Planning a Political Event

As an events company, we paid attention to the organising and executing of the political meetings by the two major political parties, the PNM and the UNC, during April’s general election. What we found was that not only did the UNC outshine the PNM with its communication strategies, but it also surpassed the now opposition party with the planning and executing of its political meetings.

Planning political meetings is very much like planning any other event; however, the catch is to steal voters from the other side.  This, the UNC did well. In no specific order, planning a political meeting entails clear goals and purposes, careful selection of target audiences and speakers, targeted messages budgets, venues, dates, marketing, coordination, execution and evaluation. These elements were very visible throughout the UNC’s political campaign meetings and they worked to the party’s advantage.

From Port of Spain to Aranguez, to Moruga to Sangre Grande to Point Fortin and other critical marginal areas, the UNC’s political events were admirable and tactically implemented with the use of surprise key and perceived credible speakers like former PNM Ministers John Jeremie and Kennedy Swarathsingh and PSA President General, Felisha Thomas.

The use of its main theme song, “When UNC Wins, Everybody Wins”, “I Feel Like Hulk” for certain candidates and “The People Want Kamla” was also a hit with most, if not all of the country.  

Moreover, the demographics of the attendees at the UNC political meetings were vastly different from the past.  At a glance, one could see a mixture of Afro and Indo-Trinidadians in the midst, but the  growth of Afro-Trinidadians at the UNC’s political meetings was quite noticeable.

It is not quite clear what caused this demographic shift, but we firmly believe that the inclusion of strong Afro-Trinidadian UNC candidates like Jearlean John, Sean Sobers, Clyde Elder and Roger Alexander, as well as endorsements from several influential people like John Jeremie, Iwer George and Darren Bravo  was responsible for this major shift.

Another noticeable strategy used by the UNC was the change in colour; the UNC’s traditional colours are black and yellow; however, blue was introduced during the campaign trail. A very popular colour  among many in several cultures, blue represents stability, reliability, calmness, trust and dignity.

Congratulations to the UNC on a well-planned and well-executed political campaign.

#UNC #PNM #PoliticalEvent #KamlaPersadBissessar #JearleanJohn #ClydeElder #RogerAlexander #JohnJeremie #IwerGeorge #DarrenBravo