity in their interactions with the media as the main tactic to rebrand the party.
The method of semi-structured interviewing consists of a researcher with a list of questions or fairly specific topics to cover, detailed in an interview guide (Appendix 1). The goal of each interview was to allow respondents the opportunity to engage with the concepts, branding; personalization; celebrity effect; and media logic, and use guiding questions as a springboard for innovative discussion, anecdotes and personal opinion. The semi-structured interview format allowed for this flexibility and the acquisition of valuable data from highly intelligent and experienced individuals in the Canadian
political sphere. In addition, the guarantee of anonymity and confidentiality was decided upon in order to motivate subjects to speak more candidly and honestly about the subject. However, it must be considered that for various reasons including social acceptability, loyalty or personal anxieties, respondents may not have been completely truthful in the answering of all questions.
The complete interview process spanned the course of one month, in both face-to-face and Skype formats. Each respondent was introduced to the research topic prior to the interview, presented an ethical fact sheet and asked to sign an ethical consent form
(Appendix 3). The interview began with a debriefing of each respondent, detailing the purpose of the research and their rights to refuse response or participation at any point throughout the course of the interview. The duration of each interview lasted between thirty minutes and one hour. The respondents were asked to be detailed and inclusive in their answers and given the freedom to speak off-topic about particular issues they believed to be relevant and worthwhile for the purpose of this research. The complete list of research participants and their respective credentials can be found in Appendix 2.
The interview was grouped into four sections, according to the three main concepts relevant to answering the research question, as well as thoroughly outlined in the theoretical framework. Concepts give a very general sense of what to look for and act as a means for uncovering the variety of forms that a phenomenon can assume (Bryman, 2012). In this case, the concepts of branding; personalization; celebrity effect; and media logic will be addressed throughout the interview process in order to prove their presence within the Liberal Party’s marketing strategy and the transmission of this strategy to the mainstream media. “In order to provide a measure of a concept, it is necessary to have an indicator or indicators that will stand for the concept” (Bryman, 2012, p. 164). The following questions act as example indicators for the aforementioned concepts.
First, the respondent addressed the concept of branding in the Liberal Party through questions such as, “When you think of the Liberal Party brand, what comes to mind?” This sought to gain insight about the effectiveness of the Liberal brand and associations of Trudeau as a party brand and brand personality. Second, the respondent progressed to personalization, answering questions such as, “How would you describe Justin Trudeau as a person and as a leader?” In this section, the inquiries pursued
responses surrounding the promotion of candidate-centred politics and the personal life of the Liberal leader. Connected to this, the respondent answered questions about celebrity effects, such as “Why is he more accessible and appealing than other candidates to Canadian voters?” By making associations to Trudeau’s fame and status, it was expected that answers would confirm or deny the exploitation of these characteristics by the party and prove the genuine prevalence of this celebrity narrative. Finally, the respondents switched focus onto the aspect of media logic, the communication between the party and
the media and how effective the messages were conveyed, through questions such as “How much does the Liberal Party push Trudeau and the Trudeau brand in their
communications to the media?” It is important to note that some questions in this section were exclusively applicable, and therefore only posed, to those classified as journalists.
The satisfaction of external validity was previously discussed above.
Additionally, particular measures were taken to ensure internal validity, “a concern with the question of whether a finding that incorporates a causal relationship between two or more variables is sound” (Bryman, 2012, p. 712). Throughout the interview process, the respondents were given the same debriefing and given equal opportunities for
clarification, expansion and discussion. Furthermore, the satisfactory response to each question outlined on the interview guide was ensured before the conclusion of the interview. This verified that the same basic questions and chances to respond were given equally to all respondents.
Analysis
The analytical processing of results was derived from guidelines for analysis from methodological literature on qualitative analysis (Bryman, 2012). It is widely known that “qualitative research rapidly generates a large, cumbersome database because of its reliance on prose in the form of field notes, interview transcripts or documents” (Bryman, 2012, p. 564). The primary step taken in the grounded theory approach was a process of open coding, which Bryman (2012, p. 569) defines as “the process of breaking down, examining, comparing, conceptualizing and categorizing data” (as cited in Strauss and Corbin, 1990, p. 61). In the initial stages, the components of interview transcriptions that appeared to be of potential theoretical significance were labeled. Since the data, being
treated as potential conceptual indicators, were constantly compared, this phase tended to be consistently fluid and subject to revision. At this point, the interview transcriptions were reviewed multiple times and initial impressions and summaries were recorded. By focusing on identifying what was being investigated and keeping the research question in mind, information was subsequently categorized and coded by identifying observable themes or patterns and organizing data into coherent categories.
Following open coding was the process of selective coding, defined by Bryman (2012, p. 569) as “the procedure of selecting the core category, systematically relating it to other categories, validating those relationships, and filling in categories that need further refinement and development” (as cited in Strauss & Corbin, 1990, p. 116). The idea of focused coding “entails emphasizing the most common codes and those that are seen as most revealing about the data” (Bryman, 2012, p. 569). At this point, the
categorized data were analyzed for relationships to build larger theoretical ideas. Finally, the data were interpreted by attaching meaning to significant findings and connecting these back to the theoretical framework to discuss and draw final conclusions. In
addition, significant and focused quotations from interview transcriptions were identified within the research to exemplify particular findings and illustrate arguments.
RESULTS
Upon completion of the interviews, the results can be grouped under the three main concepts outlined above. These can be further broken down into key findings within each conceptual framework, which serve to reinforce and strengthen the evidence in existing literature. Inventories of responses were made separately for each of the main categories and this forms the basis for the report of findings below.
Branding
Respondents had generally mixed feelings towards blatantly linking Justin Trudeau with the Liberal brand. For older respondents, it appeared that the Liberal brand drew associations to the party in past decades, reciting old Liberal values such as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, multiculturalism and nationalism. Interestingly, these ideals can be exclusively attributed to the Pierre Trudeau platform, as he was responsible for the entrenchment of these ideals in the Canadian Constitution in 1982. For younger respondents, the question of a Liberal brand was automatically conceptualized as Justin Trudeau himself: “Right now it’s really him… before that it was Trudeau, just a different Trudeau” (R10). In this case, Justin Trudeau is marketed as an extension of the Trudeau brand. This finding ties in with the theory of political brand extension, capitalizing on an existing societal demand and ability to enter new markets with ease of acceptance. In this section, journalists were much quicker to automatically associate the Liberal brand with Justin Trudeau, while officials concentrated more on drawing attention to “values like pan-Canadian strength, the colour red and nationalism” (R6).
Old as New Again. The trend among respondents was to address the existence of an
obvious attempt of strategic rebranding by the Liberal Party. As previously discussed, the party’s intentions of forging a new brand is key to improving their image, reputation and position among the leading parties in the Canadian political system. While trying to differentiate from the previous brand in some ways, findings concluded that the party required rebuilding and reconstituting:
Under Trudeau, what they’ve tried to do is say to their own supporters and to Canadians in the larger population that the party needs to go back to the drawing board and recast itself as something different and something new. In other words, to rebuild the party’s brand from the ground up (R4).
The party is seeking the mass, pan-Canadian support once achieved in the former
Trudeau era. There was a general consensus reached among respondents that the Liberal Party was obviously placing a great deal of responsibility and confidence in their leader: “Anything they are doing to turn the party around is all invested in Justin” (R1). R8 addressed the narrative of hope and optimism that currently runs through the discourse of Trudeau and the Liberal Party.
The Trudeau brand. In many ways, the reliance placed in Justin Trudeau by the Liberal
Party demonstrates their willingness to embrace the connection between the party and the Trudeau brand. In a majority of the interviews, Trudeau was the automatic response of participants when asked to describe their feelings toward the Liberal brand: “Justin Trudeau is the liberal brand. I don’t think anyone really thinks anything more in terms of policy or beyond the leader. This is an incredibly leader-driven campaign they’re
running” (R1). Linking findings to theory, this suggests that the Elaboration Likelihood Model can be employed in this case, as the Liberals rely on the Trudeau brand, rather than policy, to provide informational shortcuts to voters: “If you look at his experience, he shouldn’t be party leader right now. It shows how desperate the party was, but at the same time how much faith they put into him” (R7). In this way, Canadians are more likely to develop an emotional attachment to the brand. Surprisingly, respondents
believed that, for the most part, policy considerations did not seem to play a factor in the minds of voters when reflecting on Justin Trudeau, despite the rich historical links that the name is expected to invoke. These results indicate proof of the expectation that the Liberal Party seeks to create an association between the party and the Trudeau brand.
Personalization
Without hesitation, respondents were able to list a series of qualities about the Liberal leader and his personality, yet describing the Liberals as a whole was difficult among both journalists and even party officials. It became obvious that the Liberal Party is taking advantage of Trudeau’s natural ability to engage with Canadians and do so more effectively than the alternative political leaders. Throughout the series of interviews, common descriptions of Justin Trudeau include: “charismatic”, “gregarious”, “friendly” and “good-looking”. In most cases, the reviews of Trudeau’s personality were glowing and rarely did respondents have negative associations with the leader as an individual. Most assumed that Trudeau was capable of carrying himself in public without the manipulation or molding by party officials, but it was acknowledged that the party was instrumental in coaching and encouraging this image to a certain extent: “There are obviously people working on the image and crafting the image…there’s very much a team behind him that’s working on this and they are very much a central sort of
influence” (R3). When addressing the concepts of personalization and celebrity effects, both sets of respondents were agreed in their recognition of Justin Trudeau and his propelling into the spotlight. Where results differed amongst the two groups, journalists were more critical in their evaluation of Trudeau’s personal versus political
qualifications, while officials were more glowing in their reviews and endorsements of the Liberal leader.
The connection. One almost unanimous finding was the ability of Justin Trudeau to
engage and connect with Canadians. In association with the theory of candidate-centred politics and individualization (Van Aelst, et al., 2011), the Liberal Party places Trudeau
at the forefront of their campaign with the assurance that his personality will attract more voters than any form of tactical speechwriting or policy development: “Trudeau likes meeting people, he likes being out there. He likes taking pictures with people, working crowds, kissing babies, shaking hands. He loves to do that stuff” (R4). A similar message is reiterated often among respondents:
He does have this knack for drawing crowds that they’re marketing. People want to meet him and people want to talk to him and shake his hand and be in the same room as him, which is rare for a Canadian politician (R1).
This falls in line with a concept known as presidentialization, which is understood as a strong candidate-centred attitude within a campaign and the fundamental impact of top candidates on the decision of voters (Helms, 2013). Similarly, it can be seen in the findings that the Liberals are taking a back seat in favour of promoting their main candidate. Respondents acknowledged Trudeau’s natural ability to connect and consequently, the strategic management of this reality by the Liberal Party: “They’ve made a tactical decision to get him out to riding after riding to meet the voters and go where the voters are. That’s where he’s accessible” (R1). This falls into line with the expectation that the Liberals would strategically focus on framing Justin Trudeau versus the party as a whole.
Justin Trudeau versus Stephen Harper. The main reason that Trudeau is effectively
garnering support is the representation and embodiment of change, in comparison to current Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. As outlined in the literature, a candidate’s image is central in forming impressions, as voters instinctively use cognitive strategies to decide on difficult political issues. In this way, the Liberal Party is strategic in placing Trudeau centre stage and forcing voters to make decisions based on leaders
instead of parties and platforms. “They want to present him as often as they can because they know he presents an engaging portrait” (R4). A number of respondents addressed the obvious personality differences between the two leaders and the natural tendency of Canadians to identify with a more personable leader with the promise of bringing change to the country: “They’re trying to make him more appealing and more engaging because the Liberals want strategically to offer him as an alternative to Stephen Harper” (R4). In a number of interviews, the discussions lead to the notion of fatigue with the incumbent government:
They have positioned him as an antithesis to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is known by the media to be standoffish and mercurial—a control freak running a tight ship in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Conservative Party caucus (R6). Trudeau also has the benefit of campaigning in a time when his messages of optimism are powerfully resonating with Canadians:
When you’re in opposition, you represent anything to everybody. You represent hope, you represent change, you represent goodness and positivity. Once you get in power, you have to start making difficult decisions and upsetting people. People start looking at you as power-hungry, as someone who’s pushing an agenda…what happens is it’s very hard to sustain that image (R8).
The general consensus among participants was that Trudeau effectively represented this message of change, which was inevitably associated with the Liberal Party as a whole. However, it is interesting to note that a majority of journalist respondents believed that Trudeau is not immune from the potentially damaging effects that afflict leaders in power: “Likeability is very hard for politicians to maintain once they are in power” (R5).
What’s in a name? In each interview, respondents were asked to identify how much of
Justin Trudeau’s popularity and celebrity he owes to his father. Each respondent was explicit in expressing that name recognition and the inheritance of an established brand
was a fundamental aspect of his success among Canadians: “Name recognition means a lot in politics…everyone knows the name from his father. It’s a powerful name in
Canadian history and politics” (R1). Not all individuals went as far as to classify Trudeau as a Canadian celebrity, but almost all acknowledged the advantage of being well-known compared to other Canadian politicians:
As a political person, he’s much better known than most politicians…and that gives him a clear advantage in the sense that people have this notion when they hear his name. There’s a certain familiarity when hearing his name that I think other politicians would envy (R9).
As reiterated in the theoretical framework, the idea of celebrity generally benefits those in politics, in spite of any genuine or deserved accomplishments: “Trudeau doesn’t need to ‘introduce’ himself to Canadians in the traditional sense, his celebrity is unique in this regard” (R10). Although his name is almost universally recognized across the country, Trudeau is given credit with maintaining the spotlight on his own accord and attempting to create his own legacy, separate from his father. In the interview, R4 told a relevant anecdote to emphasize Trudeau’s attempts to move beyond the name into substance by participating in the charity boxing event in March 2012:
He presented that as simply a bit of fun for charity, but in fact there was a very calculated political intent behind doing that. The boxing match was a way for him to visually and concretely show that he could literally duke it out in the ring on his own with no help from his inheritance…The political effect of it was pretty
powerful: immediately people started thinking of him as somebody who was more than just a pretty face who might actually have the spine to succeed in politics (R4).
This demonstrates the deliberate decision-making and management of Justin Trudeau by the Liberal Party and their attempts to shape his image in the public eye. In this case, the celebrity effect is magnified when it serves Trudeau well and tempered when attempting to set an intended political tone. Additionally, the participation in extra-political events
such as this exhibits a connection to the theory of personalizing politics and the fascination with the personal over the political in the lives of politicians.
More than just a pretty face. Many respondents were candid in their evaluation of
Justin Trudeau’s appearance and the advantages reaped from this reality. Interestingly, the findings demonstrated that journalists were more willing to address the topic of appearance than officials within the party. This could be explained by an unwillingness to admit to the exploitation of superficial qualities in a political campaign. However, those individuals who addressed this topic reinforced the inherent importance of visuals in politics:
He comes across as a young, energetic person. There is a generational shift that is quite apparent and that helps him. It particularly helps him visually, in front of the cameras. He’s young. He’s good looking. He has this big, bright smile. You cannot discount the visuals in politics (R10).
The relation between appearance and political success was previously outlined in theory, stating that appearance is relevant in the relationship between the representative and the represented, and looks are key determinants and measurements of success within the phenomenon of celebrity politics. The participation of Justin Trudeau in events such as charity strip teases and women-only, intimate cocktail parties play into this sensation and clearly emphasize the Liberal Party’s acquiescence in essentially selling Trudeau to the voters. These examples also fall into line with the concept of privatization and the increasing tendency of private lives to be exploited for the purpose of the construction of a political identity. The results in this section coincide with the expectation that the Liberals would tap into Trudeau’s inherent star power and resources in an attempt to increase party support.
Media Logic
The media section of the research was primarily directed towards the journalist respondents, as they are considered most knowledgeable about the communication between the Liberal Party and the Canadian mass media. It was interesting to note the differences between individuals from various media outlets, in terms of accessibility and general attitudes towards Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party. Not surprisingly, the Liberal Party proved to be more communicative, open and accessible to more liberal-leaning media institutions, such as the Toronto Star and the CBC, compared to the conservative-leaning media institutions, such as Postmedia. In terms of journalistic perceptions of the party, all respondents spoke favourably about Trudeau as a person and as a leader, but some individuals stressed the necessity of being critical towards messages communicated by the Liberal Party.
Controlling the media. As outlined in the theoretical framework, a fundamental aspect
of modern media is an aversion to complicated explanations of political matters and the tendency to concentrate on more trivial aspects of politics and leaders.
What they’re doing is quite clearly selling Justin as a phenomenon as long as they can and holding back on putting policy out there for as long as they can. I think the lustre goes off the celebrity when he’s out there defending policy (R1). To further emphasize the Elaboration Likelihood Model, it is noteworthy that journalists are aware of this strategy perpetuated by the Liberals, yet this information does not seem to translate to the general public in the same manner. A clear finding, in line with the concept of agenda setting, is the relentless attempts of the Liberals to influence the public agenda and incorporate strategic political marketing in their interactions with the media. Whenever possible, unflattering or damaging information is hid from media outlets and
replaced with stories creatively spun to weave a positive narrative of Justin Trudeau. Many journalists confirmed that the often “flippant” nature of the Liberal leader has led to many political gaffes and consequently, Trudeau is carefully managed in his
interactions with the media: “I think it’s a strategy so that he doesn’t get himself in trouble by answering too many questions” (R2). Instead, the focus of most political communication on behalf of the Liberal Party is the positive promotion of Trudeau’s personality: “What the media does is enhances things…everything on television is magnified. My instinct is to say, the image we have of Justin Trudeau—there’s a kernel of truth there—but beyond what is probably real” (R8). The trend of today’s media outlets is the focus on personalization as a storytelling technique and cognizant of this fact, the Liberal Party works to provide these telegenic events and opportunities to place Justin Trudeau in the limelight.
There is such thing as bad press. One of the most interesting findings throughout the
interview process was the discovery that the Liberal Party was resolute in their attempts to reverse negative media coverage. Respondents addressed the resistance from the party on media outlets that covered Justin Trudeau or the Liberals unfavourably: “There seems to be more pushback from the Liberals on what’s written about them…if the media doesn’t write glowing pieces on Justin Trudeau” (R1). For example, this respondent noted that there were a number of complaints from senior political commentators addressing the Liberal Party’s inability to take criticism about their leader. These results can be linked into the concept of spinning and exhaustive efforts to exert the greatest amount of control over political messages and secure favourable coverage, which involves as much media management as possible: “Everything is manufactured and
everything we see is selected. You hear certain things and you don’t hear others” (R8). The journalists interviewed were adamant in their message that all official statements, from either the Liberals or Justin Trudeau, were carefully manufactured and
communicated with a purpose.
DISCUSSION
The aim of the thesis was to investigate the extent to which the Canadian Liberal Party uses the strategies of personalization and celebrity in their interactions with the media as the main tactic to rebrand the party. Through a series of interviews with both journalists and party officials, leader Justin Trudeau was thoroughly examined and proved to be the focal point of the Liberal Party and their communication strategy. The ultimate goal for the Liberals is to transform hope about Trudeau into confidence among Canadians that he is ready to lead the country (Anderson, 2013). The results would argue that the party is explicit in their attempts to construct a campaign strategy almost
exclusively around Justin Trudeau. Both sets of respondents, journalists and officials, were unanimous in their description of Trudeau as a celebrated political figure in Canada—one that has an unparalleled ability to engage Canadians throughout the
country, expertly and charismatically deliver messages of optimism and change and draw on the ‘Trudeaumania’ and Trudeau brand associations famously attached to the Liberal Party of the past. Mindful of the power of the mass media, the Liberals have been both proactive and reactive in their media management and the message consistently appears to favour the personal over the political—in other words, Justin Trudeau over the Liberal Party.
The research was broken down into a series of concepts, which were individually addressed in the theoretical framework and subsequently operationalized throughout the interview process. First, concentrating on personalization, the expectation was proven that the Canadian Liberals would focus their efforts on framing Justin Trudeau versus the party and particularly emphasize the personal and non-political aspects of his life.
Respondents were able to recite seemingly endless lists of personality traits about the Liberal leader, rarely associated with his political and professional character. The concept of personalization was further broken down into privatization, the increasing tendency to focus on the private lives of politicians (Campus, 2010) and presidentialization, a strong focused attitude within a campaign (Helms, 2013). The theory of candidate-centred politics and individualization, discussed by Van Aelst, et al. (2011), is
immediately obvious when examining the Liberal strategy of personalizing Justin Trudeau. Mostly all accounts addressed the retreatment of the party and increasing presence of Trudeau, as both an extension and representation of the party and everything it stands for. The evidence in recent years, demonstrated in a number of high profile and publicized events, characterizes the Liberal Party strategy as favouring the personal over the political: “He’s not just a political celebrity, but a celebrity-celebrity. I mean, when Maclean’s covers your wedding, I think that’s a sign” (R3). The Liberals may go so far as to exploit the natural ability that Trudeau possesses to connect with Canadians, choosing to obtain support, not exclusively based on substance, but by any means necessary.
The second expectation from the research was that the Liberal Party would attempt to tap into Trudeau’s inherent star power and resources in order to gain votes and support in the next election campaign. It is yet to be seen whether currently high levels of
Liberal support will continue through to October 2015. However, the results demonstrate a clear advantage for Trudeau based on widespread name recognition and the positive associations made with famous politicians (Zwarun & Torrey, 2011). In addition, primarily the journalistic respondents conceded to the superficiality inherent in the convergence of politics and mass media. Consequently, Trudeau has both literally and figuratively been groomed by the party to appear as the most memorable and capable candidate in comparison to the other alternative political leaders. The Liberals are aware of voter tendencies to employ informational shortcuts in decision-making (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) and have shaped their leader accordingly.
The third expectation generated from the findings was that the Liberal Party sought to embody the Trudeau brand, along with the positive associations and emotions that accompanied the name throughout Canadian political history. The results indicated that the Liberal strategy included a regeneration of the Pierre Trudeau image and
associations, revitalized and personified by Justin Trudeau. The theory of political brand extension (Marland, 2013) is glaringly evident in the Liberal Party’s intent to usher in a new generation of Trudeau, in hopes of energizing the party brand and transporting Canadians back to a time of Liberal dominance and mass support. In terms of
conceptualizing the Liberal brand, respondents formed a general consensus around the argument for Justin Trudeau as the party’s best investment in their future.
Finally, a second research question was posed addressing the extent to which journalists were overpoweringly focused on Justin Trudeau when covering the Liberal Party as a whole. Upon interviewing journalists, the results concluded that the Liberals played a major role in controlling the media and transformed the political dialogue from a
party-focused to a candidate-focused narrative, as they had similarly shown in their communication strategy. Consistent with the theory of agenda setting of the media by political parties (Gaber, 2000), the Liberal Party carefully constructed the Justin Trudeau image and delivered it to the media in a prepackaged form. There was evidence of the party spinning negative and potentially damaging coverage into favourable and
potentially advantageous exposure (Moloney, 2000). However, respondents maintained that the mass media functions as a critical autonomous institution and the party
communication couldn’t prevent the publication of all oppositional reporting, especially within media institutions with contrasting ideological stances.
Overall, the results prove to be consistent with a number of theories and concepts outlined in previous studies and literature. The Liberal Party is quite clearly moving forward with a strategic focus on Justin Trudeau, as it has proved successful thus far. The findings speak volumes to the amount of behind-the-scenes tactical preparation and organization that takes place in politics, operating almost invisibly in the minds of Canadian citizens. It can be concluded that the Liberal Party is conscious of the political gold mine they possess in Justin Trudeau. Tapping into a growing plea for change in the country, the Liberals are feeding Canadians what they are longing for, yet not receiving in their current prime minister, but instead in Justin Trudeau—personality, cachet and reputation.
An empirical study of this nature inherently comes with a number of limitations. First, the interview process could have benefitted from the inclusion of high-ranking officials and advisors within the Liberal Party, with access to concrete communication strategies and knowledge of the party’s internal structure. However, as found in previous
studies (Davis, 2000; O’Cass, 2002), it is difficult to access these individuals and secure consent for information from these professionals, especially in the lead-up to a
monumental federal election. Second, the research process would have proven to be more reliable, both internally and externally, if all interviews were conducted in-person. It is inevitable that Skype interviews do not yield the same observations in terms of behaviour and subtleties, and prove to be weaker in establishing a connection between researcher and respondent. The addition of more respondents, with a wider range of demographics and experience, could have contributed to a more extensive inventory of data, ultimately yielding more results with greater external validity and applicability. Finally, it would be worthwhile to complement the research findings with analysis of party communications, such as press releases and official statements, to chart the extent to which the patterns suggested in the interviews genuinely manifest themselves in the communication output.
The research conducted in this thesis has further implications for the study of political marketing and political communication in Canada. An interesting aspect of this research was comparing the official party message with the narrative transmitted and received by the mass media. Also, as a relatively new area of interest, additional investigation into the field of Canadian political marketing would further the existing theory on celebrity politics and political branding. It is important to note that Canadian politics is entering a fundamentally new and fascinating time with the upcoming 2015 federal election and the uncertainty surrounding Justin Trudeau as a candidate. Marland (2013) labels Trudeau as “a combination of the mythical constructs of historical figures Pierre Trudeau, Wilfrid Laurier, Jack Layton, JFK Jr. and Barack Obama” (p. 13). It remains to be seen whether the Liberal Party has been brilliant or misguided placing all
