Michael Murphy Brand Analysis - Essay Example

His campaign team has worked tirelessly to mold their party’s flag bearer into a force with whom to reckon. The candidate has been marketed with a high-end consumer brand through a coherent and comprehensive program of fonts, web designs, and logos. The entire graphic designed for his campaign has been made using the same design (Marshment, Strömbäck, and Rudd, 2010). This has made it simple for the supporters to adopt the designs when campaigning for their favorite candidate. His personality has also been brought into the full public limelight through the publishing of a new novel that details his life experiences and aspirations. The iconization of Murphy has made the electorates feel as if they know him beyond the political circles. His campaign blogs and messages quote his vision that offers a compelling future. His vision clarifies, inspires, and focuses on the progress of the individual members and the entire nation.

The opinion polls show that the campaign promises being made by Murphy are appealing to most party members as compared to his competitors. The popularity gap has widened recently to 10%. The national polls also place him as the strongest candidate to compete with the opponent from the conservative party in the general elections. The increase in the number of new youth members within the party is associated with his aggressive campaigns of popularizing the party outside the traditional circles.

Murphy has numerous unique characteristics that distinguish his campaign demeanor from other competitors. They include personal charisma, public speaking, listening skills, and a positive attitude toward challenges (Rossiter, 2004). Murphy possesses the highest educational qualifications among the contestants with a Masters's degree in political science and currently pursues an undergraduate degree in economics. This improves his chances as the preferred candidate among the party members in spearheading the efforts geared toward improving democracy. Other leadership qualities that make him favored by the party delegates include his willingness to make hard decisions, decisiveness, capability to understand the leadership problems currently facing the party, effective management skills, and sharing of other people’s values. Murphy is the only contestant in the race who has some prior experience in good performance within the party leadership. He was entrusted with taking care of the youth affairs which has seen the representation of youths and women in the administrative posts in the party.

The strongest voter segments for Michael Murphy are the youths and women who believe in change concerning his earlier performance record. His prolonged status as the youth leader within the party has made him interact with all the party members implying that everyone is aware of his leadership skills.

The main theme that Murphy is focusing on is the Enhancement of the Democratic Space and Fair Representation of all Groups within the Party. This will place the party in a better position to defeat the Conservatives in the national elections. This is encompassed in his campaign motto of hope and restoration. Murphy is also focusing on reaching the Conservative’s stronghold and bending voter loyalty to the Liberal party’s advantage.

The national campaign statistics indicate that Murphy has attracted more donors than the other competitors owing to his wide focus on small donors as well as financial institutions and companies. His fundraising expertise is aided by the use of communication media that engages all members. His fundraising machination has seen the leverage of a personal website, user-generated content, and the blogosphere (Henneberg, Scammell, and O'Shaughnessy, 2009). Murphy’s campaign strategy is to reach out to all citizens by building a coalition that will attract all voters, thus guaranteeing their participation in elections. His advertisement messages since January and his vigor throughout the campaign process have been consistent with upbeat themes of hope and restoration. He has constantly shown respect for his competitors even though he is being rated highly. Murphy’s team-building skills enable him to bring together various expertise and proficiency in addressing shortcomings in knowledge, perspective, and experience. Read More