Branding public policy

Branding is often thought of as being about the branding of politicians and parties, but in this chapter we explore the branding of public policy and what this means for democracy and governance. Branding has attracted relatively little interest even in the field of political marketing, although that may be changing (see French and Smith 2008: 210). Holt makes this point most effectively:Today branding is a core activity of capitalism, so must be included in any serious attempt to understand contemporary society and politics. Yet, despite its social significance, branding has rarely been subject to concerted empirical examination and theoretical development outside of business schools.